Chinese language study HK – chinese idioms

Mandarin Lesson

In the Warring States Period, a man in the State of Chu was offering a sacrifice to his ancestors. After the ceremony, the man gave a beaker of wine to his servants. The servants thought that there was not enough wine for all them, and decided to each draw a picture of a snake; the one who finished the picture first would get the wine. One of them drew very rapidly. Seeing that the others were still busy drawing, he added feet to the snake. At this moment another man finished, snatched the beaker and drank the wine, saying, ‘A snake doesn’t have feet. How can you add feet to a snake? ‘

戰國時代有個楚國人祭他的祖先。儀式結束後,他拿出一壺酒賞給手下的幾個人。大家商量說:“我們都來畫蛇,誰先畫好誰就喝這壺酒。”其中有一個人先畫好了。但他看到同伴還沒有畫完,就又給蛇添上了腳。這時,另一個人也畫好了,奪過酒壺吧酒喝了,並且說:“蛇本來是沒有腳的,你怎麼能給它添上腳呢?”