《虎口余生》成语英译与典故

二十四、虎口余生

宋朝有个人叫朱泰，

每日里上山去砍柴。

只因家庭很贫苦，

全家人生活无依赖。

朱泰对母亲很孝顺，

对妻子儿女也疼爱。

平日里尽量让母亲吃好点，

他自己和妻儿经常咽糠菜。

有一天他又像往常一样早早起，

赶进深山去砍柴，

突然间跳出一只虎，

直朝朱泰扑过来。

老虎一口咬住他，

吓得他魂魄飞天外。

朱泰昏迷不省事，

被老虎拖到山洞外。

猛然间朱泰醒过来，

拼命呼救喊声怪，

并慨叹自己身死不足惜，

老母亲无人供养难放怀，

老虎一惊被吓跑，

再也不来拖朱泰。

朱泰忍痛爬回家，

乡亲们闻讯全赶来，

馈赠了钱米和布帛，

表示慰问和关怀。

都说是“虎口残生造化好”，

这件事很快传播开。

朱泰他索性改名“朱虎残”，

故事被史官记下来，

流传至今作成语，

常比喻从险恶境地逃出来。

自家性命得保全，

回想起来生惊骇。

Escaping from a Tiger's Mouth

In the Song Dynasty（960—1276A.D.），there was a man named Zhu Tai，who picked up firewood in the mountains every day.This was because his family was very poor，and they lived from hand to mouth.Zhu Tai was loving to his old mother，and he was also faithful to his wife and children.In daily life he served his mother with good food.He and his wife and child⁃ren often ate wild vegetables.

One day he rose early as usual，and hurried to the mountain to collect firewood.Suddenly a tiger emerged before him，and attacked him.The tiger got him at one bite，and Zhu Tai was petrified and his spirit left him.Zhu Tai fainted away，and was dragged to the edge of the cave.All of a sudden，Zhu Tai came to，and cried in a furious manner.He shou⁃ted that if he must die，he would die and wouldn't give a fig，but he would be guilty if he left his old mother uncared for.

The tiger was terrified and ran away，without daring to eat Zhu Tai.Zhu Tai painfully crawled home，and the villagers all came to see him at the news，bringing rice and money and clothes that ex⁃pressed their concerns and care.They said that it was good luck to escape from a tiger's mouth，and soon this news was spreading widely.

Zhu Tai then changed his name to Zhu Hucan meaning an escape from the tiger and this story was even noted down by historians，and then it became an idiom which means that someone has got free from a difficult situation，and what's more，though one's life was saved，he still feels scared by the afterthought.