Chinese Idioms Learning (18)

Chinese Idioms Learning (18)
Jan 4, 2008 00:00
ZOEY Points: Join Date: Nov 29, 2004 Status: offline	Source: www.jsedu.net. No.1 望洋兴叹 (Wang 4 Yang 2 Xing 1 Tan 4). It means "Lamenting One's Littleness before the Vast Ocean." Story: Tradition has it that many,many years ago,there lived on the Yellow River a river god known as He Bo.One day ,He Bo stood on the riverbank and watched the turbulent waves from the west surging forward to the east.He said both excitedly and conceitedly:"How big the Yellow River is !No other river on earth can compare with it.And therefore I am the greatest river god." One man said to him,"You are wrong.There is a place to the east of the Yellow Rivers called the North Sea.The North Sea is really big."He Bo said,"I don't believe it .Big as the North Sea is, can it be bigger than Yellow River?"The man said,"Should the water of several Yellow River flow into the North sea,it could not fill the North Sea,let alone one Yellow River. " He Bo said obstinately,"I don't believe it,for I have never been to the North Sea." Having no alternative,the man said,"You will not be able to" understand what I mean until you have a chance to see the North Sea for yourself." Winter came,and torrential rain had been falling for days on end.Rivers big and small emptied themselves into the Yellow River,making the Yellow River even broader.Standing on one side of the river,people could hardly tell what animals the oxen and horses on the other side of the river were.Thus He Bo was even more proud,thinking that all the magnificent sights were accumulated here.Then ,remembering the North Sea which had been mentioned to him before,he decided to go there and have a look. He went downstream,and arrived at the river mouth to the sea.Suddenly,the god of the North Sea,whose name was Biennia Ruo,appeared before his eyes.With a smile,Beihai Ruo was welcoming He Bo to the North sea.He looked ahead,and saw that the North Sea,with its vast expanse of water,was boundless.With a dull look in his eyes,He Bo stood there for a while.Finally he said to Beihai Ruo with deep feeling,"As the common saying goes,some people go so far as to think that they are more knowledgeable than anybody else when they have got some knowledge.Actually I am one of such people.If I had not seen with that the Yellow River is matchless in the world.If I remained like that, I would be laughed at for ever by sensible people."

Jan 4, 2008 00:00

ZOEY
Points:
Join Date: Nov 29, 2004
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Source: www.jsedu.net.

No.1 望洋兴叹 (Wang 4 Yang 2 Xing 1 Tan 4). It means "Lamenting One's Littleness before the Vast Ocean."

Story: Tradition has it that many,many years ago,there lived on the Yellow River a river god known as He Bo.One day ,He Bo stood on the riverbank and watched the turbulent waves from the west surging forward to the east.He said both excitedly and conceitedly:"How big the Yellow River is !No other river on earth can compare with it.And therefore I am the greatest river god."

One man said to him,"You are wrong.There is a place to the east of the Yellow Rivers called the North Sea.The North Sea is really big."He Bo said,"I don't believe it .Big as the North Sea is, can it be bigger than Yellow River?"The man said,"Should the water of several Yellow River flow into the North sea,it could not fill the North Sea,let alone one Yellow River. "

He Bo said obstinately,"I don't believe it,for I have never been to the North Sea."

Having no alternative,the man said,"You will not be able to" understand what I mean until you have a chance to see the North Sea for yourself."

Winter came,and torrential rain had been falling for days on end.Rivers big and small emptied themselves into the Yellow River,making the Yellow River even broader.Standing on one side of the river,people could hardly tell what animals the oxen and horses on the other side of the river were.Thus He Bo was even more proud,thinking that all the magnificent sights were accumulated here.Then ,remembering the North Sea which had been mentioned to him before,he decided to go there and have a look.

He went downstream,and arrived at the river mouth to the sea.Suddenly,the god of the North Sea,whose name was Biennia Ruo,appeared before his eyes.With a smile,Beihai Ruo was welcoming He Bo to the North sea.He looked ahead,and saw that the North Sea,with its vast expanse of water,was boundless.With a dull look in his eyes,He Bo stood there for a while.Finally he said to Beihai Ruo with deep feeling,"As the common saying goes,some people go so far as to think that they are more knowledgeable than anybody else when they have got some knowledge.Actually I am one of such people.If I had not seen with that the Yellow River is matchless in the world.If I remained like that, I would be laughed at for ever by sensible people."

Jan 4, 2008 00:02

ZOEY
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Join Date: Nov 29, 2004
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No.2 鸡鸣狗盗 (Ji 1 Ming 2 Gou 3 Dao 4). It means "Growing like a Cock and Snatching like a Dog".

Story: During the Warring States period（475-221B.C.）,Prince Mengchang of the State of Qi was fond of having various kinds of people as his hangers-on,the number of whom was said to have amounted to three thousand.Never refusing anyone who came to hime,he let the talented people do what they could and also offered food and lodging to the mediocre.Once,followed by his hangers-on,Prince Mengchang was sent on a diplomatic mission to the State of Qin.Attermpting to make him prime minister of the state of Qin,King Zhao of the State of Qin kept hime from leaving. Not daring to offend the king,Prince Mengchang stay here.He is a person of royal lineage,and has feud and family back in the State of Qi,How could he serve the State of Qin heart and soul?"The king thought it plausible,and changed his mind.He put Prince Mengchang and his hangers-on under house arrest,waiting to find an excuse to kill them.The king had an imperial concubine on whom he doted most,and he never refused her anything,Prince Mengchang sent a man to her for help.The concubine promised to help if she could have the unique white fox fur coat of the State of Qi as her reward.Prince Mengchang was troubled,for he had already given it to the king of the State of Oin as a gift when he arrived here.Just then,one of the hangers-on said,"I can manage to get it ."H " He left immediately.It turned out that this man was a skilled burglar who used to enter horses through the hole for dogs in the wall.He made an investigation first,and learned that the king was too fond of the fox fur coat to wear it and that the coat was kept in the choice storeroom in the palace.Eluding the patrol,he found his way easily in the moonlight into the storeroom and got the fur coat out.Seeing the coat,the concubine was extremely pleased,She tried every means to talk the king into giving up the idea of killing Prince Mengchang.The king also planned to give a farewell dinner to Prince Mengchang two days later before sending him back to the State of Qi..But Prince Mengchang did not dare to wait two more days.Mounting the horses,he and his men sped stealthily eastward that very night.It was just midnight when they arrived at the Hangu Pass（in today's Lingbao County in Henan Province,which was the east gate of the State of Qin）.According to the laws of the State of Qin,the gate of the pass should not be opened until cocks crew in the morning.But how could they crow at midnight?They were very much worried when they heard a cock crowing.Immediately all the cocks inside and outside the pass followed the cock in crowing.It turned out that one other hanger-on could imitate the cock's crow very well,and the first crow was actually his imitation.The guards of the pass felt it very strange to have heard the cocks' crow before they could hardly have had enough sleep.

Jan 4, 2008 00:03

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Join Date: Nov 29, 2004
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Continue....

Nevertheless,they had to open the gate of the pass and let them go.At dawn,the king of the State of Qin learned that Prince Mengchang and his men had escaped.He immediately sent his troops to chase them.When the troops arrived.He immediately sent his troops to chase them.When the troops arrived at the Hangu Pass ,they had gone for a long time.With the help of those people who knew small tricks such as crowing like a cock and snatching like a dog,Prince Mengchang finally got back to the State of Qi.This story appears in"The Life of Prince Mengchang" in the Historical Records written by Sima Qian.Later,the set phrase"crowing like a cock and snatching like a dog" is used to refer to small tricks or people who know small tricks.

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