-
A
?
矮子里拔将军
直：
pick a general
from among the dwarfs
意：
select someone
for lack of a better one;
select from among the
mediocre/ run-of-mill
B
?
八字还没一撇
直：
Not even the
first stroke of the character
“
八
”
has happened.
意：
Nothing tangible is in
sight.
Things aren
’
t
even starting to take place yet.
There is no
sign of anything happening yet.
?
班门弄斧
?
杯弓蛇影
?
杯水车薪
?
背水一战
?
冰冻三尺，
非一日之寒
?
兵来将挡，
水来土掩
?
不以规矩，
不成方圆
?
草木皆兵
?
沧海桑田
(
饱经沧桑：
?
赤膊上阵
Things are still up in the
air.
直：
Wield the axe before
Lu Ban (the ancient master carpenter).
意：
display
one
’
s
learning
or
parade
one
’
s
skill
in
the
presence
of
an
expert;
teach
one
’
s grannie how to suck
egges;
bring coal to Newcastle
直：
mistake the shadow of a
bow in the cup for a snake
意：
self-created suspicion;
imaginary fears;
be extremely nervous and
suspicious
直：
try to put out
a carload of burnig firewood with a cup of water
意：
a useless attempt;
a drop in the bucket;
utterly inadequate measure
直：
fight with
one
’
s back to the river or
wall
意：
fight to win or die;
fight a last-ditch battle;
put
up a desperate fight
直：
It
takes more than one cold day to freeze three feet
of ice.
意：
The trouble is
deep-rooted;
Rome was not built in a
day.
直：
stop an advancing
army with troops and onrushing water with earth
意：
counter move for move;
counter measure for measure
直：
You cannot draw squares
and circles without the campass and square.
意：
Nothing can be
accomplished without norms and standards.
C
直：
take every
grass and tree as an enemy soldier
意：
a state of extreme
nervousness, as if surrounded by enemies
直：
Seas change into mulberry
fields.
意：
Time brings great
change to the world.
have experienced
many vicissitudes of life)
直：
go into battle stripped to
the waist
意：
take personal
charge and go it alone despite opposition;
Throw away all disguise and tactics;
1
come out into
the open as a result of desperation or
foolhardiness
?
此地无银
直：
The 300 taels
of silver are not buried here (a sign put up by
the man in the
三百两
folk tale over the place where he had
hidden the money)
意：
A clumsy
self-exposing performance or denial;
A
guilty
person
gives
himself
away
by
conspicuously
protesting
his
innocence;
Protest one
’
s
innocence too much.
?
吹胡子瞪眼
直：
froth at the mouth and
glare with rage
意：
snort and stare in anger;
?
唇亡齿寒
?
吹毛求疵
?
寸有所长，
尺有所短
?
打肿脸
充胖子
?
当一天和尚
撞一天钟
?
调虎离山
?
叠床架屋
?
东方不亮
西方亮，
黑了南方
有北方
?
放长线
钓大鱼
?
翻手为云
覆手为雨
fume with rage
直：
If the lips are gone, the
teeth will be exposed.
意：
If
one of two interdependent things falls, the other
is in danger.
直：
blow upon
the hair trying to discover a flaw
意：
find fault with;
pick holes in
直：
An inch has its length and
a foot sometmes falls short.
意：
Everybody has his
strennths and weaknesses.
D
直：
Try to look fat by
slapping one
’
s face till
it
’
s swollen.
Boast about one
’
s
pink cheek after having been slapped.
意：
Do something beyond
one
’
s means in order to look
impressive;
try to satisfy
one
’
s vanity when one cannot
really afford to do so
直：
go
on tolling the bell as long as one remains a monk.
意：
do the minimum required or
do as little as possible to get by;
do
the least that is expected of one;
take a passive attitude towards
one
’
s work
直：
lure the tiger out of his
mountain or lair
意：
tempt or
entice somebody into leaving his vantage ground
直：
pile one bed upon another
or build one house on top of another
意：
needless duplication;
repetition and superfluity
直：
When there is dark in the
east, it is light in the west;
When things are dark in the
south, there is still light in the north.
意：
There is alsways plenty of
room for
manoeuvring.
E
F
直：
throw a long line to catch
a big fish
意：
devise a long-term plan to
secure something big
直：
produce clouds with one
turn of the hand and rain with another
意：
wield
one
’
s power capriciously;
be shifty and capricious;
be tricky and deceitful
2
?
放马后炮
直：
fire belated shots
意：
comment on
something when it is already over;
fail to give timely advice;
be a Monday morning
quarterback
?
风声鹤唳
直：
scared by the moan of the
wind and the cry of the cranes, and seeing the
草木皆兵
enemy in every
bush and tree
意：
describing
the
extreme
nervousness
of
a
fleeing
army
’
s
suspicion
of
danger at the slightest sound
?
风调雨顺
直：
The elements are
propitious, the country is prosperous and the
people are
国泰民安
at peace.
意：
favorable climate,
prosperity and peace
?
风雨同舟
直：
in
the same storm-tossed boat
意：
stand together through
thick and thin;
share weal and woe;
help each other in distress;
share the same fate with;
cast in
one
’
s lot with
?
佛面蛇心
直：
have a
Buddha
’
s face but a
viper
’
s heart
意：
be honey-lipped but evil
at heart;
be a malicious
hypocrite
?
佛要金装
直：
As
Buddha needs a gilt statue, man needs fine
clothes.
人要衣装
意：
Fine feather make fine
birds; Fine clothes make the man.
?
釜底抽薪
直：
pull out the burning
firewood from under a cauldron
意：
take drastic measures to
deal with a critical situation;
cut the ground from under
somebody
’
s feet;
tackle the root cause
?
赴汤蹈火
直：
be ready to jump into
boiling water and plunge into raging fire
意：
go through
hell and high water;
be
ready to risk one
’
s life
G
?
肝脑涂地
直：
be
ready to dash one
’
s brains
out or scatter one
’
s innards
on the ground
意：
be
ready to lay down one
’
s life
for a cause;
be willing to
repay a favor with extreme sacrifice
?
赶鸭子上架
直：
drive a duck
onto a perch
意：
make somebody do something
entirely beyond him
?
隔岸观火
直：
watch a fire from the
other side of a river
意：
look on at
somebody
’
s misfortune with
indifference;
show no concern
for another
’
s trouble
?
狗咬吕洞宾
直：
snarl
and
snap
at
Lü
Dongbin
(one
of
the
eight
immortals
in
Chinese
mythology)
意：
mistake a good
man for a bad one
(
狗咬吕洞宾，不识好人心。
Like the dog that bit Lü
Dongbin, you bite the hand that feeds
you.)
?
狗嘴里吐不出
直：
No ivory can come out of a
dog
’
s mouth.
3
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