成语故事经典译文
成语故事经典译文draw a snake and add feet to it(画蛇添足)
An official of the ancient state of chu awarded a pot of wine to his men after the ceremony of spring sacrifice. one man said, "we have only one pot of wine. it's not enough for all of us but sufficient for one. let's determine who'll have the wine by drawing a snake on the ground. he who finishes first will have the wine."
The others agreed. very soon, one man finished his snake. he was about to drink the wine when he saw the others were still busy drawing. he said complacently,"how slowly you are! i still have enough time to add feet to my snke." but before he finished the feet, another man finished his snke and grabbed the pot from him, saying,"whoever has seen a snake with feet? yours is not a snke. so the wine should be mine!" he drank the wine. the man adding the feet to the snake had to give in and could only regret his foolishness.
From that story comes the idiom "draw a snake and add feet to it". now people use this idiom to illustrate the truth that going too far is as bad as not going far enough.
译文：
楚国有一个官员，在春天祭过了祖宗之后，便将一壶酒赏给他的办事人员喝。有人提议："我们只有一壶酒，肯定不够我们大家喝的，一个人喝倒是绰绰有余。我们每人在地上画一条蛇，谁画得最快，就把这壶酒给他。" 大家都同意了。
有一个人很快就把蛇画好了。他正打算喝这壶酒时，看见别人都还忙着画呢。他就得意扬扬地说："你们画得好慢呀，等我再画上几只脚吧！" 他的蛇脚还没画完，另一个人已经把蛇画好了。那人把酒壶夺了过去说："有谁见过长脚的蛇？你画的不是蛇，这壶酒应该是我的了。"说罢，就喝起酒来。那个给蛇画脚的人没办法，只能懊悔自己的愚蠢。
"画蛇添足"这个成语就是从这个故事来的。现在人们用它来说明这么个道理：做的过分和做的不够是一样有害的。
[ 本帖最后由 xjinshan 于 2009-3-31 18:29 编辑 ] the vigil by the tree stump(守株待兔)
In the state of song, there was a farmer in whose fields stood a tree stump. one day, a hare ran to his field. running too fast, it dashed against the stump and broke its neck, died. so the farmer abandoned his plough and waited tree stump, hoping to get another hare. he did not get his by the hare but became a laughing stock in the state.
译文：
从前宋国有个农民，他的田地中有一颗树桩。一天，一只跑的飞快的兔子撞在了树桩上，扭断了脖子而死。从此，那个农民荒废了他的耕作，天天等在树桩旁，希望能再得到只兔子。当然，兔子是没等到，他自己却成了宋国的笑柄。 professed love of what one really fears(叶公好龙)
In the spring and autumn period (770-476bc), there lived in chu a person named ye zhuliang, who addressed himself as "lord ye". it's said that this lord ye was very fond of dragons. the walls had dragons painted on them. the beams, pillars, doors and the windows were all carved with them. as a result, his love for dragons was spread out. when the real dragon in heaven heard of this lordeeply moved. he decided to visit lord ye to thank him. you might think lord ye was very happy to see a real dragon. but, actually, at very the sight of the creature, he was scared out of his wits and ran away as fast as he could. from then on, people knew that lord ye only loved pictures or carvings which look like dragons, not the real thing.
译文：
春秋楚国叶诸梁，自称"叶公"。 据说，这位叶公爱龙成癖，家里的梁、柱、门、窗上都雕着龙，墙上也画着龙。 就这样，叶公爱好龙的名声，被人们传扬开了。天上的真龙，听说人间有这么一位叶公，对它如此喜爱，很受感动，决定去叶公家对他表示谢意。人们也许会想叶公看见真龙时会有多高兴。实际上，当叶公看见那条龙时，顿时吓得魂飞魄散，赶紧逃走。从此人们明白了叶公爱好的其实并不是真龙，而是似龙非龙的东西而已。 marking his mark(刻舟求剑)
A man from the state chu was crossing the river. in the boat, his sword fell into the water by his carelessness. imediately he made a mark on the boat.“this is where my sword fell off.”he said. when the boat stopped, he jumped into the water to look for his sword at the place where he marked the boat. the boat had moved but the sword had not. is this not a foolish way to look for a sword？
译文：
从前，一个楚国人在坐船过河时，不小心把他的剑掉入了水中。他马上在船上做了个记号。“这是我的剑掉下去的地方。”他说。船停下来后，他就根据船上的记号跳入水中寻找他的剑。船在移动但他的剑并没有。用这种方式来找剑难道不是非常愚蠢的吗？ three at dawn and four at dusk（朝三暮四）
Once upon a time, in the state of song, there lived a man who kept monkeys. he was very fond of monkeys and kept a large number of them. he could understand the monkeys and they could also understand him. he reduced the amount of food for his own family in order to satisfy the monkey’s demands. after a while his family did not have enough to eat, so he wanted to limit he food for the monkeys. but he was afraid that the monkeys would not submit to him. before doing that he played a trick on them: "if i give you three chestnuts in the morning and four in the evening, would that be enough?" he asked the monkeys. all the monkeys rose up in a fury. after a while, he said, "if i give you four chestnuts in the morning and three in the evening, would that be enough?" all the monkeys lay on the floor, very happy with this proposal.
译文：
从前,在宋国有一个养猴子的人。他非常喜欢猴子，所以养了许多。他很了解猴子， 猴子们也能够懂得他的意思。为了让猴子们吃饱，他减少了家里的粮食。不久，他家的粮食不够吃的了，他就想减少给猴子们的食物。但他怕猴子们不会听他的。于是，他先哄骗它们："如果早上我给你们三个栗子，晚上给你们四个栗子，够吗？" 猴子们都愤怒的表示不同意。过了会儿，他问："那如果早上我给你们四个栗子，晚上给你们三个栗子，这样够了吗？"于是猴子都乐得躺到地上，很高兴地同意了。 仅供参考。 谢谢分享，:handshake
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