班门弄斧又何妨
（P1.青年文摘，2005年9月）
班门弄斧，意思和“关公面前耍大刀”差不多：一个不自量力的无名小卒，竟敢在行业的祖师面前卖弄本领，自然贻笑大方。
可是，弄斧不到鲁班门前，到哪里呢？
只有和高手交流，切磋，我们的眼界才会大开，水平才会迅速提高。就像体育和武术，如果你总和一个水平低于你的人过招，肯定不会进步，只会慢慢退步。华罗庚先生就曾说过：“下棋找高手，弄斧到班门。“
班门弄斧，从另一个角度说，是敢于在大师面前展示自己，推销自己。
“超级女生”和“挑战节目主持人”，是最受欢迎的两档电视节目，而参赛者莫不来自普罗大众。和专业人士比起来，他们资力尚浅，炉火不青，假如他们担心露怯，不敢登台，那么我们恐怕就永远不会认识张靓影了。她在比赛中大胆质疑评委---资深唱将柯以敏，赢得数万观众叫好，网上支持她的帖子数不胜数，人气直线上升；也永远不会认识学理工的大三学生尉迟林嘉了。他凭着对主持的热爱，连续守擂九次，成为各大电视台争相牵约的新人……
由此看来，“班门弄斧”并不是什么坏事，相反，它反映了一个人的勇气与自信。恰恰因为这种勇气和自信，才使“班门弄斧”者的本领日渐增长，从而获得成功。
得寸进尺地说：鲁班就神乎其神，不可超越吗？
我们进步慢，很大程度就因为我们对某些名人、某些权威过于迷信，不敢与之比拼。说穿了这是一种矫情而圆滑的偷懒。
敢和第一比，你也许就是第一，或者第三；不敢和第一比，只能做第一百。
Courageous Enough to Display one’s Ability
“To show off one’s skill with the axe in front of the master carpenter Lu Ban” is an idiom with the similar meaning to the saying: “to display one’s shooting skills before the master swordsman Lord Guan”. They both mean that one is a nobody but bold enough to show off one’s imperfect skills before a somebody in the same trade and it is no doubt that he will turn himself into a laughing stock before all.
On second thoughts, if we have imperfect skills but no courage to display it in front of a master, how can we improve it?
The challenging invitation of a master to a competition with us is an indispensable principle for us to have an easy access to further-reaching views and more acceptable improvements. It is also true without the exception of the fields of sports and martial arts. If we challenge only those below our own ability, there is no hope of making greater improvements in fighting or playing skills. What’s worse, even our performance will be not as good as we used to be, just as Mr. Hua Luogeng’s saying goes: to play chess with master hand and to learn carpentry from Lu Ban, a carpenter master.
On further second thoughts, the attempt for a common carpenter to “show off his imperfect skills before Lu Ban, a carpenter master” is a mirror of his appreciative boldness to demonstrate his own level excellence in carpentry for his popular recognition in the society.
Nowadays two of the most popular TV programs are Super Girl Contest and Challenging TV Anchorperson. All the contestants are from common people. Being all fledgling participators, they are all outshone by professional experts with rich experience. If their stage fright forbade them to enter the center of stage, there would be no opportunity for us to choose the top super girls. One of the super girls is called Zhang Liangying, who has the nerve to challenge the distinguished singer Ke Yimin, one of the judges in the competition. This great courage wins her great popularity among the audience and the rocketing increase of posters on the Internet. The other is Yuchi Linjia, a junior from a university of science and engineering. His great enthusiasm over the position of anchorperson wins his nine successive championships in the contest to be a new people for all the TV stations to strive for his employment….
“To show off one’s skill with the axe in front of the master carpenter Lu Ban” is not necessary to be a misdeed. On the contrary, it is a clear mirror of one’s courage and confidence. Just this courage and confidence leads to the daily increasing performance and the final satisfactory success.
More boldly speaking, does Lu Ban, a carpenter master, really gain access to the acme of perfection in his carpentry?
Our slow progress, to a larger degree, results from the blind worship of the celebrated and authoritative and the lack of boldness to compete with them. Frankly speaking, this is the excuse for the coffee cooler and deliberate convention breaker.
The daring to challenge the champion may favor you with a new championship or the third position. No boldness to compete with the champion is certain to disfavor you with the bottom position.
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