《赔了夫人又折兵》成语英译与典故

四十八、赔了夫人又折兵

三国时刘备曾依孔明计，

向东吴借荆州作为立足地，

到后来得了西蜀土，

魏蜀吴鼎足之势才确立。

东吴的孙权和周瑜，

君臣共同拿主意，

都认为荆州被借已数载，

刘备已有了根据地，

西蜀必须还荆州，

不还就是无信义。

东吴就几次三番派人讨，

刘备却心中实在难舍弃。

东吴一时无办法，

再召群臣来商议。

定计谋谎称孙权有一妹，

打算招刘备做女婿。

联姻后齐心协力抗曹操，

团结一致来对敌。

待把那刘备骗到东吴后，

便扣下刘备作人质。

假若是西蜀不把荆州还，

他刘备休想再回去！

诸葛亮得悉东吴要招婿，

心中想，准是东吴耍诡计。

好孔明足智多谋名不虚，

让刘备按他的计策去行事。

到东吴居然娶了孙小姐，

又巧妙地逃回西蜀去。

那周瑜带了兵士来追赶，

诸葛亮却埋下兵将打伏击。

东吴招婿故事险，

《三国演义》记详细。

那东吴赔了夫人又折兵，

孙权周瑜气半死。

故事演化为成语，

常比喻，某人一心占便宜，

结果便宜未占到，

还蒙受双重大损失。

Losing the Princess and Bunches of Soldiers

During the period of the Three Kingdoms（220—265A.D.），Liu Bei followed Zhuge Liang's strategy，and borrowed the city of Jingzhou from the Kingdom of Wu as his military foothold.He then captured the area of Shu and finally formed the layout of the Three Kingdoms.

In the Kingdom of Wu，both King Sun Quan and his consultant Zhou Yu thought it was high time that Liu Bei returned the city of Jingzhou to them.He had borrowed it for years and had already built up his own military base.The Kingdom of Shu must return Jing⁃zhou to the Kingdom of Wu，otherwise，it would be an unfaithful thing to do.

The Kingdom of Wu sent officials several times to request for the city，but Liu Bei was reluctant to give it back.As the Kingdom of Wu had no other way out at that time，the King called the ministers together and decided to carry out an intrigue.They passed word to the Kingdom of Shu that King Sun Quan had a younger sister who wished to marry Liu Bei.With the marriage，Wu and Shu would join forces in resistance against Cao Cao wholeheartedly.

Deviously，they wished to coax Liu Bei to come to their land，and then take him hostage.If he wouldn't return the city of Jingzhou，then he would find no way to go back to his home country.When Zhuge Liang heard the news，he knew immediately it was a trick.The witty，military consultant，Zhuge Liang was really smart，and advised Liu Bei to take up his scheme.

Liu Bei eventually came to the Kingdom of Wu and married Miss Sun，cunningly making his way back to the Kingdom of Shu.Zhou Yu，military consultant of the Kingdom of Wu，led soldiers to chase Liu Bei.Yet，Zhuge Liang had already laid an ambush and at⁃tacked the Wu soldiers.

The story of Liu Bei's courage to take a wife from the Kingdom of Wu was told in detail in the“Ro⁃mance of the Three Kingdoms，”The Kingdom of Wu lost the princess and many soldiers，by which both the King Sun Quan and the consultant Zhou Yu were nearly driven mad.

The story has evolved into an idiom，referring to those who intend to take advantage of a situation，but ultimately suffer from toil and trouble and a serious loss.This is similar to the English phrase“Throw the helve after the hatchet”.