A long time ago, there was a king in India. The king’s favourite game was chess.
　　很久以前，在印度有一位国王。国王最喜欢的游戏是国际象棋。
　　One day, a wise old man came to the place and the king challenged him to a game.  The king promised the old man, “You can have any prize if you win the game.”
　　一天，一位聪明的老人来到了王宫，国王向他挑战下一盘棋。国王许诺给老人：“如果你获胜，你可以要任何奖赏。”
　　The old man said, “If I win the game, I’d like one grain of rice for the first square of the chessboard, two for the second, four for the third, and then double the amount for each of the rest of the squares.”
　　这位老人说：“如果我获奖，我就要在棋盘的第一个方格里放一粒米，第二个方格里放二粒，第三个方格里放四粒米，然后剩余方格的每一个都数量加倍。”
　　“Is that all?” asked the king. “Wouldn’t you like gold or silver instead?”
　　“就这些？”国王问。“难道你不想要黄金或白银吗？”
　　“No, just rice,” replied the old man.
　　“是的，就要大米，”老人回答说。
　　The king and the old man played the game for a long time, Finally, the old man won, Son the king ordered his men to collect a bag of rice. He put one grain on the first square, two on the second, and so on. The king quickly realized the problem-even with all the rice in the country, the would still not have enough rice to put on all the squares!
　　国王和老人玩了很长时间的游戏，最后，老人获胜。于是国王命令他的随从袋来一袋大米。他把一粒大米放在第一个方格里，两粒放在第二个方格里，以此类推。国王很快意识到一个问题，即便用尽国家的全部大米，他仍然没有足够的大米填满所有的方格。