English Original
Tradition holds that over 2,000 years ago, a young man lived in the Shouling area of the State of Yan. His name is lost to history, so we refer to him as the Shouling youth.
His family advised him to improve his awkward manner of walking, but he felt they were poking their noses into his affairs and were unwilling to fund his education. Relatives and neighbors sneered at him, claiming he would never learn anything. Over time, he grew so self-conscious that he doubted his own way of walking, finding it increasingly clumsy.
One day, he overheard travelers chatting. One remarked that people in Handan walked most gracefully. Intrigued, the youth hurried over for details. To his surprise, the group laughed and walked away upon seeing him.
Unable to imagine what made their gait so graceful, he decided to travel to distant Handan to learn their way of walking.
Upon arrival, he was dazzled by the novelty. He tried to learn from everyone: from children, whose walk he found lively; from the elderly, whose steps seemed steady; and from women, whose swaying gait he deemed beautiful. Attempting to imitate all styles, he became utterly confused. In less than half a month, he even forgot how to walk normally. Having exhausted his funds, he was forced to crawl back home.
This story comes from "Autumn Floods" in The Works of Zhuangzi (a famous Chinese philosopher circa 300 BCE). The idiom "learning to walk in Handan" now criticizes the foolish act of mechanically copying others and thereby losing one's own original abilities.
中文翻译
相传两千多年前，燕国寿陵地区有一位少年。他的名字已不可考，为方便起见，我们称他为寿陵少年。
家人劝他改掉走路姿势笨拙的毛病，他却认为家人爱管闲事，且不愿为他提供学费。亲戚邻居都嘲笑他，说他什么都学不会。日久天长，他甚至开始怀疑自己是否应该这样走路，因为他越来越觉得自己的步态太笨拙难看了。
一天，他在路上遇到几个谈笑的人。其中一人说邯郸人走路姿势最为优美。这正说中了他最关心的事，于是他急忙上前想进一步询问。令他惊讶的是，这些人一看到他，就大笑着走开了。
他无论如何也想象不出他们的步态究竟如何优美。于是有一天，他远赴邯郸去学习走路。
一到邯郸，他就眼花缭乱地发现一切都很新奇。他向那里的孩子学走路，因为他觉得孩子的步态活泼悦目；他向那里的老人学走路，因为他觉得老人的步态稳重；他向那里的妇女学走路，因为他觉得妇女摇曳的步态很美。就这样，不到半个月，他连原来怎么走路都忘记了。旅费用尽后，他只好爬着回家。
这个故事出自《庄子·秋水》。后来，成语“邯郸学步”被用来指机械地模仿他人，结果未能成功，反而丧失了原有技能的行为。