A man was strolling along the beach when he suddenly noticed from afar what he thought were children dancing.
有個人在沙灘上散步，在不經意間看到遠處好像有孩子在跳舞。
「What on earth are they doing dancing on the beach？」as he quickly paced towards them.
「他們為什麼要在沙灘上跳舞呢？」他邊想邊快速地朝孩子們走去。
He was surprised that a boy and a girl were not dancing but picking up the starfishes which were washed ashore by the tide and throwing them back into the sea.
他驚奇地發現，那個男孩和那個女孩並不是在跳舞，而是在撿被潮水衝上岸來的海星，然後把它們扔回大海。
「Excuse me, why are you throwing the starfishes back into the sea？」he asked.
「請問，你們為什麼要把海星扔回大海呢？」他問。
The children ignored the remark but they continued picking up the starfishes and kept throwing them back into the sea.
孩子們沒有理會他，繼續撿海星向大海扔去。
「Don't you think it is a waste of your time as there are hundreds of starfishes still lying around. Surely you can't keep this act all day long.」
「你們不覺得這是在浪費時間嗎？還有成千上萬隻海星躺在岸上呢！你們肯定不會一整天都這樣扔下去吧。」
At last the elder boy replied,「Sir, you see the sun would soon rise and the tide will ebb away.
後來，年齡大一點兒的男孩說：「先生，你知道嗎，太陽很快就要升起來了，潮水也會退去。
Though my sister and I can't throw all the starfishes back into the sea, we are sure it matters to the ones we succeed in throwing.
雖然我和妹妹不能把所有的海星都扔回大海，但我相信，對於被我們扔回大海的海星來說，我們所做的是至關重要的。
Would you like to join us, it would make a difference.」The man smiled and said,「It certainly would,」so he too pick up the starfishes and threw them into the sea.
你想加入我們嗎？這很有意義。」那人笑了笑說：「非常願意。」於是，他也撿起海星，朝大海扔去。