Chinese Idiom:黔驴技穷 (qián lǘ jì qióng)

Long long ago,in ancient China, there were no donkeys in Guizhou (guì zhōu 贵州) province. One day,a man brought a donkey from somewher else by boating,only to found that the big animal was futile indeed,so he tied it to a tree at the foot of a hill.

A tiger happened to see the donkey,and thought it must be a powerful monster simply juding from its giant figure and hence dared not to get close to it. However,the tiger didn’t plan give up that early,instead,it hid behind a tree and observed the donkey secretly.

Suddenly,the donkey brayed,the tiger was frightened to death,thinking the donkey was going to bite it. But to its surprise,the donkey took no action at all after the shout. Some time later,the tiger made its mind to come forward to provoke the donkey. The donkey became extremely angry this time,and tried hard to kick the tiger but fruitlessly. The tiger thought to itself:"It that then all the stupid donkey is capable of?" It then attacked the donkey fiercely and enjoyed a wonderful meal. This idiom now is used to refer to someone has used up his tricks.

很久很久以前,在中国的贵州省并没有驴。一天,有个多事的人用船运来了一头驴,运来后却发现没有什么用处,就把驴拴在了山脚下的一棵树上。

山上的老虎发现了这头驴,觉得它体型庞大,看起来是个不好惹的家伙。于是,它躲在树后面远远地观望着。突然,驴子大叫了一声,老虎被吓坏了,以为这个怪物会咬它。但是出人意料的是,驴子并没有采取任何行动。过了一会儿,老虎决定上前去挑衅毛驴。这一次,毛驴愤怒地用蹄子去踢老虎,但是却非常笨拙无力。老虎心里想:“你的本领不过就是如此啊!”于是立刻扑过去,一口把它咬死吃掉了。这个成语比喻仅有的一点本事也用完了,再没有别的办法了。

黔驴技穷 (qián lǘ jì qióng)
【翻译】At one’s wit’s end.
【释义】比喻有限的一点本领也已经用完了,再也无计可施了。
【例句】这个凶恶的歹徒终于黔驴技穷,被警察成功地逮住了。
【近义词】无计可施、束手无策
【反义词】神通广大、力大无穷

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