Category: Chinese Words&Phrases

掩耳盗铃（Yǎn'ěr-dàolíng）
Cóngqián yǒu yí gè xiǎotōu, pǎo dào yí hù rénjiā lǐ xiǎng tōu diǎn dōngxī. Tā kànjiàn yuànzǐ lǐ guà zhe yì kǒu dàzhōng, gāoxìng jí le, xīnxiǎng: zhè kǒu zhōng yídìng hěn zhíqián! Yúshì, tā biàn xiǎng bǎ zhè kǒu zhōng bānhuí jiā qù. Kěshì, zhōng fēicháng chén, tā zěnme bān dōu bān bú dòng. Hòulái, tā xiǎng dào le yígè bànfǎ, nà jiùshì bǎ zhōng qiāosuì zhīhòu fènbié bān huíji. Xiǎo tōu zhǎo le yìbǎ dà chuízǐ, shǐjìn cháo zhōng záqù, kěshì, gāng yì zá jiù fā chū le hěndà de xiǎngshēng. Xiǎotōu huāng le, jímáng yòng shǒu wǔzhù ěrduǒ, jiéguǒ, zhōngshēng bújiàn le. Xiǎotōu xiǎng, wǔzhù zìjǐ de ěrduǒ, biérén jiù tīng bú jiàn zhōngshēng le, yúshì yòu kāishǐ zázhōng. Jiéguǒ, rénmen tīng dào zhōngshēng zhīhòu, quán dōu cóng jiā zhōng pǎo chūlái, yíxià jiù zhuāzhù le xiǎotōu.
从前有一个小偷，跑到一户人家里想偷点东西。他看见院子里挂着一口大钟，高兴极了，心想：这口钟一定很值钱！于是，他便想把这口钟搬回家去。可是，钟非常沉，他怎么搬都搬不动。后来，他想到了一个办法，那就是把钟敲碎之后分别搬回家。小偷找了一把大锤子，使劲朝钟砸去，可是，刚一砸就发出了很大的响声。小偷慌了，急忙用手捂住耳朵，结果，钟声不见了。小偷想，捂住自己的耳朵，别人就听不见钟声了，于是又开始砸钟。结果，人们听到钟声之后，全都从家中跑出来，一下就抓住了小偷。Plug One's Ears While Stealing a Bell—Deceive Oneself
In the ancient time, there was a thief who went to someone's house to steal. He saw a big bell hanging in the courtyard. The thief was very happy and he thought the bell looked valuable. Then, he decided to carry this beautiful bell back home. But the bell was too big and heavy. No matter how hard he tried, he could not move it. Later, he thought there was only one way to solve the problem. He had to break down the bell into parts before he was able to carry them back to his home. The thief found a big iron hammer, with which he struck the bell with all his might. But the striking produced a loud noise and even scared the thief. But when he covered up his ears he could no longer hear the noise. The thief became cheerful at once and thought the sound of the bell would not be heard by anyone if he covered up his own ears. Feeling relieved, he began striking the bell again, one blow after another. The sound of the bell was heard at distant places, and finally people caught the thief from tracing the sound.

买椟还珠（Mǎidú-huánzhū ）
Chūnqiū shíqī, yǒu yí gè chǔguó de zhūbǎo shāngrén zài zhèngguó zuò zhēnzhū shēngyì. Wèi le ràng shēngyì hónghuǒ, tā xuǎnyòng míngguì de mùliào, zuò chéng xiǎo mùxiá, bìng yòng xiāngliào, zhūbǎo děng bǎ mùxiá zhuāngshì dé fēicháng piāoliàng, ránhòu bǎ zhēnzhū fàng zài lǐ miàn shòumài.
春秋时期，有一个楚国的珠宝商人在郑国做珍珠生意。为了让生意红火，他选用名贵的木料，做成小木匣，并用香料、珠宝等把木匣装饰得非常漂亮，然后把珍珠放在里面售卖。
Yǒu yígè zhèngguó rén, kàn jiàn zhèxiē zhuāng zhēnzhū de mùxiá jì jīngzhì yòu měiguān, jiù mǎi le yígè. Tā fù wán qián hòu, dǎkāi mùxiá, bǎ lǐmiàn de zhēnzhū ná le chūlái, tuìhái gěi zhūbǎo shāng, zhī názhe mùxiá jiù líkāi le.
有一个郑国人，看见这些装珍珠的木匣既精致又美观，就买了一个。他付完钱后，打开木匣，把里面的珍珠拿了出来，退还给珠宝商，只拿着木匣就离开了。Keeping the glittering casket and giving back the pearls to the seller
In the period of Spring and Autumn, a jewelry dealer from Chu state was trading pearls in Zheng state. To make his pearls more popular, he put them in small caskets made of precious wood and luxuriously decorated these caskets with perfume and gem stones.
A person was very fond of these exquisite and beautiful caskets and bought one. After paying the money, he opened the casket, took the pearl out and gave it back to the dealer. He then left with the casket only.

