《笑里藏刀》成语英译与典故

七十八、笑里藏刀

唐朝时有个大臣叫李义府，

最谙熟奉承拍马术。

唐高宗非常喜欢他，

官封中书还不满足。

平时他见人面带三分笑，

表面看温和谦恭有礼数，

内心里十分阴险和毒辣，

坏主意经常往外出。

有一次一个妇女犯了法，

被关进了监牢待惩处。

李义府听说此女很漂亮，

就设法把狱卒收买住，

甜言蜜语哄又诓，

让狱官把那妇女罪名除。

这个妇女刚放出，

便有人把她送李府。

李义府这个色鬼占了她，

她才知免罪有缘故。

过不久有人告狱吏私下放犯人，

李义府假装不知还生嗔怒。

那狱吏心想早晚会受牵连，

更了解心狠手辣反复无常的李义府，

吓得偷偷上了吊，

李义府却装作啥事无。

有个叫王义方的气愤不平，

便把全部情况揭发出。

李义府知道此事后，

心气恨表面却看不出，

背地里去见唐高宗，

说王义方十恶不赦净坏处。

唐高宗生气罢了王义方的官，

发配到边远地方去受苦。

时间久人们知道这件事，

都咒骂笑里藏刀的李义府。

“笑里藏刀”这成语，

常喻人外表和善心歹毒。

Hide a Dagger Behind a Smile

In the Tang Dynasty（618—907A.D.），there was a minister named Li Yifu，who was skilled in flattery.The emperor Gao Zong liked him very much，and ap⁃pointed him as a secretary，but he was not contented.He always carried a smile on his face，and looked as if he was gentle，prudent and polite.He was actually very mean in the heart，and wicked ideas constantly came out of his head.

Once a woman broke the law，and was jailed waiting to be punished.Li Yifu overheard that this woman was very beautiful.So he managed to buy o⁃ver the prison guard.He lulled and coaxed him with sweet words，making him remove the woman's accu⁃sation.As soon as she was released，the woman was brought to Li's residence.Not until the erotic Li Yifu took advantage of her，did the woman know the rea⁃son for being free.Before long the prison guard was accused of illegally releasing criminals.Li Yifu pre⁃tended to know nothing about it and showed his anger about it.The prison guard had thought it would hap⁃pen sooner or later，and deeply knew about Li's wick⁃edness，so he had to hang himself secretly.As for Li Yifu it seemed nothing had happened.

There was a man named Wang Yifang who was indignant about it，and he laid bare all and all.When he got to know that，Li Yifu was furious inside but showed nothing outside.When he had a private audi⁃ence with the emperor Gao Zong，he bad⁃mouthed Wang Yifang and said he was downright evil.

This threw the emperor into a fury and removed Wang Yifang's post，and sent him into exile in a far a⁃way place.By and by people came to know about that，and they cursed Li Yifu saying he hid a dagger behind a smile.

“Hiding a dagger behind a smile”as an idiom，denotes someone is kind outside but wicked inside.