經典勵志的英文小故事

　　有時間的時候多看看，這樣有利於提高自己的閱讀理解能力，那麼都有哪些呢?一起來看看吧。

　　：驚弓之鳥

　　A bird startled by the mere twang of a bow-string

　　During the time of the Warring States ***475-221 BC***， there lived a well-known archer named Geng Ying whose art in shooting was excelled by none at his time.

　　One day, as he was standing by the side of the King of Wei, a flock of swan geese were flying over. With confidence, Geng Ying said to the king, "The twang of my bow-string might bring down a bird." The King doubted much. Just then a solitary swan goose appeared, low and slow in its flight, sad and dolorous in its cry. Instantly Geng Ying bended his bow and forcibly pulled the bowstring. Twang! High up went he shrilling sound into the air and down fell the bird to the ground. The king admired with bewilderment. Gang Ying then explained: "The bird was flying low and slow, because it was already hurt; it was crying in a bitter tone, because it had lost its companions. Due to the fact that it was already hurt and sad at heart, the twang of my strong bow, that birds dreaded most, startled it. The shrilling sound made its heart beat fast, its wings weak, its balance uneven. Thus it fell down just as commonly as a man drops his chop-sticks, at the thunder-stroke, at a dinner table." Henceforth comes the idiom "A bird startled by the mere twang of a bow-string", illustrating a case where a man who had been previously and repeatedly frightened became numb and stupefied by a new thing of the same nature not knowing how to face the new situation.

　　驚弓之鳥

　　戰國時期，有個傑出的弓箭手，叫做更贏。他的射箭本領在當時可稱是舉世無雙。有一天，他和魏王並肩站著，天空中忽然飛過一群鴻雁。更贏很自信的對魏王說："我可以用弓聲就把飛鳥給打下來。"魏王很懷疑。正在那是，一隻孤雁很低很慢的飛過。鳴聲悽慘。更贏見了，就張著弓，扣著弦，砰的一聲，直入雲宵。那孤雁果然應聲落地。魏王驚歎之餘，不明白這是怎麼回事。更贏解釋說："那孤雁飛得低且慢，因為它已經受過傷;它鳴叫的聲音悲而哀，因為它離了群。身傷心碎，使它心跳加速，兩翼無力，體重失去平衡，正如人們吃飯時，突然聽見雷聲，筷子落地的情況一樣自然而平常。

　　後人根據上面的故事，做成了"驚弓之鳥"這個成語，形容先前多次受過驚嚇的人，忽然遇到同樣可怕的事物，就嚇得魂飛魄散，驚惶失措，不知如何去應付新的環境。

　　：網開一面

　　Give the wrong-doer a way out

　　Beginning with Yu the GREat, the Xia Dynasty had lasted about four hundred years before Jie became the supreme ruler.

　　And that was in the 18th century BC. Jie was extremely tyrannical and dissolute. This aroused GREat resentment among the people. Tang, the Chief of the tribe Shang took advantage of this situation to overthrow the Xia Dynasty and established the Shang Dynasty in the early 17th century BC. Among the preparations for the overthrow had been the winning over of popular support.

　　One day, Tang was having a walk in the open country. He saw a man catching birds with a big net spread in a box-like and mumbling: "Come on, birds! Come into my net. All of you, whether you are flying high or low, east or west. Come into my net!"

　　Tang walked over and said to the man, "This method is ruthless! You'll spare no birds this way!" With these words, he cut the net down on three sides. Then he murmured in a light voice as if praying: "Oh, birds! Fly to the left or right as you like. And if you're really tired of your life, come into this net!"

　　When chiefs of other tribes heard about this, they were all moved. They said, "Tang is a good king indeed. He is so kind even to birds and beasts. He must be more merciful to human beings." And very soon, about forty tribes pledged allegiance to Tang.

　　From that story came the idiom "Open the net on three sides". Later, people changed it into "Give the wrong-doer a way out."， indicating to be lenient to the wrong-doers.

　　網開一面

　　從大禹到桀，夏朝一共持續了四百多年的歷史。

　　那是在公元前十八世紀。桀是個極端殘暴，放蕩的人。他激起了人民的極度不滿。部落商的領袖湯利用這個形勢，推翻了夏朝，並在公元前十七世紀早期建立了商朝。在準備這場推翻夏朝的行動中，湯贏得了廣泛的支援。

　　一天，湯在一片開闊的田野裡散步。他看見一個人正在捕鳥。那人支開一張像籠子般的大網，喃喃的說："來吧，鳥兒們!飛到我的網裡來。無論是飛得高的還是低的，向東還是向西的，所有的鳥兒都飛到我的網裡來吧!"

