A long time ago, there was a rich man whose foolishness knew no bounds（無(wú)限）.

　　The fool visited another rich man's house and saw a magnificent three-storeyed building which was tall, spacious1 and bright. He was extremely envious2 and said to himself, "my wealth is no less than his. Why haven't I got a house like this?"

　　He immediately called in a carpenter. "Did you build that house?" He inquired, "Yes, indeed," answered the carpenter, whereupon he ordered a similar house be built for him.

　　The carpenter started to clear the ground and pile up mud bricks, When the fool saw the carpenter do this, he was puzzled and asked, "What kind of a house are you going to build?" "A three-storeyed house," came the reply. "I don't want the first and second storeys. Build the top storey first." "That simply cannot be done," the carpenter argued. "Whoever heard of building the second storey without first constructing the ground storey, and without the second storey, how can you build the third?"

　　But the fool insisted, "I don't need the first two storeys. You must build only the top storey for me."

　　過(guò)去，有一個(gè)富有的愚人，他非常愚昧無(wú)知。

　　一天，他到另外一個(gè)富翁的家中，看見(jiàn)他家有一座三層樓的樓房，房屋高大富麗，寬敞明亮，他心里十分羨慕，于是便生出一個(gè)念頭：“我的錢(qián)財(cái)并不比他少，為什么我不馬上去建造這樣一座樓呢？”

　　于是他立刻喚來(lái)木匠而問(wèn)道：“你知道怎樣建造他家那樣漂亮的樓房嗎？”木匠回答說(shuō)：“那座樓正是我建造的。”愚蠢的富翁就說(shuō)：“那你現(xiàn)在就給我造一座那樣的樓。”

　　于是木匠便開(kāi)始測(cè)量地基，壘磚造樓。愚蠢的富翁看見(jiàn)木匠壘磚造房，心里仍然懷著疑惑，不知道怎么回事。問(wèn)木匠說(shuō)：“你打算造什么樣的房子？”木匠回答說(shuō)：“造三層樓房。”愚蠢的富翁又說(shuō)：“我不要下面的兩層。你可以先給我造最上面的一層。”木匠回答說(shuō)：“沒(méi)有這樣的事情，怎么可能不造最下面的一層樓而可以造第二層樓的？不造第二層樓，又怎么能夠造第三層樓呢？”

　　愚蠢的富翁仍舊固執(zhí)地說(shuō)：“我不要下面的兩層樓，你一定可以給我造最上面的一層樓。”