One day, Duke Huan of the state of Qi was reading woks1 by those sages2 of the past.

　　Lun Bian, a wheel-maker, believed that these books were just dross3（渣滓，碎屑） from the ancients.

　　To prove his conception, he explained, "It is just like making wheels. If you do it too fast, the mortise and tenon will be too loose and the wheel won't be firm. If you action is too slow, the mortise and tenon will be too taut4（拉緊的） and won't be put in. It should be not too fast and not too slow, not too loose and not too taut. The ingenuity5 of the craftsmanship6 is not inexpressible in words, but can only be sensed by insight, this is where the subtlety7 lies, I cannot teach my son this skill and my son cannot receive it from me either. Those ancients have passed a way and those things that could not be taught are also gone. So what is left must be nothing but dross."

　　一天，齊桓公在讀記載了已經(jīng)去世的圣人言論的書。

　　制車輪的輪扁卻認為這書不過是古人留下的糟粕罷了。

　　為了證明自己見解的正確，他解釋說：“這就像制造車輪一樣，動作慢了，卯榫寬松，車輪做得就不牢固；動作快了，卯榫太緊，就裝不進去。不慢不快，不松不緊，才能得心應(yīng)手。這種藝術(shù)的精妙是不能言傳只能意會的，技術(shù)的微妙也正表現(xiàn)在這里。這種技藝，我無法讓我兒子了解，我的兒子也無法從我這里接受。古時的人和他們那種無法傳授的東西一起死了，所以留下的只能是糟粕。”