《东窗事发》成语英译与典故

十一、东窗事发

宋时北方女真族，

势力渐强建金国。

女真生来好侵略，

经常骚扰大宋地。

渐渐地黄河流域被它占，

还继续向南吞土地。

过了淮河到长江，

大片土地被掠去。

北宋灭亡南宋立，

出了位民族英雄叫岳飞。

他当时代表主战派，

率军伐金收失地。

岳飞治军最严谨，

身先士卒有勇智。

金兵节节败退后，

岳家义军增斗志。

不料想，有个奸相叫秦桧，

主张求和搞诡计。

暗地里他与贼寇相勾结。

宋朝皇帝高宗赵构不争气，

昏庸无能信谗言，

正直之士多受气。

听说岳军节节胜，

秦桧急成热锅蚁。

这奸贼暗中传出假圣旨，

十二道金牌发得急，

把岳飞从抗金前线招回来，

却不知如何去处理。

这一天秦桧退朝回府后，

和老婆王氏拿主意。

王氏也不是好东西，

和秦桧狼狈为奸出毒计。

她说：“无毒不丈夫，

纵虎不比擒虎易。”

让秦桧给岳飞定下罪名“莫须有”，

岳飞终被毒害死。

传说那秦桧后来坐船游西湖，

得了重病老昏迷。

睡梦中遇见岳飞披长发，

义正词严把奸贼斥。

并说天宫已定罪，

秦贼即将被处死。

奸贼一梦醒来后，

周身冷汗淌淋漓。

不久一命呜呼了，

儿子秦熹也病死。

老婆王氏哭号啕，

设下道场超度奸贼父与子。

请的方士到了冥府中，

见一个鬼魂披枷戴锁是秦熹，

道士问：“你父如今在何处？”

回答说秦桧也在地牢里。

那奸贼身上镣铐锁数道，

求方士回阳世给王氏夫人捎消息，

说“东窗”恶谋已败露，

叫她小心多在意。

到后来“东窗事发”作成语，

常把阴谋败露来比喻。

到今天英雄岳飞金像前，

还跪着铁铸秦桧与王氏。

忠臣代代受敬仰，

奸贼万世遭唾弃。

The Eastern Window Conspiracy Found Out

In the Northern Song Dynasty（960—1127A.D.）there was an ethnic nation called Nuzhen in the north，which became stronger and was established as Jin State.This nation was born aggressive，and every once in a while，they launched attacks on the territory of Song.By and by the Yellow River area was taken by them.They reached the Huai River and then the Yangtse River and most of the land had been occupied.

Later when the Northern Song Dynasty was over⁃thrown and the Southern Song Dynasty（1127—1279A.D.）established，there brought forth a national hero named Yue Fei.He represented the“Fighting Party”，and led an army to fight for the lost land.Yue Fei was strict with his army，and he himself was brave and wise and very active.The Jin army retrea⁃ted and withdrew.The Yue army won victory after victory and were in high spirits.

Surprisingly，there was a notorious minister named Qin Hui，who wanted to make a compromise and conspire with Jin.He went hand in glove with the enemy.Emperor Gao Zong，Zhao Gou，who was also hopeless，put foolish faith in Qin's lies，and most of the righteous people were faced with trouble.

When Qin Hui heard Yue's army had won victo⁃ries，he was worried like an ant in a frying pan.He secretly wrote a phony imperial decree，and sent it with the twelve urgent golden tablets，to summon back Yue Fei from the anti⁃Jin frontier，but he didn't know how to tackle him when Yue came back.

One day Qin Hui returned from the court confer⁃ence，and consulted with his wife Wang，who was just as vicious as her husband，and often offered him villainous ideas.She said，“It goes that a man is no man when he is not an imperfect man—And it is not easier to release a tiger than catch it.”

They charged Yue Fei with the“crime for naught”，and persecuted him to death.

The legend goes when later Qin Hui went sailing on the West Lake，he contracted an odd illness，a very serious illness.In his nightmare，he saw Yue Fei with long hair.He furiously accused him of his treachery，and said that the heavens had decided his penalty，and would sentence him to death in no time.

When the vicious minister awaked from his night⁃mare，he was sweating all over.And soon after that he died.His son Qin Xi died of illness too.His wife Wang，now the widow，cried and howled and asked a Daoist to hold a ceremony to correct the villainous father and son.The legend goes that when the Daoist went to Hell，and saw Qin Xi's ghost in cuffs and chains，he asked，“where is your father now？”The ghost said，“he is now in a jail cell.”The vicious man was bound with chains.He begged the Daoist to tell his wife when he returned to the earthly world.To tell her that the“Eastern Window Conspiracy”was found out about，and to tell her to look out and be careful.Later the idi⁃om“the Eastern Window's Conspiracy Found out”came to mean that someone's conspiracy has been found out.

In front of Yue Fei's golden statue，knelt Qin Hui and his wife Wang，shaped in wrought iron.A loyal min⁃ister who was respected for generation after generation，while a vicious man was disdained for ever and ever.