守株待兔 (shǒu zhū dài tù)

春秋时，宋国有一位农夫，有一天他正在田里工作的时候，突然看见一只兔子往大树的方向快跑。接着，只见它倒在树干附近，一动也不动。农夫走过去一看，原来兔子跑太快，撞上大树，脖子折断，死掉了。于是农夫高兴的捡起死兔子，回家饱餐一顿。

从此以后，农夫再也不耕田，整天守在大树旁，以为可以再捡到兔子。日子一天天过去，根本等不到任何一只兔子，邻居看到农夫每天守在树下，而一旁的农田都是野草，就去问他，知道原因后，每个人都忍不住大笑，觉得他实在是笨的可以。怎么可能又有兔子会不小心撞上大树呢？

守株待兔比喻固执己见，不知变通，或者只妄想不劳而获，只想坐享其成的人。

In the Warring States period in the State of Song, there was a farmer. One day, the farmer was ploughing the fields when he saw a hare running wildly towards a tree. Then it fell beside the tree, without a move. The farmer went over and saw that the hare ran so fast that it ran into a tree, broke its neck, and died. The farmer happily picked up the hare and took it home for dinner.

Since then, he refused to pick up his hoe again. Instead, he sat beneath the tree all day and waited patiently for a second hare to come. As days went on, a second hare never came his way. His neighbors saw this and his field was overgrown with weeds and asked him why. After knowing the reason, everyone couldn’t help but laughed out loud. Everyone thought that he was very stupid. How could another hare be so careless and ran into the tree?

The idiom 守株待兔 literally means "to wait for the hares". It is a metaphor to those who wish to make gains without working and always dream of having windfalls.

e.g.

shìjièshànɡ méiyǒu nàmeduō shǒuzhūdàitù de shìqínɡ.

世界上 没有 那么多 守株待兔 的 事情。

There are not so many pleasant things as windfalls.

zhǎoɡōnɡzuò bùnénɡ shǒuzhūdàitù, yào zhǔdònɡ xúnzhǎo jīhuì.

找工作 不能 守株待兔，要 主动 寻找 机会。

One shouldn’t expect getting a job by waiting.