Carrying Faggots to Put Out a Fire
In the last years of the Warring States period, the State of Qin attacked the State of Wei on a large scale repeatedly and occupied large areas of land, for the State of Wei was too weak to defend itself. In 273 B.B., the qin army launched another attack upon the State of Wei with a momentum more vigorous than ever. The king of the State of Wei summoned his officials,and asked with a worried look if anyone could propose a way to defeat the Qin army. After years of chaos caused by the wars,the officials trembled when fighting was mentioned, and no one dared to speak ofresistance. At the critical moment when a large enemy force was bearing down upon the border, most of the offinials persuaded the king to sue for peace, at the cost of giving away to the State of Qin the large area of land north of the Huanghe River and south of the Taihang Mountain. However Su Dai, a counsellor, did not agree. He hurried up to the king and said:"Your Majesty, they don't think about the interests of the country at all.It is just because they are cowardly and afraid of death that they ask you to sue for peace by betraying the country. Of course you can temperarily satisfy the ambition of the king of the State of Qin is insatiably greedy. It will never stop assaulting us until our land is totally given away."Once there was a man whose house was on fire. People told him to put out the fire with water, but he would not listen. Instead, he carried a faggot to put out the fire, only to make the fire fiercer. That was because he didn't know that,instead of putting out the fire, faggots could only make it burning more vigorously. Isn't it equivalent to carrying faggots to put out a fire if you agree to sue for peace at the cost of the land of the State of Wei?"Though Su Dai's argument was very convincing, the king accepted the suggestion of those officials and gave away to the State of Qin a large area of the land of the State of Wei. For the king of the State of Wei was cowardly and only cared for peace at the moment.As might be expected,the Qin army assaulted the State of Wei on a large scale in 225 B.C.,surrounding the capital city Daliang and flooding it by digging open the dykes of the Huanghe River.The State of Wei was finally destroyed by the State of Qin.This story appears in the Historical Records Written by Sima Qian.The set phrase"carrying faggots to put out a fire"is used to mean adopting a wrong method to save a situation and ending up by making it worse.
战国末期,秦国向魏国接连发动大规模的进攻,魏国无力抵抗,大片土地都被秦军占领了。到公元前273年,秦国又一次向魏国出兵,势头空前猛烈。
魏王把大臣们召来,愁眉苦脸地问大家有没有使秦国退兵的办法。大臣们由于经过多年的战乱,提起打仗就吓得哆嗦,谁也不敢谈“抵抗”二字。在这大兵压境的危急时刻,多数大臣都劝魏王,用黄河以北和太行山以南的大片土地为代价,向秦王求和。
谋士苏代听了这些话,很不以为然,忙上前对魏王说:“大王,他们是因为自己胆小怕,才让您去卖国求和,根本不为国家着想。您想,把大片土地割让给秦国虽然暂时满足了秦王的野心,但秦国的是无止境的,只要魏国的土地没割完,秦军就不会停止进攻我们。”
说到这里,苏代讲了一个故事:从前有一个人,他的房子起火了,别人劝他快用水去浇灭大火,但他不听,偏抱起一捆柴草去救火,是因为他不懂得柴草不但不能灭火反而能助长火势的道理。大王若同意拿着魏国土地去求和,不就等于抱着柴草救火吗?”
尽管苏代讲得头头是道,但是胆小的魏王只顾眼前的太平,还是依大臣们的意见把魏国大片土地割让给秦国。到公元225年,果然秦军又向魏国大举进攻,包围了国都大梁,掘开黄河大堤让洪水淹没了大梁城,魏国终于被秦国灭掉了。
故事出自《史记魏世家》。成语“抱薪救火”比喻用错误的方法去消灭祸害,结果反而使祸害扩大。
When a lion was asleep, a little mouse began running up and down beside him. This soon wakened the lion. He was very angry, and caught the mouse in his paws.
"Forgive me, please." cried the little mouse. "I may be able to help you someday." The lion was tickled at these words.
He thought, "How could this little mouse help me?" However he lifted up his paws and let him go.
A few days later, the lion was caught in a trap.
The hunters wanted to take him alive to the king, so they tied him to a tree, and went away to look for a wagon.
Just then the little mouse passed by, and saw the sad lion.
He went up to him, and soon gnawed away the ropes. "Was I not right?" asked the little mouse.
狮子与报恩的老鼠
●狮子睡着了,有只老鼠在他的周围爬上爬下,很快吵醒了狮子,狮子很生气,一把抓住了老鼠。
●“饶了我吧,”老鼠请求说,“也许有一天我能帮上你的忙呢。”狮子觉得很好笑,他想:“这只小老鼠怎么能帮上我的忙?”但他还是抬起爪子放他走了。
●不久,狮子被陷阱困住了。猎人们想将活狮子献给国王,就把他捆在一棵大树上,然后去找马车。
●这时,老鼠路过这里,看到了绝望中的狮子。他走过去,很快啃断了绳索,说:“我虽小,可是我也能帮上你的忙。”
寓意: 有些朋友也许平时看似微不足道,但却有可能在我们身处困境的时候提供巨大的帮助。
"An illusory snake in a goblet" is used to describe the psychological state of being frightened caused by taking illusions as reality.
“杯弓蛇影”比喻把虚幻当作真实的恐惧心理。
In Jin Dynasty there was a man named Yue Guang who was fond of drinking alcohol.
晋朝有个叫乐(yuè广的人,爱喝酒。
One day, he invited a friend to his house to drink together.
一天,他邀请朋友到家里来对斟(zhēn对饮。
Suddenly, his friend saw the reflection of a snack swimming in the goblet.
忽然,朋友看见酒杯里有条蛇影在游动。
He got so much frightened that he took ill on bed after getting home.
他受了惊吓,回去便一病不起。
And neither any doctor or any medicine could cure his illness.
请医服药,都无起色。
Yue Guang came to see him and asked about the cause of his disease.
乐广跑来看他,问明起病的缘由。
When he got to know the cause, he pulled his friend from the bed immdiately and took him to his house.
乐广听后一把拉起朋友往家走。
Yue Guang made his friend sit where he used to, pouring a goblet of alcohol for him, and asked him," Is there any snake reflection in the goblet?"
他让朋友坐在原处,斟满酒问:“有蛇影吗?”
There was still a "snake reflection" in the goblet! Yue casually took away the bow hanging on the wall.
杯子里还有“蛇影”!乐广随手取下墙上的弓。
This time, the "snake reflection" disappeared.
这次,“蛇影”不见了!
"So it was the bow reflection that was in the goblet!" His friend at once got well from his illness.
“杯子里原来是弓影呀!”朋友的病情顿时好了!
Some fish are forced to leave polluted water and are flying in the sky. But unfortunately, air is also so polluted that they have to wear masks. Each of them is crying, “Where is my home?” What a terrible sight!
Mankind has brought so much pollution. Waste is being poured into rivers and seas. Poisons to kill pests in farming and chemicals go into rivers and seas, too. Poisonous gasses from factories also make the air so dirty. The whole balance of nature is being destroyed as a result of our ignorance of the environmental protection.
Personally, man can not live alone on the earth. Should fish die from serious pollution, so would man! It is high time we did something to prevent such a scene from happening.
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