Long ago, there was a man from the State of Chu who loved his sword very much. One day, he was sitting in his boat preparing to cross a river, when he accidentally dropped his sword into the water. He immediately made a notch on the side of the boat at the place where his dear sword fell. When he returned close to shore, he re-entered the water just beneath the notch he made, looking for his sword. Naturally, he wasn’t able to find it.
The sword was already gone because the boat and the river were in motion. This idiom is used to describe a person who sticks to rigid rules without considering a changing environment [or describes an action made pointless by changing circumstances].

從前有一位楚國人, 他非常愛惜他的寶劍。有一天，他正坐在船上準(zhǔn)備過河，一不小心他就把寶劍掉進(jìn)了河里。他馬上在寶劍掉落的地方作了記號(hào)。當(dāng)他到達(dá)對(duì)岸的時(shí)候，他沿著記號(hào)跳進(jìn)河里去找他的寶劍。當(dāng)然，他已經(jīng)找不到了。
寶劍已經(jīng)不在原來掉落的地方因?yàn)榇退荚谝苿?dòng)。這個(gè)故事形容只會(huì)刻板地遵守規(guī)則，不懂變通的人。