拔苗助长 Bámiáo-zhùzhǎng
宋朝有个农夫，他种了一片庄稼，希望禾苗快点儿长大，庄稼早点儿成熟，就常常去农田里看。可是一天天过去了，禾苗好像一点都没长高。这个农夫着急了，于是他跑到农田里，亲手把禾苗一棵棵拔高了。然后，他疲惫不堪地回到家里，对家人说：“今天累坏我了，总算帮助禾苗长高啦！”他的儿子一听，赶紧跑到农田里去看，结果发现禾苗全都死了。In the Song Dynasty there was a peasant who planted a field of crops. He hoped that the rice shoots would grow a little faster, that the crops would ripen a little sooner, and so he would often go down to the field to take a look. However, day after day, it seemed that the rice shoots hadn't grown at all. This peasant got impatient and ran to the field, using his own hands to pull at each and every shoot. After a while, he became tired and returned home, saying to his family: "Today I've exhausted myself, but at least I've helped the rice shoots to grow!" On hearing this, his son immediately ran to the rice field. However, he discovered that all the rice shoots had died.

八仙过海Bāxiān-guòhǎi 传说吕洞宾等八位神仙途经东海去仙岛，只见巨浪汹涌。吕洞宾提议各自想办法过海。于是铁拐李把拐杖投到水里，自己立在水面过海；韩湘子以花篮击水而渡；吕洞宾、蓝采和、张果老、汉钟离、曹国舅、何仙姑也分别把自己的箫、拍板、纸驴、鼓、玉版、竹罩投到海里，站在上面过海。八位神仙都靠自己的神通渡过了东海。“八仙过海”就是根据这个传说而来。又叫做 “八仙过海，各显神通”。Once upon a time, Lu Dongbin and seven other immortals wanted to cross the East Sea and go to the land of fairies. When they arrived, the sea was extremely rough with turbulent waves. Lu Dongbin suggested each immortal cross the sea through his or her special skills. So Iron Crutch Li threw his instrument-the crutch and he stood on it and crossed the ocean. Han Xiangzi threw his flower basket and crossed the ocean. Lu Dongbin cast his bamboo flute, Lan Caihe threw his wooden boards, Elder Zhangguo put his paper donkey, Han Zhongli threw his drum, Cao Guojiu cast his jade plates, and He Xiangu threw her lotus into the sea. All of them have successfully crossed the stormy East Sea. The idiom "The eight immortals crossing the sea" came from this legend. The story is used to symbolize overcoming difficulties or doing something marvelous through someone's special skills.

按图索骥Àntú-suǒjì
春秋时，有个叫孙阳的人，擅长相马。为了让好马不再被埋没，他写了一本书，并且在书上画了各种马的形态图，书名叫《相马经》。In the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a man named Sun Yang who was an expert in judging horses. To never let the talent of good horses be buried, he wrote a book, The Appraisal of Horses, to illustrate the features and appearance of the good horses.
孙阳有个儿子，以为相马很容易，就拿着《相马经》到处找好马。他按照书上的图去找，没有找到。又按照书里写的特征去找，最后发现一只癞蛤蟆基本符合书中写的好马的特征，便高兴地把癞蛤蟆带回家，对父亲说：“爸爸，我找到了一匹好马，只是蹄子稍差些。”孙阳一看，哭笑不得。感叹道：“这就是所谓的按图索骥啊。”Sun Yang had a son who thought finding a steed was quite easy. He hoped to find one according to the descriptions in the book but always failed. One day he found a toad which fitted every characteristic of a steed as stated in the book. He took the toad home with great exaltation and told his father, “I have found a good horse corresponding to all the features you depict in your book, except for its hoofs are not good enough”. Sun Yang did not know whether to laugh or to cry at this. He gave a comment on his son's deed with a sigh: "What you've done is just rigidly looking for a steed to correspond with the drawing".