英语成语小故事

During the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC), prince Zhou Xu of the State of Wei killed his brother and became the new emperor. Zhou Xu was a tyrant. He oppressed his people and indulged in wars of agGREssion. By launching wars, he tried to divert the people's attention and reduce their discontent with him in order to consolidate his dictatorship.

The Duke of the State of Lu leant about Zhou Xu's usurpation of state power and his ambitious plan, he asked a senior official, "What do you think about Zhou Xu's move? "The official answered, "He indulges in wars , bringing his people much disaster. He won't get their support. And he's capricious, so few of his close friends follow him. He can never achieve his success. In addition, war is like fire. If one launches wars endlessly without restraint, he'll eventually burn himself. "

Sure enough, the people of Wei with the help of the State of Chen overthrew Zhou Xu and killed him in less than a year.

Later, people use it to mean that those who do evil will finally ruin themselves.

Imitating Another without Success and Losing What Used to Be One'sOwn Ability

Tradition has it that more than 2,oooyears ago,there lived a young man in the Shouling area of the State of Yan.As his name is not known ,we just call him Shouling young man for convenience's sake.

self confident He was at a loss as to how to behave all the time.

His family members advised him to overcome this shortcoming,but he thought they were fond of poking their noses into his business and were unwilling to provide him with tuition fee.His relatives and neighbours sneered at him,saying that he would never be able to learn anything.Asthe days went by,he even began to doubt whether he should walk the way he did,for he felt more and more that his walking gestures were too clumsy and awkward.

One day,he met some people on the road who werechattingand laughing.One of themsaid that people in Handan walked most gracefully.And thatwas just what he was most concerned about,so he hurreed towards themand wanted to make further inquiries.To his surprise,when these people saw him,they stalked off laughing.

He could not picture to himself in what way their walking gestures were graceful,no matter how hard he racked his parents one day.He went to Handanwhich was far away to learn how to walk.

As soon as he arrived in Handan,he was dazzled to find that everything was novel.He learned from the children there how to walk,because he thought that the children's walking gestures were lively and pleasing to the eye.He learnd from the old people there how to walk,because he thought the old people's walking gestures were steady .He learnd from the women there how to walk,because he thought the women' swaying walking gestures were beautiful.That being the case with him ,in less than half a month he even forgot how to walk.As he had already used up his traveling expenses,he had to crawl back home.

Thisstory come from the article"Autumn Water"in The Works of Xhuang Zi(Zhuang Zi was a famous ancient Chinese philosopher of about 300B.c.).Later the set phrase"initating another without success and losing what used to be one's own ability"is used to refer to acts of copying others mechanisally in disregard of specififc conditions.

Near China's northern borders lived a man well versed in the practices of Taoism. His horse, for no reason at all, got into the territory of the northern tribes. Everyone commiserated with him.

"Perhaps this will soon turn out to be a blessing," said his father.

After a few months, his animal came back, leading a fine horse from the north. Everyone congratulated him.

"Perhaps this will soon turn out to be a cause of misfortune," said his father.

Since he was well-off and kept good horses his son became fond of riding and eventually broke his thigh bone falling from a horse. Everyone commiserated with him.

"Perhaps this will soon turn out to be a blessing," said his father.

One year later, the northern tribes started a big invasion of the border regions. All able-bodied young men took up arms and fought against the invaders, and as a result, around the border nine out of ten men died. This man's son did not join in the fighting because he was crippled and so both the boy and his father survived.

天衣无缝one summer night, when the moon was very bright he suddenly saw a girl descending（下降） slowly from the sky. he observed the girl closely, and found that the dress she was wearing was seamless（无缝的） . he was puzzled, and asked why. the girl answered,"heavenly clothes are not sewn with needle and thread."传说古代太原人郭翰在夏夜里乘凉，见一个仙女从天上下来，她身穿白衣，美丽绝伦。她告诉他她名叫织女。郭翰仔细欣赏织女的衣裳浑然一体，竟看不出一丝线缝，好奇问织女。织女答道：“天衣本非针线为也。”this idiom is used metaphorically to indicate the flawless handling of things. it can also be used to indicate a perfectly written poem or other literary article.神话传说，仙女的衣服没有衣缝。比喻事物周密完善，找不出什么毛病。对牛弹琴Gong Mingyi was a famous musician in ancient times, who played the lute very well.公明仪是古代一位很有名的音乐家，弹得一手好琴。One day, while playing the lute indoors, Gong Mingyi saw a cow eating grass leisurely outside the window. He had a sudden whim to play some melodies for the cow. He first played the "Exercise of Qing Jiao", but the cow still kept on eating grass with head lowered. He seemed to realize that the melody was too highbrow for the cow to understand.有一天，他在室内弹琴，看见一头牛在窗外悠闲地吃着草。他忽然想弹几曲给牛听听。他先弹了一曲“清角之操”。可是，牛还是跟刚才一样，只顾低着头吃草。他似乎意识到，这支曲子太高雅了，牛没有听懂。So he played several other melodies, imitating the buzzing sounds of swarms of flying mosquitoes, and the bleats of a calf looking for its companions. At this, to his surprise, the cow stopped eating grass, but raised its head, pricked up its ears, wagged its tail and, pacing up and down in small steps, began to listen attentively.于是，他弹了另外几支曲子，模拟蚊子成群结队飞来飞去的嗡嗡声;模拟小牛犊寻找伙伴的眸眸叫唤声。这样一来，这头牛竟然不吃草了，抬起头，竖着耳朵，甩着尾巴，迈着小步，留心地倾听起来。

想要学好英语，一定要懂得学习方法。有趣的学习方法能让你的英语水平提升得更快，我在此献上英语故事，希望对你有所帮助。

成语寓言故事:Killing the Pig to Educate the Son杀猪教子

Zeng Zi was one of Confucius' disciples.

