{"id":7850,"date":"2019-10-05T21:46:16","date_gmt":"2019-10-05T21:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/chinese-reading\/story-behind-the-idiom-lose-the-axe-suspect-the-neighbor-2\/"},"modified":"2019-10-05T21:46:16","modified_gmt":"2019-10-05T21:46:16","slug":"story-behind-the-idiom-lose-the-axe-suspect-the-neighbor-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/vi\/story-behind-the-idiom-lose-the-axe-suspect-the-neighbor-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Story Behind the Idiom: Lose the Axe, Suspect the neighbor"},"content":{"rendered":"
Been a little while since I posted, I’ve been a bit wrapped up in my new iPad app, Hanzi Reader, which is, may I say, amazing for reading practice. It’s very much like this site, except you can choose any Chinese text you like, copy-paste it into the reader, the reader analyses the text. After the analysis is complete, pushing any word in the text pops up an English and pinyin translation – truly a wo<\/em>nderful reading tool.
Read Simplified Chinese: Read Chinese CharactersThe “Story Behind the Idiom” posts are my favorite to put up, they’re not o<\/em>nly helpful in remember idioms, they’re usually pretty interesting to read. This one is a lower intermediate text.
At the end of the first paragraph, the protago<\/em>nist says, ““\u6211\u65e9\u5c31\u770b\u51fa\u90a3\u4e2a\u5bb6\u4f19\u4e0d\u662f\u4e2a\u597d\u4e1c\u897f\u3002” This translates to “I always thought that guy was no good.” But why use the term “\u4e1c\u897f”, or “thing”, instead of “person”? In Chinese, when you refer to a person as \u4e1c\u897f, or “thing”, this is a form of insult. In English, an equivalent might be the phrase “you worthless thing!” So we can understand from the use of the word \u4e1c\u897f in this sentence that the protago<\/em>nist really doesn’t like the person he’s speaking a<\/em>bout.
Click to Listen
\u65a7\u5b50 – f\u01d4 zi – Axe
\u90bb\u5c45 – lín j\u016b – Neighbor
\u8a00\u884c – yán xíng – Words and Actions
\u795e\u60c5 – shén qíng – Look, ex<\/em>pression
\u65ad\u5b9a – duàn dìng – To conclude
\u5bb6\u4f19 – ji\u0101 huo – Guy, chap
\u780d\u67f4 – k\u01cen chái – Chop firewood
\u6000\u7591 – huán yí – To doubt, to suspect
\u6839\u672c – g\u0113n b\u011bn – At all, in any way
\u80e1\u4e71 – hú luàn – Careless, reckless
\u731c\u7591 – c\u0101i yí – Suspicious
\u6709\u4eba\u4e22\u5931\u4e86\u4e00\u628a\u65a7\u5b50\uff0c\u600e\u4e48\u627e\u4e5f\u6ca1\u6709\u627e\u5230\u3002\u540e\u6765\u4ed6\u8ba4\u4e3a\u662f\u90bb\u5c45\u7684\u513f\u5b50\u5077\u53bb\u4e86\uff0c\u4ed6\u6ce8\u610f\u5230\u90bb\u5c45\u7684\u5b69\u5b50\u7684\u8a00\u884c\uff0c\u795e\u60c5\u600e\u4e48\u770b\u90fd\u8c61\u662f\u4e00\u4e2a\u5c0f\u5077\u3002\u4e8e\u662f\u4ed6\u65ad\u5b9a\u662f\u90a3\u4e2a\u5b69\u5b50\u5077\u53bb\u4e86\uff0c\u5fc3\u91cc\u8fd8\u5bf9\u8bf4\uff0c“\u6211\u65e9\u5c31\u770b\u51fa\u90a3\u4e2a\u5bb6\u4f19\u4e0d\u662f\u4e2a\u597d\u4e1c\u897f\u3002”
\u7b2c\u4e8c\u5929\uff0c\u4ed6\u4e0a\u5c71\u780d\u67f4\u65f6\u5728\u4e00\u68f5\u6811\u8fb9\u4e0a\u53d1\u73b0\u4e86\u4e22\u5931\u7684\u65a7\u5b50\u3002\u73b0\u5728\u4ed6\u624d\u60f3\u8d77\u6765\uff0c\u539f\u6765\u662f\u524d\u5929\u5fd8\u8bb0\u5728\u8fd9\u91cc\u4e86\u3002\u4ed6\u540e\u6094\u968f\u4fbf\u7684\u6000\u7591\u90bb\u5c45\u7684\u5b69\u5b50\u3002\u56de\u5bb6\u540e\uff0c\u518d\u770b\u90a3\u4e2a\u5b69\u5b50\u7684\u8a00\u884c\u548c\u795e\u60c5\uff0c\u6839\u672c\u4e0d\u8c61\u662f\u5077\u4e1c\u897f\u7684\u4eba\u3002\u4e8e\u662f\u4ed6\u53c8\u5bf9\u8bf4\uff0c“\u6211\u65e9\u5c31\u60f3\u8fc7\uff0c\u4ed6\u4e0d\u662f\u90a3\u79cd\u5077\u4e1c\u897f\u7684\u4eba\u3002”\u3000\u3000 \u3000\u3000
\u540e\u6765\u4eba\u4eec\u5c31\u7528“\u5931\u65a7\u7591\u90bb”\u5f62\u5bb9\u4e3b\u89c2\u81c6\u9020\u3001\u80e1\u4e71\u731c\u7591\u3002
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There o<\/em>nce was a man who lost his axe, and though he searched all over for it he still couldn’t find it. After a while he thought it must have been that the neighbor’s son stole it, so he began to take note of the child’s ex<\/em>pressions, words and actions and thought they were all those of a thief. Thus, he co<\/em>ncluded that it was the neighbor’s kid that stole it, and in his heart he said, “I always thought that guy was no good.”
On the second day, when he went up the mountain to chop firewood and at the side of a tree he found his lost axe. Now he finally remembered that he’d actually forgotten it there two days before. He regretted casually suspecting his neighbor’s child. After he returned home, he took another look at the child’s behavior, words and actions, and he didn’t seem at all like a person who would steal anything. So he said, “I’ve always thought that [that kid] is not the kind of person who would steal”. \u3000 \u3000\u3000
After this, people have used the phrase “Lose the Axe and Suspect the Neighbor” to describe inventing subjective feelings and careless suspicions.
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