《四面楚歌》成语英译与典故

六十七、四面楚歌

秦二世后楚汉争，

楚霸王项羽霸难成，

后来遭困在垓下，

刘邦韩信会用兵。

先是用的激将法，

他们知项羽性急躁，

项羽果然出营来，

提枪跃马真骁勇。

无奈汉兵人马多，

杀了一层又一层，

十面埋伏难突破，

只得退回垓（ɡāi）下营。

项羽心中增烦恼，

借酒浇愁愁更增。

夫人虞姬善舞剑，

为他解愁助酒兴。

刘汉还有智张良，

攻心战术最精通，

便叫士兵唱楚歌，

楚营兵士动乡情。

思念父母与妻子，

不禁个个放悲声。

没有救兵和粮草，

无心恋战逃出营。

项王眼见大势去，

牵出“乌骓（zhuī）”放悲声，

虞姬舞罢自刎死，

霸王孤身朝外冲。

单骑来到乌江岸，

自觉无颜回江东。

拔出宝剑自刎时，

年纪三十刚挂零。

“四面楚歌”作成语，

常常用来比困境。

四面受敌无援时，

便可用它来形容。

Be Besieged with the Songs of Chu State on All Sides

After the reign of Qin II（210—207B.C.），there was a war between the state of Chu and the State of Han.Hegemon King of Chu，Xiang Yu could not suc⁃ceed.He was besieged at Gaixia in the end，all be⁃cause his opponent Liu Bang's general Han Xin had brilliant military talent.First he used the taunting method，for he knew Xiang Yu had a hot temper.Xiang Yu duly came out of the barracks，holding his spear and spurring his horse looking really heroic.

But owing to Han state's majority of horses and soldiers'morale，though he killed one layer and an⁃other layer，the 10⁃li ambush he could not break.He had to withdraw to his barracks in Gaixia.

Xiang Yu was feeling reckless，and he was trying to get rid of the recklessness by drinking alcohol.His wife Yu Ji was good at comforting，and she danced for his drinking.Liu Bang had another talented gener⁃al Zhang Liang.He was skilled at psycho⁃warfare.He ordered his soldiers to sing the songs of the Chu re⁃gion and the Chu's soldiers were all drowned in nos⁃talgia，thinking of their wives and children.They all burst into tears.

Lacking reinforcement and supplies they all played hooky and ran out of the barracks.King Xiang found himself at the end of his tether.Yu Ji then danced and killed herself.The Hegemon King dashed out on his own.Then he came to the shore of the Yangtze River and felt ashamed of going back to the eastbank of the river.He drew out his sword and committed suicide.He was then only around thirty.

“Besieged by Chu's Songs on All Sides”became an idiom，which indicates someone is in real trouble.When attacked by the enemies on all sides⁃this idiom can be used to express that situation.