曾子是孔子的一个学生。

One day, Zeng Zi's wife wanted to go to market. Their son wanted to go together with her. He made a row, crying and fussing without stop. His wife could do nothing but bend down to humour him, saying:

有一天，曾子的妻子要上街。儿子吵着要跟妈妈一起去，又哭又闹，吵个不停。妻子没有办法，只好弯腰哄他，说:

"My darling, go home now. Mama will be back soon. When I'm back, I'll kill the pig to make a meal for you."

“我的小宝贝，回家去吧!妈妈去了就回来，一回来就杀猪给你吃。”

When the son heard this, he went home happily.

儿子听了，高高兴兴地回家去了。

Not long after, the wife returned home from the market. Zeng Zi tied up their fat pig, took out a shining sharp knife and prepared to kill it. When his wife saw this, she hurriedly held Zeng Zi by the hand and said:

过了不久，妻子从街上回到了家。曾子就把家里的肥猪捆住，拿出雪亮的尖刀，准备杀猪。妻子看见了就急忙拉住曾子的手，说:

"What's the matter with you? I was only trying to humour the child."

“你这是怎么了?我只不过是哄哄小孩的。”

Zeng Zi said seriously:

曾子严肃地说:

"How can you cheat a child? The child is still small and doesn't understand things. He only follows the example of his parents. Now you cheat him, then he will follow your example and cheat others. Furthermore, when a mother cheats her child, the child will no longer trust his mother. Then, how can you educate the child well?"

“你怎么能够哄骗孩子呢?现在，孩子还小，不懂事，他只会照着父母的样子去做。你现在哄骗孩子，孩子就会学你的样子，去哄骗别人。做母亲的哄骗儿子，做儿子的就不会再信任母亲。这样，怎么能教育好孩子呢?”

Having said this, Zeng Zi raised his knife and killed the fat pig.

曾子话一说完，就一刀宰了肥猪。

成语寓言故事:Buying the Case but Returning the Pearl买犊还珠

In the past, a man of the State of Chu intended to go to the State of Zheng to sell pearls.

从前，有个楚国人准备到郑国卖珍珠。

First he used rare lily magnolia to make a small exquisite case which he fumigated with the delicate fragrance of osmanthuses and Chinese prickly ashes. Furthermore, the case was inlaid with emerald-green jadeite, and adorned with attractive rosy jade. The whole case was decorated in an extremely exquisite way.

他先用名贵的木兰做了一只精巧的小匣子，又用幽香的牡桂和花椒把匣子熏了一下，并且在匣子上面镶了碧绿的翡翠，还嵌上引人注目的玫瑰石，整个匣子装演得十分考究。

A man of the State of Zheng saw this exquisite case and liked it very much. He bought it with a great deal of money, but he returned the pearl in the case to the man of Chu.

有个郑国人看到这只精美的匣子，非常喜欢，就用重金买了下来。但是，他却把匣子里的珍珠退还给了那个楚国人。

Later, people ridiculed the man of Chu by saying that he was good at selling cases, but not good at selling pearls.

后来，人们都嘲笑这个楚国人，说他很善于卖匣子，却不善于卖珍珠。

To go too far in the pursuit of form just like letting a presumptuous guest usurp the host's role, which brings about opposite results.

过分追求形式，反而会喧宾夺主，效果适得其反。

成语寓言故事:Be There Just to Make Up the Number滥竽充数

During the Warring States Period, King Xuan of the State of Qi loved to listen to the yu (an ancient wind instrument), especially in the ensemble.

战国时期齐国的齐宣王喜欢欣赏吹竿，特别爱听合奏。

In the palace, there was a band of fully 300 yu players. King Xuan of Qi often ordered this band to play for him.

王宫里，专门有个吹竿的乐队，足足有三百人。齐宣王常常叫这个三百人的乐队为他演奏。

A man named Nan Guo could not play the yu. But when he learned of King Xuan's hobby, he volunteered his service and bragged about how well he could play. He asked for permission to play for the king with other players. King Xuan was very glad to hear this and granted his request.

有一个名叫南郭的人，不会吹竿。但是，当他了解了齐宣王的这个嗜好以后，就毛遂自荐，吹嘘自己吹竿吹得如何好，请求跟别的乐师一道为大王演奏。齐宣王听了非常高兴，批准了他的要求。

Thereupon, in each performance he would mingle with others, put on an act, play at random, and swindled the same amount of remuneration as paid to others. In this way, he drifted along till King Xuan of Qi died.

于是，每次演奏时，他混在里面，装模作样，胡乱地吹奏一番，却骗得了跟别人同样的报酬。就这样，他一直混到齐宣王去世。

After King Xuan of Qi died, King Min succeeded to the throne.

齐宣王死后，滑王继位。

Under his father's influence, King Min also loved to listen to the yu. The only difference was that he liked to listen to solos, not ensembles. King Min proclaimed that the players must perform one by one for him.

齐洛王受父亲的影响，也喜欢欣赏吹竿。不同的是，齐滑王只爱听独奏，不爱听合奏。滑王宣布，吹竿的乐师必须一个一个地为他演奏。

When Nan Guo heard of this, he was afraid. He knew he could not drift along any longer, so he sneaked away that very night.

南郭先生一听就害怕了，知道自己再也混不下去，只好连夜溜走了。