《隔岸观火》出处、故事、英文翻译、注释

6.隔岸观火

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【出处】《三十六计》第九计：阳^[1]乖^[2]序乱，阴^[3]以待逆，暴戾恣睢^[4]，其势自毙。顺以动豫^[5]，豫顺以动。唐代乾康《投谒齐己》：“隔岸红尘忙似火，当轩青嶂冷如冰。”

【成语故事】东汉末年，袁绍兵败身亡，但他的两个儿子袁尚和袁熙还活着。曹操担心不除掉这两人的话，会给自己以后的计划带来阻碍，于是决定找机会除掉他们。当时，兄弟俩投奔了乌桓，曹操便向乌桓出兵，打败了乌桓。看到乌桓被打败，袁氏兄弟又改而投奔公孙康。这时，曹操的手下向他建议说：“主公，我们不妨一鼓作气，征服公孙康，拿下袁尚和袁熙。”曹操哈哈大笑说：“你们先不要行动，公孙康会主动将这两人的头颅送上门来的。”于是，曹操让军队回到许昌，静观公孙康那边的局势。那公孙康听说袁尚和袁熙有心投靠自己，心中不免有些怀疑：“袁家父子一向都想夺取我这块地盘，现在袁绍被打败了，没地方藏身，就想到来投靠我了。他们虽然是迫不得已的，但如果我收留他们的话，肯定会给自己留下后患。再说了，我这样做肯定也会得罪势力强大的曹操。”但他又考虑：“如果曹操进攻我这块领土的话，我也只得收留这两人，来共同抵御曹操了。”但是，当他听说曹操已经转回许昌，并没有进攻自己的打算时，他认为收容袁氏兄弟是有百害而无一利的。于是，他预先埋伏好士卒，故意召见袁氏兄弟，见面时当即割下两人的头颅，并派人送到曹操军营里去。

【寓意】该成语原意是隔着河看人家着火而不参与施救，只做旁观者看热闹。后常常用来比喻对别人的危难袖手旁观，不积极救助，并期待从中获得某些利益。

隔岸观火
To Wait for the Favorable Opportunity

6.To Wait for the Favorable Opportunity

【Idiomatic Story】In the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty，the warlord YUAN Shao was killed in the battle against another warlord CAO Cao.Two sons of YUAN Shao named YUAN Shang and YUAN Xi were still alive.CAO Cao worried the two sons of Yuan Shao would become the hindrance of him in the way to unite the nation.So he decided to kill them at a proper time.At that time，YUAN Shang and YUAN Xi had turned to the warlord WU Huan for shelter，so CAO Cao declared a war on WU Huan and finally defeated him.Then，YUAN Shang and YUAN Xi sought shelter from another warlord GONG-SUN Kang.

Someone proposed to take advantage of the favorable situation to attack GONG-SUN Kang immediately for killing YUAN Shang and YUAN Xi.However，CAO Cao laughed to refuse the proposition and said，“No further action needed.GONG-SUN Kang will kill them and present their heads to me soon.” CAO Cao ordered to return to Xuchang waiting for the good news.

GONG-SUN Kang learned YUAN Shang and YUAN Xi came to him for shelter，but he could not dissipate his suspicion.He thought to himself，“The YUAN's family had been longing for this land I have.Now they have been defeated by CAO Cao and find no way to go，so they come to me for shelter.It will be a future trouble or disaster for me if I take them in.Moreover，it will also infuriate CAO Cao，the powerful warlord.” Then he turned to the second thoughts，“I have to unite with YUAN Shang and YUAN Xi for the resistance if CAO Cao launches the attack.”

Later，GONG-SUN Kang learned that CAO Cao had returned to Xuchang without any intention of attacking him，so he thought it would have much more harms than benefits if he took in the two brothers.He finally decided to kill them for fear of getting into trouble.He arranged to meet the two brothers with some soldiers waiting in ambush.When them arrived，GONG-SUN Kang ordered to catch them and chopped off their heads，and delivered them to CAO Cao at once.

【Implied Meaning】It originally means that the one does nothing but looks on a fire disaster as a non-participant and offers no help.Now it often used to refer to those who are indifferent to offering any help when they find someone in trouble，with the “wait-andsee” attitude，they also expect to get some profit from that.

【注释】

[1]阳：表面上的，公开的。

[2]乖：不和谐，不团结。

[3]阴：私下的，悄悄的。

[4]暴戾恣睢：凶恶残忍，蛮横粗暴。

[5]豫：通“预”，即做好准备。