English Original
When the great library of Alexandria burned, the story goes, one book was saved. It was not a valuable book, so a poor man, who could read a little, bought it for a few coppers.
The book itself wasn't very interesting, but between its pages lay a thin strip of vellum. On it was written the secret of the "Touchstone"! The touchstone was described as a small pebble that could turn any common metal into pure gold. The writing explained that it lay among thousands of identical-looking pebbles on a beach, with one key difference: the real stone would feel warm to the touch, while ordinary pebbles are cold.
Driven by this secret, the man sold his few belongings, bought supplies, camped on the seashore, and began testing pebbles. To avoid testing the same cold pebble repeatedly, he developed a method: whenever he picked up a cold pebble, he threw it into the sea. He spent days, then weeks, then months in this relentless routine: pick up a pebble, feel that it's cold, throw it into the sea.
One midafternoon, he picked up a pebble, and it felt warm. Acting purely out of ingrained habit, he threw it into the sea before he realized what he had done. He had trained himself so thoroughly to discard every pebble that he discarded the very one he sought.
The story concludes with a lesson: So it is with opportunity. Unless we are vigilant, it is easy to fail to recognize an opportunity when it is in hand, and just as easy to throw it away.
中文翻译
相传，当伟大的亚历山大图书馆被焚毁时，有一本书幸免于难。这本书并不贵重，因此一个识点字的穷人花了几个铜板就把它买了下来。
书本身并不有趣，但书页间夹着一张薄薄的牛皮纸条。上面写着“试金石”的秘密！试金石被描述为一块小鹅卵石，能将任何普通金属变成纯金。文字说明，它就在海滩上成千上万块看起来一模一样的鹅卵石之中，但有一个关键区别：真正的石头摸起来是温暖的，而普通的鹅卵石是冰凉的。
受这个秘密的驱使，那人变卖了他仅有的家当，买了些简单补给，在海边扎营，开始测试鹅卵石。为了避免重复测试同一块冰冷的石头，他想出了一个办法：每捡起一块冰凉的鹅卵石，就把它扔进海里。日复一日，周复一周，月复一月，他执着地重复着这个动作：捡起石头，感觉冰凉，扔进大海。
一天下午，他捡起一块鹅卵石，感觉它是温暖的。纯粹出于根深蒂固的习惯，他还没意识到自己做了什么，就已经把它扔进了海里。他训练自己丢弃每一块石头，训练得如此彻底，以至于把梦寐以求的那一块也丢弃了。
故事以一个教训结尾：机会也是如此。 除非我们保持警醒，否则很容易在机会来临时识别不出它，也同样容易将它随手抛弃。