《楚材晋用》出处、故事、英文翻译、注释

32.楚材晋用

chǔ cái jìn yòng

【出处】《左传·襄公二十六年》：“晋卿不如楚，其大夫则贤，皆卿材也。如杞梓、皮革，自楚往也。虽楚有材，晋实用之。”《周书·儒林传·沈重传》：“而楚材晋用，岂无先哲？”《二十年目睹之怪现状》第三十回：“我花了钱，教出了人，却叫外国人去用，这才是楚材晋用呢！”

【成语故事】楚国有位著名的大夫名叫伍举。有一次，他的岳父因犯法而偷偷逃走了，宫中便有人造谣说，是伍举向他岳父通风报信并送他逃走的。伍举很怕楚王听信谣言后治他的罪，便带着家人逃往邻近的晋国。正在伍举准备逃亡时，伍举的好友、蔡国大夫声子恰巧准备出使晋国。声子得知朋友的遭遇后，很为伍举抱不平，他见到伍举说道：“伍兄，你暂时到晋国去躲一段时间也好，我一定帮助你早日回到楚国！”于是，伍举带着家人，跟着声子一起来到了晋国。不久后，声子特地为了伍举的事来到楚国。楚国有位大臣名叫子木，他接见了声子并问他说：“晋国的大夫和楚国的大夫相比，您以为哪国的大夫更强？”声子回答说：“晋国的人才没有楚国多，晋国虽然有不少大夫很有才，不过他们多半是楚国人。这些人因为在楚国得不到重用，因而来到了晋国。可以说，楚国有很多有用的人才都被晋国拉走了。”声子接着说：“楚国不珍惜人才，让人才外流，所以好几次楚国同晋国交战，都被晋国打败了。这是为什么？就是因为有不少楚国人在为晋国出谋划策。”子木听后恍然大悟。声子又说：“我最近听说，伍举被别人诬陷，现在也逃到了晋国。这对楚国来说又是一大损失啊！”子木觉得声子说得很对，马上派人劝说并迎请伍举回到楚国，并恢复了他的职位，让他重新为楚国出力。

【寓意】该成语原意是指楚国的人才因不被重用而外流至邻国晋国，并为晋国所用，为晋国的发展和强大起到了重要作用。现喻指国家、地区或者单位的人才因政策等因素使其能力得不到发挥而离开到别的国家、地区或者单位工作，为他人所用，发挥他们的才干，助力于他人的发展。也可以用来表示通过政策等手段来吸引外来人才为自己的发展服务。

楚材晋用
To Attract and Employ the Foreign Elites

32.To Attract and Employ the Foreign Elites

【Idiomatic Story】In the Spring and Autumn period，there was a senior official named WU Ju in the Chu State.One day，his father-in-law broke the law and successfully escaped.Then he was doubted as the secret messenger.He prepared to leave his homeland the Chu State for the neighboring Jin State with his family because he was worried about being punished by the King of the Chu State for the rumor.

On his way of escaping，WU Ju ran into his old acquaintance Sheng-Zi who was the scholar-bureaucrat of the Cai State.Sheng-Zi was also for the Jin State on a diplomatic mission.

Sheng Zi felt indignant when he learned WU Ju's story.He told WU Ju，“You can seek sheltering in the Jin State for a period of time.I will help you return to your homeland as soon as possible.”

WU Ju followed Sheng-Zi to the Jin State with his family.Soon afterwards Sheng-Zi went to the Chu State especially for the matter of Wu Ju.The chancellor of the Chu State named Mu-zi interviewed Sheng-Zi.He asked Sheng-Zi，“Comparing the scholar-bureaucrat of the Chu State with that of the Jin State，who is more superior?”

Sheng-Zi replied，“Comparing with the Chu State，there are less talents in the Jin State and many of them are elite talents.However，many of them are natives of the Chu State.They left the Chu State for the Jin State because they were not valued.That's to say，many talents of the Chu State have been attracted and employed by the Jin State.”He continued，“The talents can not be valued in the Chu State，thus the talents have outflowed to other States.We know that the Chu troops had been defeated by the Jin troops for several times in the mutual confrontation wars.What's the cause? The cause lies in the strategic plans made by the talent from the Chu State.”

Upon hearing what Sheng-Zi said，Mu-zi thought it was reasonable and felt to have been enlightened.

Sheng-Zi kept on saying，“I heard WU Ju was cast the blame on and also escaped to the Jin State.It should be another great loss for the Chu State.”

Mu-zi quite approved what Sheng-Zi said.He advised the King of the Chu State to meet WU Ju returning home with efforts.And they finally got WU Ju back to serve for the Chu State again by reinstating his former position.

【Implied Meaning】It originally means that the talents or elites of the Chu Kingdom leave their homeland for the neighboring Jin Kingdom as fugitive emigrants and work for the exotic nation which has become more powerful with their devotions.Now it is often used to refer to the talents or elites who are forced to leave their native place to work for the non-native boss or nation.It is also used to refer to making good use of foreign talents or elites for the development of one's own nation or corporation.