《涸辙之鲋》成语英译与典故

二十二、涸辙之鲋

春秋时有个人叫庄周，

家贫无粮去求友。

朋友说很快有进项，

请庄周耐心地等候。

庄周一听很生气，

板着脸把一个故事讲给朋友。

说他在车辙里见了一条鲤鱼，

为活命这条鱼向他哀求，

求庄周赐给它清水一斗，

“我欣然答应了鱼的请求。

可我说马上要到南方旅游，

答应给你的水须待我回来之后。

那条鱼听了我的话非常生气，

说那样它早摆在干鱼店里头。”

说完这段寓言故事后，

庄周生气地转身就走。

庄周历来说话好绕弯子，

故事讲的道理不难猜透：

它劝人对待困窘的人，

要及时有力地援救。

假如只是嘴里答应没行动，

那简直比直接拒绝还要叫人难受。

A Carp in a Dry Rut

In the Spring and Autumn Period（770—476B.C.），there was a scholar by the name of Zhuang Zhou.He was very poor and went to his friends for help.His friend told him that he was going to have a large sum of money pretty soon，and prom⁃ised to lend some more money to him if he would like to wait.

On hearing this，Zhuang Zhou was very angry.Frowning，he told his friend a story.He said that one day he saw a carp in a chariot's rut，and the carp was begging him to save his life by giving him a jar of fresh water.

“I merrily affirmed the fish's plea，but I said that I was going on a tour to the south，I'll give you much more water when I come back.On hearing my words he was quite angry.He said that he would be on the shelf of a fish store.”

Having finished telling the interesting fable，Zhuang Zhou furiously turned and went away.Zhuang Zhou liked to express himself in a roundabout way，but the exact meaning of the story was quite clear.It urges people to help those who are in trouble，in a way of doing it in time and to the point.If you only promise by words without action，it is even worse than a direct refusal.