A man who couldn’t achieve his dream came to a wise man to ask for some advice.

　　The wise man thought for a while, silently scooped up(舀取) the water and asked, “What is the shape of water?” The wise man poured the water into the glass before he could answer. The man took a tumble, “I know, water is like a glass shape.” The wise man said nothing and poured the water into the vase nearby. The man realized it, “I know, water is like a vase.” The wise man shook his head, gently carried the vase in both hands and poured the water into the pot filled with sand. The clear water disappeared into the sand.

　　The man was lost in thought.

　　The wise man bent down to grasp (抓) a handful of sand and said, “Look, the water died away like this. This is a lifetime!”

　　The man said happily, “I know, you tell me the society is like various containers(容器) everywhere, so man should be like water. When you are in a certain container, you will become its shape and easily die in regular container, just like the water, disappearing rapidly and suddenly, and nothing can change!”

　　“Yes,” then the wise man added, “No!” The wise man went out of the house while the man followed.

　　Under the eaves(屋檐), the wise man bent over, touched the stone steps for a while and stopped. The man reached out his hand to where the wise man had just touched and saw a hole, but he didn’t know what secret the hole on the stone step hid.

　　The wise man said, “In rainy days, the rain water would fall from the eaves, so the hole is the result the water falls.”

　　Life is like water, so we must not only make every effort to fit the situations, but also we should try to change the situations to realize our own value.