　　湯走過去對那個人說："你這種方法太殘忍了!這樣作你連一隻鳥也不放過!"

　　一邊說著，湯砍斷了三面網。然後，像做祈禱那樣，他輕輕的低聲說道，"哦，鳥兒們，喜歡向左飛的，就向左飛;喜歡向右飛的，就向右飛;如果你真的厭倦了你的生活，就飛入這張網咖!"

　　其它部落的首領得知這件事後都非常感動。他們說："湯真是一位賢王啊。他對鳥獸都如此仁慈，何況是對人呢?" 不久就有四十多個部落宣誓效忠湯。

　　"網開三面"這個成語就是由此而來的。後來，人們把它改為"網開一面"，表示寬容的對待做錯事的人。

　　：大公無私

　　Perfectly impartial

　　During the Spring and Autumn Period ***770-476 BC***, a very noble official caled Qi Huangyang lived in the State of Jin. One day, the king summoned him to court and asked, "Now that the magistrate position of Nanyang county is vacant, who do you think is suitable for the post?"

　　"Xie Hu is the right man for the job," Qi replied without hesitation.

　　Surprised, the king asked, "Did you say Xie Hu? I thought he's your enemy. Why did you recommend him to take such an important position?"

　　Smiling, Qi Huangyang said, "Your Majesty didn't ask me my personal opinions o Xie Hu. You simply asked me who I thought would be competent for the position. Therefore I recommended Xie Hu.

　　the king followed Qi's advice and made Xie Hu magistrate of Nanyang county. And sure enough, Xie Hu administered the county very well and won respect from local people and his colleagues.

　　Some days later, the king again asked Qi Huangyang for his opinions. This time, the king was trying to find a suitable candidate for a court judge position. Qi Huangyiang recommended Qi Wu for the job. Once again, the king was surprised again by the recommendation because Qi Wu was the son of Qi Huangyang. The king asked: "Who do you recommend your son? Aren't you afraid people will gossip?"

　　Qi Huangyang replied, "Your Majesty, you asked me who was the most capable person for the position of a judge, and I think Qi Wu is."

　　Although the king was a bit hesitant about making Qi Wu the judge, he nevertheless gave him the position. As it turned out, Qi Wu was an upright and talented judge, who people GREatly respected.

　　Qi Huangyang's actions were praised by Confucius who said, "Qi Huangyang was right. He recommended people according to their abilities and talents, not because of personal sentiments， not because of fearing others' gossip. Therefore, people like Qi Huangyang are referred to as people "without selfish motives".

　　From Confucious' comment came the idiom "Unselfish". Anyone who handles affairs fairly and impartially can be described as "Unselfish; Perfectly impartial".

　　大公無私

　　春秋時，晉國有位品格非常高尚的大臣祁黃羊。有一次，晉王召祁黃羊入宮問他："南陽縣缺個縣令，你看，應該派誰去當比較合適呢?」祁黃羊毫不遲疑地回答說："解狐去，最合適了。"平公驚奇的問他："你是說解狐? 他不是你的仇人嗎?你為什麼還要推薦他擔任這麼重要的職位?"

　　祁黃羊笑著說："陛下只問我什麼人能夠勝任這個職位，並沒有問我對解狐的個人看法呀!因此我推薦解狐。"於是，晉王採納了他的建議，派解狐到南陽縣去上任了。當然，解狐到任後，治理有方，他的同僚和當地百姓都尊敬他。

　　過了一些日子，平公又向祁黃羊徵求意見。這回，晉王想找個合適的人選擔任朝廷法官。"祁黃羊推薦了祁午。平公又奇怪起來了，因為祁午是祁黃羊的兒子。他問道："你怎麼推薦你的兒子，不怕別人講閒話嗎?"祁黃羊說："陛下只問我誰最是合適的，我認為祁午是。"

　　儘管晉王還有些猶豫，他還是派了祁午去做法官。事實證明，祁午是個正直，有才能的法官，很受人們的愛戴。孔子聽說這兩件事，十分稱讚祁黃羊。孔子說: "祁黃羊是對的。他推薦人，完全是以才能做標準，不因為個人偏見，便不推薦他;也不因為怕人議論，便不推薦。像黃祁羊這樣的人，才夠得上說"大公無私"啦!"

