成語故事英文版

　　 聞雞起舞

　　In the Western Jin Dynasty there were two young men.One of them was Zu Ti and the other was Liu Kun.Both of them were men of ideals and integrity who were chivalrous and of a sanguine disposition.They not only wrote excellent articles but also were fond of practising martial arts to keep fit, in order to render meritorious service to the country.Both of them were chief clerks responsible for document administration in Luoyang.Although in appearance the Jin Dynasty had jurisdiction of the Central Plains comprising the middle and lower reaches of the Haunch and threatened by foreign invasion.Zu Ti and Liu Kun often talked about the country's situation till late into the night,and each time they talking very excitedly again.

　　西晉人祖逖和劉琨，都是性格開朗、仗義好俠的志士。年輕時不但文章寫得好，而且都喜歡練武健身，決心報效祖國。當時，晉朝表面上還管轄著中原大地，但實際上已是內憂外患，風雨飄搖了。祖逖和劉琨一談起國家局勢，總是慷慨萬分，常常聊到深夜。

　　Liu Kun fell asleep without knowing it,but Zu Ti was too excited to fall asleep." Cock-a-doodle-doo,"came the crow of rooster in the wasteland.Zu Ti jumped up and kicked Liu Kun awake:"Listen.How inspiring the rooster's crow is.Let's get up and practised on a slope.From then on,they kept practising sword playing vigorously and energetically in the wasteland every day when they heard the first crow in the morning.

　　一天，祖逖又和劉琨談得十分興奮，劉琨不知什麼時候睡著了，祖逖卻久久沉浸在談話的興奮之中，不能入睡。“喔，喔，喔--”荒原上的雄雞叫了起來，祖逖一躍而起，踢醒了劉琨：“聽，這雄雞啼鳴多麼振奮人心呀，快起來練劍吧!”於是，兩人操起劍來，在高坡上對舞。從此，他倆每天清早聽到頭一聲鳴叫，一定來到荒原上抖擻神練起劍來。

　　Deeply moved by Zu Ti's patriotic passion,Liu Kun was determined to devote himself to his homeland.Once he wrote to his family:"At the time when the country is in dire peril,I am resolved to dedicate myselt to the service of my country.I often fear that I might lag behind Zu Ti in rendering service to the country,and,in fact,I am behind him..."

　　劉琨被祖逖的愛國熱情深深感動，決心獻身於祖。一次他給家人的信中寫道：“在國家危難時刻，我經常‘枕戈待旦’***枕著兵器睡覺一直到天明***，立志報國，常擔心落在祖逖後邊，不想他到底走到我的前頭了!……”

　　The words" sleep with my head pillowed on a spear,waiting for the day to break"vividly described Liu Kun's determination to dedicate himself to the service of the country and to fight the enemy at any time.Later,this set phrase is used to mean maintaining sharp vigilance and being ready to fight at any time."

　　故事出自《晉書·祖逖傳》。“枕戈待旦”出自劉琨《與親故書》，形象地寫出了劉琨隨時準備殺敵報國的決心。後來用作成語，形容時刻警惕敵人，準備作戰。

　　 胸有成竹

　　In the song Dynasty ***960-1279***,there was a scholar whose name was Wen Tong and who styled himself Yuke. He was not only admired by others for his great learning, but also enjoyed widespread renown for his bamboo drawing. Every day there were always quite a few peoply who called at his house to ask for one of his bamboo drawings.

　　北宋畫家文同，字與可。他畫的竹子遠近聞名，每天總有不少人登門求畫。文同畫竹的妙訣在哪裡呢?

　　Actually, Wen Tong loved bamboos so much that he had grown various bamboos everywhere around his house. No matter what season it was and no matter whether it was sunny or rainy, he used to go to the bamboo forest to observe how they were growing. He pondered over the lenght and breadth of the bamboo poles as well as the shapes and colours of the leaves. Whenever he had gained a new understanding, he went back to his study, spread a piece of paper and prepareed some ink by rubbing an ink stick on an ink slab, and drew what was in his mind on the paper. Through accumulation over a long period of time, the images of the bamboo in different seasons, under different weather conditions and at different moments were deeply imprinted in his mind.So whenever he stood before the paper and picked up a painting brush with concentrated attention, the various forms of the bamboo which he had observed at ordinary times at once rose before his eyes. And so every time he was drawing bamboos he appeared confident and at ease, and all the bamboos he had painted were very vivid and true to lift.

　　原來，文同在自己家的房前屋後種上各種樣的竹子，無論春夏秋冬，陰睛風雨，他經常去竹林觀察竹子的生長變化情況，琢磨竹枝的長短粗細，葉子的形態、顏色，每當有新的感受就回到書房，鋪紙研墨，把心中的印象畫在紙上。目積月累，竹子在不同季節、不同天氣、不同時辰的形象都深深地印在他的心中，只要凝神提筆，在畫紙前一站，平日觀察到的各種形態的竹子立刻浮現在眼前。所以每次畫竹，他都顯得非常從容自信，畫出的竹子，無不逼真傳神。

　　When people spoke highly of his paintings, he always said modestly that he had just put the images of the bamboo imprinted in his mind on the paper.

