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A man was strolling along the beach when he suddenly noticed from afar what he thought were children dancing. “ What on earth are they doing dancing on the beach? ” as he quickly paced towards them. He was surprised that a boy and a girl were not dancing but picking up the starfishes which were washed ashore by the tide and throwing them back into the sea.
“ Excuse me, why are you throwing the starfishes back into the sea? ” he asked.
The children ignored the remark but they continued picking up the starfishes and kept throwing them back into the sea.
“ Don't you think it is a waste of your time as there are hundreds of starfishes still lying around. Surely you can't keep this act all day long. ”
At last the elder boy replied ，“ Sir, you see the sun would soon rise and the tide will ebb away. Though my sister and I can't throw all the starfishes back into the sea, we are sure it matters to the ones we succeed in throwing.Would you like to join us, it would make a difference. ” The man smiled and said ，“ It certainly would ，” so he too pick up the starfishes and threw them into the sea.
有个人在沙滩上散步，在不经意间看到远处好像有孩子在跳舞。“他们为什么要在沙滩上跳舞呢？”他边想边快速地朝孩子们走去。他惊奇地发现，那个男孩和那个女孩并不是在跳舞，而是在捡被潮水冲上岸来的海星，然后把它们扔回大海。
“请问，你们为什么要把海星扔回大海呢？”他问。
孩子们没有理会他，继续捡海星向大海扔去。
“你们不觉得这是在浪费时间吗？还有成千上万只海星躺在岸上呢！你们肯定不会一整天都这样扔下去吧。”
后来，年龄大一点儿的男孩说：“先生，你知道吗，太阳很快就要升起来了，潮水也会退去。虽然我和妹妹不能把所有的海星都扔回大海，但我相信，对于被我们扔回大海的海星来说，我们所做的是至关重要的。你想加入我们吗？这很有意义。”那人笑了笑说：“非常愿意。”于是，他也捡起海星，朝大海扔去。