中國(guó)寓言故事-英文版

1、畫蛇添足Once upon a time, there was a n oblema n who gave some wine to his serva nts The wine was not eno ugh for all. The serva nts fin ally decided whoever first finished drawing a snake on the ground would get the cup of wine. One of the servants finished drawing first. He took up the cup and was abo

2、ut to drink the wine whe n he thought of addi ng feet to the snake He went on drawing. Then another servant finished drawing his sn ake. He sn atched the wine cup and drank up the wine say ingft is I who first finished drawing the snake. What you have drawn is not a snake. A sn ake does nt have fee”

3、.杞人憂天In the Spring and Autumn Period, in the State of Qi, there was a man who always let his imagi nati on run away with him. One day he eve n worried that the sky would fall on his head. He was so worried that he could n either eat nor sleep. Later, some one persuaded him that his fears were gro un

4、 d-less. This idiom satirizes those who worry unn ecessarily.東施效顰In the Spring and Autumn Period （春秋時(shí)期,770-476 BC）, there was a beauty in the State of Yue called Xishi. She often suffered from pains in her chest, and so she would ofte n walk around doubled over and with her brows knitted. There was

5、an ugly girl in the village called Dongshi who envied Xishi. Striving to emulate Xishi, she imitated her stoop, knitting her brows at the same time. She thought that this made her elegant, but in fact, it only made her more ugly. Later, this idiom came to be used to in dicate improper imitatio n tha

6、t produces the reverse effect.草木皆兵In AD 383, the king of Former Qin （秦朝）,Fu Jian （f U苻堅(jiān)鬲 n led a huge army to attack Eastern Jin. After losing the first round of fighting, Fu Jian looked down from a city wall, and was terrified when he saw the formidable battle array of the Eastern Jin army. And the

7、n looking at the mountains around, he mistook the grass and trees for enemy soldiers. As a result, whe n the n ervous Fu Jia n led his army into battle, it suffered a crushing defeat. This idiom describes how one can defeat on eself by imagi ng difficulties.塞翁失馬Near Chinas northern borders lived a m

8、an well versed in the practices of Taoism. His horse, for no reason at all, got into the territory of the n orther n tribes. Every one commiserated with him.Perhaps this will soon tur n out to be a bless in g, said his father.After a few mon ths, his ani mal came back, leadi ng a fine horse from the

9、 no rth. Every one con gratulated him.Perhaps this will soon tur n out to be a cause of misfort un e, said his father.Since he was well-off and kept good horses, his son became fond of ridi ng and eve ntually broke his thigh bone falli ng from a horse. Every one commiserated with him.Perhaps this will soon tur n out to be a bless in g, said his father.One year later, the northern tribes started a big invasion of the border regions. All able-bodied young men took up arms and fought against the invaders, and as a result, a