成语故事 英语译文

An official of the ancient State of Chu awarded a pot of wine to his men after the ceremony of Spring Sacrifice. One man said，“We have only one pot of wine. It's not enough for all of us but sufficient for one. Let's determine who'll have the wine by drawing a snake on the ground. He who finishes first will have the wine.”

The others agreed. Very soon，one man finished his snake. He was about to drink the wine when he saw the others were still busy drawing. He said complacently，“How slowly you are！I still have enough time to add feet to my snke.”But before he finished the feet，another man finished his snke and grabbed the pot from him，saying，“Whoever has seen a snake with feet？Yours is not a snke. So the wine should be mine！”He drank the wine. The man adding the feet to the snake had to give in and could only regret his foolishness.

From that story comes the idiom “Draw a snake and add feet to it”。Now people use this idiom to illustrate the truth that going too far is as bad as not going far enough.

译文：

楚国有一个官员，在春天祭过了祖宗之后，便将一壶酒赏给他的办事人员喝。有人提议：“我们只有一壶酒，肯定不够我们大家喝的，一个人喝倒是绰绰有余。我们每人在地上画一条蛇，谁画得最快，就把这壶酒给他。”大家都同意了。

有一个人很快就把蛇画好了。他正打算喝这壶酒时，看见别人都还忙着画呢。他就得意扬扬地说：“你们画得好慢呀，等我再画上几只脚吧！”他的蛇脚还没画完，另一个人已经把蛇画好了。那人把酒壶夺了过去说：“有谁见过长脚的蛇？你画的不是蛇，这壶酒应该是我的了。”说罢，就喝起酒来。那个给蛇画脚的人没办法，只能懊悔自己的愚蠢。

“画蛇添足”这个成语就是从这个故事来的。现在人们用它来说明这么个道理：做的过分和做的不够是一样有害的。

一鸣惊人

Amazing the World with a Single Feat

战国时代，齐威王即位后做了三年国君，只顾享乐，不理政事。有个善于说笑话的人叫淳于髡，一天对齐威王说：“城里有一只大鸟，三年不飞也不叫，你知道这是什么道理？”齐威王说：“这鸟不飞则罢，一飞就冲天；不鸣则罢，一鸣就惊人。”在淳于髡的激发下，齐威

王开始治理国家，取得很大成绩，齐国的声威一直保持了几十年。

In the Warring States Period, Duke Wei of Qi neglected state affairs, for the first three years of his reign, giving himself over to dissipation. One of his ministers, Chun Yukun who had a good sense of humour, said to him: 'There is a big bird which has neither taken wing nor sung for three years.' The duke answered, 'Once that bird starts to fly and sing, it will astonish the world.' The duke thereupon devoted himself to his duties and built his state up into a powerful one.

“一鸣惊人”用来表示平时默默无闻，一旦行动起来，却做出惊人的成绩。

This idiom is used to indicate that a person may rise from obscurity and achieve greatness.

春秋时代，杞国有一个喜欢胡思乱想的人。一天，他竟然想到，天会塌下来，地会陷下去，自己到哪里去安身？这个人越想越害怕，整天愁眉苦脸，坐立不安，白天吃不下饭，晚上睡不着觉。后来有人耐心地开到他，他才放下了心。

“杞人忧天”这个成语讥笑那些没有必要或是毫无根据的忧虑。

The Man of Qi who Worried That the Sky Would Fall

In the Spring and Autumn Period, in the State of Qi there was a man who always let his imagination run away with him. One day he even worried that the sky would fall on his head. He was so worried that he could neither eat nor sleep. Later, someone persuaded him that his fears were Ground-less.