《金蝉脱壳》出处、故事、英文翻译、注释

26.金蝉脱壳

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【出处】《三十六计》第二十一计：存其形^[1]，完其势^[2]；友不疑，敌不动；巽而止蛊^[3]。元代关汉卿《谢天香》第二折：“便使尽些伎俩，千愁断我肚肠，觅不的个金蝉脱壳这一个谎。”清代曹雪芹《红楼梦》第二十七回：“如今便赶着躲了，料也躲不及，少不得要使个‘金蝉脱壳’的法子。”

【成语故事】三国时期，诸葛亮六次攻打中原，但都没有成功。在最后一次进攻中原时，他因为过度劳累，病情加重，不幸病死于军中。为了不使蜀军在退回汉中的路上遭受损失，诸葛亮在临终前偷偷告诉姜维安全退兵的办法。姜维听从诸葛亮的吩咐，在诸葛亮死后，对外严密封锁诸葛亮去世的消息。他带着诸葛亮的灵柩，秘密率领军队开始撤退。当时，与蜀军作战的敌人是魏国军队，魏军首领司马懿派军队跟踪蜀军，发现蜀军撤退的迹象，便派军队迅速追击。在这之前，姜维命令工匠模仿诸葛亮的样子，雕了一个木头人，木头人手里也拿着羽毛扇，稳稳地坐在车上。路上，姜维又派部下杨仪率领部分人马大张旗鼓，假装向魏军发动进攻。魏军远远地望着蜀军，走得非常整齐，而且大张旗鼓，又见坐在车中的诸葛亮指挥若定，不知道蜀军又要耍什么花招，因而不敢轻举妄动。司马懿一向知道诸葛亮“诡计多端”，非常怀疑这次退兵又是一个诱敌之计，于是命令军队往后撤退，静静观察蜀军的动向。姜维马上趁司马懿退兵的大好时机，指挥主力军队，迅速转移，安全撤回到汉中。等司马懿得知诸葛亮已经去世后，想再进兵追击蜀军时，已经来不及了。

【寓意】该成语原意是指蝉在变为成虫时要脱去一层壳，本体脱离皮壳而走，只留下蝉蜕还挂在枝头。现喻指人们用计谋在外表上或者形式上保持原有状态，只是在暗地里实施脱身行动，使敌人或者对手不能及时觉察，从而能够安全脱离险境。

金蝉脱壳
To Tactfully Escape Unnoticed

26.To Tactfully Escape Unnoticed

【Idiomatic Story】 During the Three Kingdoms period，ZHU-GE Liang，the military counselor of the Shu Kingdom，had tried six times to occupy the area of the Central Plains of China，but all resulted in failure.ZHU-GE Liang died in his last attempt because of his illness attributed to his overwork.

In order to secure a safe retreat to Han-zhong，ZHU-GE Liang told his successor General JIANG Wei secretly about the way to avoid the attacks from the enemy.JIANG Wei followed ZHU-GE Liang's instruction and strictly kept the news of ZHU-GE Liang's death in the dark.He commanded his troops to retreat secretly with ZHU-GE Liang's coffin hidden in the orderly procession.

The opponent troops of the Wei Kingdom detected the retreat activity of the Shu troops.The commander SI-MA Yi of the Wei troops ordered to follow the Shu troops.JIANG Wei had instructed his men to sculpture a wooden figure of ZHU-GE Liang before they began their retreat.The sculptured figure was a lifelike statue of ZHU-GE Liang sitting on a chair with a feather fan in hand.

On the way of retreating，JIANG Wei instructed his subordinate officer YANG Yi to command his men pretending to launch attack onto the Wei troops.The Wei troops worried to be trapped and dared not to take any action recklessly when they saw the orderly and undisguised retreating procession of the Shu troops with ZHU-GE Liang calmly sitting in the chair from the distance.

The commander SI-MA Yi of the Wei troops knew the crafty ZHU-GE Liang well.He believed it was another trapping trick by the undisguised retreating.So he ordered his troops to withdraw and kept a close watch on the Shu troops.

JIANG Wei made good use of the chance of the withdrawing of the Wei troops.He ordered his soldiers to speed the act of retreating，and they finally reached Hanzhong safely.

It was too late for SI-MA Yi to chase and attack the Shu troops when he learned the news about ZHU-GE Liang's death.

【Implied Meaning】It originally means a cicada casts its coat before it becomes mature，it breaks away with its physical body safely and leaves its exuviated skin in its place.Now it is often used to refer to the secret withdrawing action to get away from the precarious situation by keeping its previous state in appearance in order not to be detected by the enemy or opponents.

【注释】

[1]存其形：（外表上）保持原来的形态。

[2]完其势：（表面上）完整地保持原有的势头。

[3]巽：顺从，顺势。蛊：毒害人之物，即危害。巽而止蛊：顺着敌人未发现之机而行，脱离危险境地，使自己免受伤害。