Once upon a time, three people had a jar（坛子）of wine among them and they decided to have a taste of it.

However, each of them wanted to drink it by himself. So they set a rule that every one would draw a snake on the the ground and the man who finished it first would have the wine. One man finished his snake very soon and he was about to drink the wine when he saw the other two were still busy drawing, so he continued to draw the feet to the snake. However, before he could finish the feet, the second man finished and grabbed（抓住）the jar from him, saying, “Who has ever seen a snake with feet?”

The story of “Draw a snake and add feet to it” tells us going too far is as bad as not going far enough.

A man once visited a temple (寺庙) that was still being built. He saw a sculptor (雕塑家) making a sculpture. As he watched the man work on the sculpture, he noticed that there was a similar sculpture lying nearby.

He was curious and asked the sculptor, “Why are you making two same sculptures? Do you need two to put in different places?” “No,” the man said without looking up. “We need only one, but the first one became damaged (被损坏的) before I could finish it, so I’m making a new one.”

The visitor picked up the damaged sculpture and checked it. But he couldn’t find anything wrong with it. “Where is the damage?” he asked. “There is a scratch (擦痕) on the sculpture’s nose.” the sculptor said while continuing his work.

The man then asked, “Where are you going to place the sculpture?”

The sculptor replied that it would be placed on a 20-foot-high platform. “If the sculpture is up that high, who is going to notice that there is a scratch on the nose?” the man asked.

The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the man and said, “I will know it.”

Even if other people didn’t notice the damage, it is important to the sculptor that his work should be of the best quality. He chose to insist a high standard of excellence in his work. This is an attitude we should all work hard to keep.

Rules tell you what you are allowed and not allowed to do. Generally speaking, there are four kinds of rules. The first one is the instructions that one person has to follow in the given order. The instructions can lead him or her to a certain goal. The second one is the orders that have been passed down from one generation（代）to the next. The third one teaches people how to behave well so that they can meet good results, The last one is the plans that are used in a certain way to increase the chance of reaching a special goal.

Rules play an important role in our society. They help build a good relationship. If people were allowed to do things as they wanted, we would probably meet stealing and something terrible like this. The rules can surely prevent such things happening. Rules can also help keep people safe. For example, we all know that if there were no traffic rules, there would be more accidents. What’s more, rules can help build a better environment. It is a rule that students should wear uniforms at school. But what would happen if there were no such a rule? Students would care more about what they look like!

However, rules need to be used correctly. They should offer people chances to learn so that people are glad to accept them. Also, they should be offered in a simple and clear way. After that, they should tell people the possible results if they are not followed.

In a word, following rules is a useful way to bring you happiness, or at least, a peaceful life. However, it is important to use them correctly.