　　"大公無私"這個成語就是由孔子的評論而來的，用來形容那些公正無私處理事物的人。

　　：大義滅親

　　Uphold justice at the cost of one's blood relation

　　During the Spring and Autumn Period ***770-476BC***, there was many dukedoms under the king of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. These dukedoms often fought one another to expand their territories. And within a dukedom, the struggle for power frequently occurred. A typical case was the murder of the Duke of Wei by his younger brother Zhou Xu.

　　Zhou Xu committed the crime with the help of an important official called Shi Hou. Eventually, Zhou Xu became duke himself. Then he launched wars against other dukedoms and the people suffered. There were complaints and resentments all around.

　　When he learned about this, Zhou Xu was worried. He talked with Shi Hou about how to stabilize the situation and win back people's confidence. Shi Hou said:"That's easy. I'll ask my father to speak for us. He is highly esteemed by all the officials and the people. I'm sure he'll help us out."

　　Shi Hou's father, Shi Que, had been a high-ranking official serving under the former duke. He resigned when Zhu Xu seized power. He hated Zhou Xu for his murder of the former duke. He also hated his own son, Shi Hou, for his part in the murder.

　　Now, Shi Hou came and asked him for help. the father said, "A duke' ascendance to power should be granted by the king. If the king approved it, all the problems will be solved."

　　"But how can we bet the king's approval?" Shi Hou asked his father. The old man said, "The Duke of Chen is trusted by the king and his dukedom has good relationship with ours. If you and Zhou Xu go to the Duke of Chen and ask him for help, I'm sure he is willing to say a good word for you before the king."

　　Shi Hou passed his father's word to Zhu Xu and they went to the Dukedom of Chen. But before they arrived, the old man sent an express letter in secret to the Duke of Chen asking him to kill the two murderers.

　　As soon as Zhou Xu and Shi Hou arrived in the Dukedom of Chen, they were arrested. Some officials from Wei made a special trip to Chen to kill the two men. They put Zhou Xu to death but hesitated to kill Shi Hou because of his father. When the old man learnt about this, he said firmly :'My son has also committed the murder of the duke. What's the good to have him in the world!" he sent his own man to Chen and beheaded Shi Hou. Later historians commented: "To safeguard the interest of the country, Shi Que did not bend the law for the benefit of his relative. It's really a case of cutting off consanguinity for the sake of righteousness!" Hence comes the idiom "Uphold justice at the cost of one's blood relation".

　　大義滅親

　　春秋時期，在東周周天子的統治下有許多小公國。這些國家常常為了擴大自己的領土而互相爭鬥。而且，在一個公國內部，權力之爭也時常發生。衛國的州籲殺害自己的哥哥――衛國的公爵就是一個典型的例子。

　　在一個重要的大臣石厚的幫助下，州籲殺害了他的哥哥。最後，他作了衛國的公爵。接著，他發動了同其他公國的戰爭，使衛國人民經受了很多痛苦。人們怨聲載道。

　　州籲對此也很擔憂。他與石厚商量如何鞏固政局，贏得百姓的信任。石厚說："這個容易。大臣和百姓們都十分尊敬我的父親，我去請他出來為我們說話。這樣我肯定他能幫我們解決這個問題。"

　　石厚的父親石碏曾是前任公爵的上卿。州籲奪權後，他辭去了官職。他痛恨州籲殺害了前任公爵。同時，他也恨自己的兒子石厚，因為他參與了這場謀殺。現在，石厚來向他求助。石碏說："諸侯接位，應該得到周天子的許可。只要他同意了，所有的問題都好解決。

　　"可是怎麼讓周天子會同意嗎?" 石厚問。老人說："陳國公爵受到周天子的信任，而且陳國和我國關係很好。如果你和州籲先去陳國,向他求助，我肯定他會樂意在周天子面前為你們說好話的。"

　　石厚把他父親的主意告訴了州籲，然後他們來到了陳國。但在他們到達前，石碏已經祕密快信送至陳國公爵，要求他殺死這兩名凶手。

　　州籲和石厚一到陳國，就被抓了起來。衛國的大臣特地到陳國去執法處死這兩個人。他們斬了州籲，但對石厚是否要被斬首很遲疑，因為他畢竟是石碏的親兒子。當老人得知這個情況後，他堅定的說："我兒子殺衛公有罪，留他在這世上何用?" 他派家臣去陳國斬了石厚。

　　後來，史學家們評論道："為了維護國家的利益，石碏不因親人而違法。實在是大義滅親呀!"成語"大義滅親"由此而來。