《瞒天过海》出处、故事、英文翻译、注释

12.瞒天过海

mán tiān guò hǎi

【出处】《三十六计》第一计：备周则意怠^[1]，常用则不疑。阴在阳之内^[2]，不在阳之对。太阳，太阴^[3]。明代阮大铖《燕子笺》第七出：“我做提控最有名，瞒天过海无人问。”

【成语故事】唐朝时期，唐太宗率领30 万士兵准备远征辽东。军队到了海边时，唐太宗看着这一望无边的大海，忍不住着急起来：“看来这海不好渡啊。”他手下有名大将叫薛仁贵，聪明的薛仁贵一眼就看出了皇帝的烦心事，于是，他想到了一个办法：他请唐太宗到海边一座彩色的营帐放松放松心情，并让文武百官们都陪着皇上饮酒作乐。唐太宗玩得很高兴，一时间竟忘记了之前的烦恼。正当他玩得尽兴时，唐太宗忽然听到帐篷外传来了波涛汹涌的声音，他连忙揭开帐幕一看，发现自己和手下的30万大军正乘船渡海呢，而且马上就要到达对岸了！ 他一下没反应过来是怎么回事，仔细一想，肯定是薛仁贵担心自己因渡海困难而放弃东征，于是瞒着自己，指挥整个军队渡了海。因为唐太宗贵为“天子”，所以叫作“瞒天过海”。

【寓意】该成语原指瞒着皇帝，指挥大军平稳渡过大海，出于善意，为上级解忧而做出欺骗行为以达到预期的目的。现指将自己的真实意图和目的隐藏起来，迷惑对方，以最终实现自己的目的。

瞒天过海
To Cross the Sea Quietly in Pleasant Hours

12.To Cross the Sea Quietly in Pleasant Hours

【Idiomatic Story】In the Tang Dynasty，the Emperor Taizong led 300，000 soldiers on an expedition to the eastern part of the Liaoning Province.When the troops reached seaside，Emperor Taizhong became worried when he saw the endless sea.How could the troops cross the sea safely? Emperor Taizhong thought to himself gloomily.

There was a general named XUE Ren-gui learned the worriment of Emperor Taizhong.He asked Taizhong to go into a colorful camp at the sea side for a relaxation，and arranged many officials and officers to enjoy singing and dancing while drinking with the emperor.Emperor Taizhong immersed himself into the gaiety of amusement with the officials，so he completely forgot the worries.

Suddenly，Emperor Taizhong heard the noise of surging waves out of the camp.He stood up to raise the curtain of the camp curiously.To his surprise，he found all the officers and soldiers were crossing the sea in different ships.And they were approaching the shore.He was confused by what he saw.But not long he made out the truth on a second thought.It was carefully arranged by the general XUE Ren-gui who worried about that Emperor Taizhong would draw back when he thought it would be difficult to cross the sea.He commanded the troops to cross the sea without informing Emperor Taizhong in order to delete the anxiety of Taizhong.The idiom was so expressed as “Man-tian-guo-hai” due to Emperor Taizhong being considered as “Tian-zi” (the son of the Holy Lord of the Heaven)，and the hard sea-crossing action had been done secretly in pleasant times without any detection of the emperor.

【Implied Meaning】It originally means that one who boldly and cleverly cheats his superior to make decision for something important in order to help the boss or leader relief the anxiety and finally complete the task.Now it is often used to refer to those who conceal his real intention in order to confuse the opponent for the final success.

【注释】

[1]备周则意怠：在物质基础条件方面做了充分的准备，就容易在思想上麻痹大意或者放松警惕。

[2]阴在阳之内：把真实意图暗藏在公开行动之中。

[3]太阳：（行为）绝对公开。太阴：（意图）绝对保密。