Bo Le was a famous expert in the physiognomy of horses in ancient China. His book On the Physiognomy of Horses was a classic piece of work on that subject.

Bo Le had a son who wanted to learn his father's special skill and knowledge. He read the book On the Physiognomy of Horses over and over again. Whenever he went out, he would carry the book with him, and as soon as he saw a horse, he would take out the book, and compare the horse with the drawings of various horses in the book one by one.

One day, he finally found a horse which looked similar to the drawing in the book. He led it home to his father, but it turned out to be an inferior horse of fiery1 temperament2, and not a good steed which could gallop3 1, 000 li a day. Bo Le said to his son: "If you look for a steed with the aid of drawings, how can you find a really fine one?"

伯樂是中國古代有名的相馬專家。《相馬經》是他的一本相馬的專著。

伯樂有個兒子很想把父親的技能繼承下來。他反復閱讀《相馬經》，出去相馬時也帶在身邊，一看到馬，就把書拿出來，按照書上繪畫的各種馬的圖樣，一一加以對照。

一天，他終于找到了一匹馬，看來跟書上繪著的一樣，牽回家給父親一看，卻是一匹性子很兇悍的劣馬，而不是日行千里的好馬。伯樂對兒子說：“像你這樣照著圖樣找良馬的方法，怎么能找得到真正的好馬呢?”