　　當人們誇獎他的畫時，他總是謙虛地說：“我只是把心中琢磨成熟的竹子畫下來罷了。”

　　A young man wanted to learn bamboo drawing; when he knew that Chao Buzhi had made a profound study of Wen Tong's art of drawing, he went to Chao Buzhi for instruction. Chao Buzhi wrote a poem to him. In the poem, there are the following two lines:

　　When Yuke was painting the bamboos,

　　He bad their images ready in his bosom.

　　有位青年想學畫竹，得知詩人晁補之對文同的畫很有研究，前往求教。晃補之寫了一首詩送給他，其中有兩句：“與可畫竹，胸中有成竹。”

　　Later people have summarized the lines as " having had the images of the bamboo ready in one's bosom," which means having had ready plans or designs in one's mind before doing a certain job so that its success is guaranteed. It is also used go mean being calm and cool - headed in dealing with things.

　　“胸有成竹”，比喻做事之前已作好充分準備，對事情的成功已有了十分的把握;又比喻遇事不慌，十分沉著。

　　This story comes from an article writted by Su Shi concerning Wen Yuke's art of bamboo drawing.

　　故事出自北宋蘇軾《文與可谷偃竹記》。

　　 指鹿為馬

　　In the reign of Emperor the Second of the Qin Dynasty ***221-207 B.C.***, the prime minister Zhao Gao, obsessed with ambitions, was planning to usurp the throne day and night. But he did not know how many of the ministers in the court were allowed to be ordered about by him and how many of them were his opponents. So he thought out a way to test how high his prestige among the ministers was and also to find out who dared to oppose him.

　　秦二世時，丞相趙高野心勃勃，日夜盤算著要篡奪皇位。可朝中大臣有多少人能聽他擺佈，有多少人反對他，他心中沒底。於是，他想了一個辦法，準備試一試自己的威信，同時也可以摸清敢於反對他的人。

　　One day when court was held, Zhao Gao let someone bring a stag to the court and, with a broad smile on his face, he said to Emperor the Second of the Qin Dynasty:"Your Majesty, here is a fine horse I'm presenting to you." Looking at the animal, Emperor the Second thought that it was obviously a stag and that it couldn't be a horse. So he said smilingly to Zhao Gao:"Mister Prime Minister, you are wrong. This is a stay. Why do you say it is a horse?" Remaining calm, Zhao Gao said:"Will your Majesty please see more clearly? This really is a horse that covers a thousand li a day." Filled with suspicion, Emperor the Second looked at the stag again and said:"How can the antlers be grown on the head of a horse?" Turning around and pointing his finger at the ministers, Zhao Gao said in a loud voice:"if our Majesty do not believe me, you can ask the ministers."

　　一天上朝時，趙高讓人牽來一隻鹿，滿臉堆笑地對秦二世說：“陛下，我獻給您一匹好馬。”秦二世一看，心想：這哪裡是馬，這分明是一隻鹿嘛!便笑著對趙高說：“丞相搞錯了，這裡一隻鹿，你怎麼說是馬呢?”趙高面不改色心不跳地說：“請陛下看清楚，這的確是一匹千里馬。”秦二世又看那隻鹿，將信將疑地說：“馬的頭上怎麼會長角呢?”趙高一轉身，用手指著眾大臣，大聲說：“陛下如果不信我的話，可以問問眾位大臣。”

　　The nonsense of Zhao Gao made the ministers totally at a lose, and they whispered to themselves: What tricks was Zhao Gao playing? Was it not obvious whether it was a stag or a horse? But when they saw the sinister smile on Zhao Gao's face and his two rolling eyes which were gazing at each of them, they suddenly understood his evil intentions.

　　大臣們都被趙高的一派胡言搞得不知所措，私下裡嘀咕：這個趙高搞什麼名堂?是鹿是馬這不是明擺著嗎!當看到趙高臉上露出陰險的笑容，兩隻眼睛骨碌碌輪流地盯著趙高臉上露出陰險的笑容，兩隻眼睛骨碌碌輪流地盯著每個人的時候，大臣們忽然明白了他的用意。

　　Some of the ministers who were timid and yet had a sense of right eousness did not dare to say anything, because to tell lies would make their conscience uneasy and to tell the truth would mean that they would be persecuted by Zhao Gao later. Some ministers with a sense of justice persisted that it was a stag and not a horse. There were still some crafty and fawning ministers who followed Zhao Gao closely in ordinary times. They immediately voiced their support to Zhao Gao, saying to the emperor:"This really in a horse that covers a thousand li a day."

　　一些膽小又有正義感的人都低下頭，不敢說話，因為說假話，對不起自己的良心，說真話又怕日後被趙高所害。有些正直的人，堅持認為是說明書而不是馬。還有一些平時就緊跟趙高的奸佞之人立刻表示擁護趙高的說法，對皇上說，“這確是一匹千里馬!”

　　After the event, Zhao Gao punished by various means those ministers with a sense of justice who were not obedient to him, even with whole families of some of those ministers executed.

　　事後，趙高通過各種手段把那些不順從自己的正直大臣紛紛治罪，甚至滿門抄斬。

　　This story appears in "The Life of the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty" in The Historical Records written by Sima Qian. From this story people have derived the set phrase "calling a stag a horse" to mean deliberately misrepresenting some thing and misleading the public.

　　故事出自《史記·秦始皇本紀》。成語“指鹿為馬”比喻故意顛倒是非，混淆黑白。