Kuang Heng said, “Mr. Wang, if I help you to chop firewood and bring water from the well, will you lend me your books?” Mr. Wang looked at him and said, “Of course! But are you sure? Those are difficult tasks!” 

“Mr. Wang, books are very expensive, I cannot afford to buy them. Very few people are willing to lend me their books, so, if you promise to lend me your books, I will be more than grateful to work for you!”

Though Kuang Heng borrowed the books, he still had a problem. He scratched his head and sighed. “I have to work in the day and can only study at night. But the oil for the oil lamp is so expensive, I cannot afford to buy it.”

In the end, Kuang Heng could only study during his lunch break. At night, he would try to remember what he read in the day. So, it usually took him half a month to finish reading a book. However, it was not polite  to borrow a book for so long. Kuang Heng wanted to read faster but he did not know what to do.

One night, as Kuang Heng tried to recall what he learned, he saw a ray of light on the wall. He went closer and discovered that the light came from next door through a slit in the wall. This gave Kuang Heng an idea. He took a small knife, and widened the slit to make the light brighter. And so, he “borrowed” the light from next door to continue reading.Every night he would read until his neighbor snuffed out the light, and then he would go to bed. 

Kuang Heng continued to study in this way for many years until he became a famous and successful man.
 

匡衡說：「王大爺，我們就這樣說定了！我幫您砍柴挑水，您就把您的書借給我看。」王大爺好奇地問：「一言為定，匡衡，你不覺得吃虧嗎？」「王大爺，書很貴的，我買不起；要借的話，也不容易借得到。您願意借書給我，只要我幫您做工，我就已經很感激您了！」

雖然匡衡借到了書，但還是有很難解決的問題。匡衡抓了抓頭，嘆了一口氣：「白天要工作，只有晚上才有空念書，可是……燈油這麼貴，根本買不起。」

匡衡沒辦法，只好利用中午休息的時間看一點書，晚上就默背白天讀的內容，所以一本書常常需要十天半個月才能夠讀完。但是借別人的書來看，總得要還，可不能長時間地借來看吧，匡衡心裡很著急，卻不知道該怎麼辦才好。

有一天晚上，匡衡正專心背著書的時候，忽然看到牆上露出了一道光線，他走近一看，原來是隔壁透過來的燈光。這帶給匡衡一個靈感，他拿了一把小刀，把縫隙挖得大一點，燈光也就更亮了，他就借著隔壁的燈光，讀起書來，一直讀到鄰居熄燈，匡衡才想到要休息。

就這樣，匡衡天天努力念書，終於成為一位很有學問的人。