《浑水摸鱼》出处、故事、英文翻译、注释

19.浑水①摸鱼

hún shuǐ mō yú

①浑水：不清的水。

【出处】《三十六计》第二十计：乘其阴乱^[1]，利其弱而无主。随^[2]，以向晦^[3]入宴息^[4]。老舍《四世同堂》：“其余那些人，有的是浑水摸鱼，乘机会弄个资格。”

【成语故事】唐朝开元年间，契丹人曾多次进犯唐朝。当时，出任幽州节度使的张守珪，担负着平定契丹侵扰的重任。当时，契丹有位大将名叫可突干，他多次率兵攻打幽州，但都没有成功。于是，他心生一计，假装要与唐军讲和，意图幽州。幽州节度使张守珪很明白可突干的真实意图，决定将计就计，便派部下王悔去契丹军营，以宣诏为名，借机探听可突干与唐军“讲和”的意图及其军营的虚实。王悔进入契丹军营后，发现可突干与部属的关系不是很融洽。他又打听到，分掌兵权的部将叫李过折，他与可突干一直存在矛盾。于是，王悔暗地里接触李过折，得知他十分反对可突干的侵扰行为。王悔乘机劝服李过折，让他尽快脱离可突干，转而为唐朝出力，日后朝廷定有重赏。王悔完成任务后，回到了幽州。第二天，李过折对可突干的军营发动突然袭击，并杀死了可突干。忠于可突干的大将李礼，率领部下与李过折展开了激烈的战斗，李过折在乱战中被杀。此时，契丹军营大乱，张守珪得知消息后，立刻率领大军杀入契丹军营，活捉了李礼，打败了契丹军，从而迅速平定了战乱，使边境得以安宁。

【寓意】该成语原意是指先将池子里的水搅浑，使鱼儿在浑浊的水里被呛晕，然后乘机将鱼儿抓起，而不用费很大力气。现喻指先在敌人或者对手内部制造混乱，然后乘其混乱之际，获取利益。

浑水摸鱼
To Fish in the Troubled Waters

19.To Fish in the Troubled Waters

【Idiomatic Story】In the years of Kai-yuan of the Tang Dynasty，the Khitans continually infested the northern border of the Tang Empire.At that time，it was ZHANG Shougui，the regional military governor of You-zhou，who undertook the mission of stopping the intrusions of the Khitans.

A Khitan general KE Tu-gan commanded the Khitan troops to attack the You-zhou city，he failed though he tried for several times.So he pretended to make peace with the You-zhou garrison troops of the Tang Empire.

Knowing well what KE Tu-gan wanted to do，ZHANG Shougui decided to beat KE Tu-gan at his own game.So he sent his subordinate officer WANG Hui to go to the Khitan camp for detecting the truth of peace-making and the military arrangement of the Khitan troops under the disguise of conveying the imperial edict.

WANG Hui learned that KE Tu-gan was immiscible with his subordinate officers and especially was on bad terms with the vice commander named LI Guo-zhe.WANG Hui tried to contact LI Guo-zhe secretly and learned LI Guo-zhe was against the besetting military act of KE Tu-gan.WANG Hui seized the opportunity to persuade LI Guo-zhe turning over to serve for the Tang Empire by promising him of generous rewards.

Finishing the mission successfully，WANG Hui went back to You-zhou.LI Guo-zhe launched a sudden attack onto the Khitan troops the following day and killed the chief commander KE Tu-gan.LI Li，one of the loyal subordinate officers of KE Tu-gan，commanded his men to go into a fierce battle against LI Guo-zhe.LI Guo-zhe was killed in the battle.

Getting the news of the internal conflicts of the Khitan troops，ZHANG Shougui immediately led his troops charged into the camps of the Khitan troops，the Khitan troops were completely defeated and LI Li was captured.From then on，the border areas became peaceful and stable again.

【Implied Meaning】It originally means to muddle the water in the pool for making the fish dizzy，and then to catch them with little efforts.Now it is often used to refer to making civil strife of the enemy or the opponent in order to gain some benefits from the disordered situations.

【注释】

[1]阴乱：内部的混乱。

[2]随：跟从，顺从。

[3]晦：不顺利。

[4]宴息：使之得以平静安闲下来。