《管中窥豹》成语英译与典故

十九、管中窥豹

晋代有位书法家，

王羲之名字传天下。

他的儿子王献之，

寻常的儿童难比他。

小献之幼时见人做游戏，

常在一旁把话插，

而且句句都在理，

批评谁玩好来谁玩差。

可人家并不以为意，

都说这孩子“管中窥豹莫睬他”。

意思是小孩子只知一点点，

献之听见发了话：

“把我和那些老头儿比，

现在我当然不如他。”

是想说有朝一日长大后，

我一定争取超过他。

到后来“管中窥豹”作成语，

常比喻学识短浅眼光狭。

Look at a Leopard Through a Bamboo Tube

In the Jin Dynasty（265—420A.D.），there was a calligrapher by the name of Wang Xizhi who was very famous.His son was Wang Xianzhi，and he was also very extraordinary.When he saw other kids play games，he would make remarks to them，and every sentence made good sense，commenting who did well and who did badly.But the kids didn't take it serious⁃ly，and they said that the child was looking at a leop⁃ard through a bamboo tube，meaning he was young and had only a glimmer of understanding.

But Xianzhi responded sharply：“If you compare me with an old man，of course I'm less smart.”He meant that when he grew up，he could surely surpass them.

Later to“Look at a Leopard Through a Bamboo Tube”became an idiom that implies that someone's knowledge is little and their insight shallow.