无价之宝
战国时，魏国的一位农夫在田里锄草。当他锄到田中央时，锄头好像被一种很硬的东西碰了一下。农民抬起锄头一看，那锄上竟有一个大缺口。他觉得十分奇怪，便 换了一把新锄头，铲去周围的杂草，动手去挖。土一层层被挖开，直累得他满身是汗，最后挖出的竟是一块一尺多长的玉石。
他拿到手里反复察看，但认不清这到底是什么东西。他知道邻居平时见多识广，也许能知道这是什么东西，便把玉石拿到邻居的家里。
邻居告诉农夫说： “这块石头很不吉利，我想要是放在家中肯定会把灾惹祸，至于它叫什么名字我也叫不出。你不如将它放回原处，自己回家过太平日子！”农民对邻居的话非常相 信，便将玉石重新放回到原处。农民刚走，邻居便悄悄地跟在后面，等农民走后，偷偷地将那块玉石搬回了自己的家中。
夜深人静时，那块玉石大放异彩，照得满屋光华四射。邻居的妻子被玉石的光芒吓坏了，忙对丈夫说：“这样的宝贝放在我们这样的家里，只怕会招来杀人之祸呀！且不说小偷时时刻刻会想着偷去，若是让强盗们知道了，为了得到这宝贝，还不把我们全家都杀了！”
邻居一听妻子的话有道理，便对妻子说：“是啊，那我们就把这宝贝卖掉，多换些银两，让我们的生活也过得好些，你看行吗？” 妻子说“你去将这块玉石献给国君，国君看到你献宝一定十分高兴，他肯定会奖赏你，这样你不就发财了吗！”妻子说。
邻居听妻子一说，也觉得这是一个最好的办法，于是，他带上玉石，直接向王宫赶去。魏王听说有人来献宝，马上让人将他带进宫里。魏王马上命人找来玉工鉴定。 经过仔细鉴定，玉工对魏王说：“大王，这块玉石的价值无法估量，用五座城池的代价也就只能看上一眼（此无价之宝也，五城之资仅可一观）。” 魏王得到了这样一块宝石，自然心中万分欢喜，马上命人重重地赏赐献宝人，邻居得了许多金银珠宝，邻居的妻子要他分一半给农民，从此当地农民也过上了好日 子。
A priceless treasure
Here is a new phrase meaning “a priceless treasure.” In Chinese, it reads, “wu jia zhi bao”. We use it to describe something very precious. There is a story behind this idiom.
During the Warring States period in ancient China, a peasant in the Wei Kingdom found a piece of unusual stone in the field when farming. He didn’t know what kind of stone it was, so he went to his neighbor and asked him if he knew. His neighbor saw that it was a piece of precious jade, and wanted to keep it for himself. He then lied to the peasant, “This stone has strange power. Anyone who keeps it will have terrible things happen to him. You’d better put it back where you found it.”
The peasant didn’t quite believe what his neighbor had told him. He took the stone home. That night, the stone emitted a bright beam of light, which scared the whole family. The peasant went to his neighbor and told him about it. His neighbor lied to him again, “This is a very bad sign. To avoid tragedy in your family, you must throw the stone away.”
The peasant believed his neighbor completely this time. He went to a wild place and threw the jade away. He didn’t see his neighbor secretly following him. The neighbor picked up the jade, went to the palace, and presented it to the king. The king told an experienced jade carver to check it. The old jade carver examined it and said to the king, “Congratulations. Your majesty, this is a rare treasure indeed. I’ve never before seen jade as valuable.” The king was very pleased to hear this. He asked the jade carver just how much the jade was worth. The jade carver answered, “It is a priceless treasure. Merely taking a look at it should cost the price of five cities.” The king was very happy, and gave the peasant’s neighbor a huge reward.
From this story people drew the idiom “a priceless treasure” or “wu jia zhi bao.” You can use it to describe something very precious.
(Source:english.cri.cn)
