洛阳纸贵－中国成语故事中英对照
In the Jin Dynasty (265-420) there was a famous writer whose name was Zuo Si who, however, was very naughty and did not like to study when he was a small kid.His father often got angry, and yet young Zuo Si was as naughty as ever and would not study hard.
晋代文学家左思，小时候是个非常顽皮、不爱读书的孩子。父亲经常为这事发脾气，可是小左思仍然淘气得很，不肯好好学习。
One day, Zuo Si's father was chatting with his friends. his friends envied him his clever and loverly son. Hearing this, Zuo si's father sighed, "Please do not mention him. My son Zuo si does not study as well as I did when I was young, although I did not study well enough myself. It appears that he is actually a good-for-nothing."So saying, he looked disappointed. All this was witnessed by young Zuo Si. He felt very sad, feeling intensely that he would not be able to have a bright future if he did not study hard. So he was determined to study assiduously from then on.
有一天，左思的父亲与朋友们聊天，朋友们羡慕他有个聪明可爱的儿子。左思的父亲叹口气说：“快别提他了，小儿左思的学习，还不如我小时候，看来没有多大的出息了。”说着，脸上流露出失望的神色。这一切都被小左思看到听到了，他非常难过，觉得自己不好好念书确实很没出息。于是，暗暗下定决心，一定要刻苦学习。
Day after day and year after year, Zuo Si gradually grew up. Because of his unremitting afforts in hard study, he became an erudite scholar and wrote very excellent essays. The "Ode to the Capital of the State of Qi", which took him one year to write, showed his brilliant literary talent and laid the foundation for his becoming an outstanding writer. then he planned to write an "Ode to the Capitals of the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Shu Han and Wu"with the local conditions and customs as well as the produce of the three capitals as its content. In order to achieve the desired effect in content, structure and language, he applied himself to research work with great concentration, and was so absorbed in creative writing as to forget food and sleep. It took him ten whole years to finish the writing of "Ode to the Capitals of the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Shu Han and Wu", a literary masterpiece.
日复一日，年复一年，左思渐渐长大了，由于他坚持不懈地发奋读书，终于成为一位学识渊博的人，文章也写得非常好。他用一年的时间写成了《齐都赋》，显示出他在文学方面的才华，为他成为杰出的文学家奠定了基础。这以后他又计划以三国时魏、蜀、吴首都的风土、人情、物产为内容，撰写《三都赋》。为了在内容、结构、语言诸方面都达到一定水平，他潜心研究，精心撰写，废寝忘食，用了整整十年，文学巨著《三都赋》终于写成了。
The "Ode to the Capitals of the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Shu Han and Wu"was well received by the broad masses of readers after it made its appearance to the public, and people considered it as superbly written as the "Ode to the Western Capital (Changan) and to the Eastern Capital (Luoyang)"written by Ban Gu (32-92) and the "Ode to the Western Capital and to the Eastern Capital"written by Zhang Heng of the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. to A.D.220). As the art of printing had not been invented at that time, people who were fond of this "Ode"had to make handwritten copies of it themselves. As there were so many people who vied with each other in making handwritten copies, the supply of writing paper fell short of the demand in Luoyang went up greatly.
《三都赋》受到谅也评，人们把它和汉代文学杰作《两都赋》相比。由于当时还没有发明印刷术，喜爱《三都赋》的人只能争相抄阅，因为抄写的人太多，京城洛阳的纸张供不应求，一时间全城纸价大幅度上升。
This story comes from "The life of Zuo Si"in the book "Literary Field"of The History of the Jin Dynasty. Based on this story, people have coined the set phrase "the price of writing paper went up greatly", meaning the overwhelming popularity of a new work causes shortage of printing paper, to show how popular an outstanding piece of literary work is.
故事出自《晋书·文苑·左思传》。成语“洛阳纸贵”，称颂杰出的作品风行一进。
嗟来之食 中国成语故事中英对照
food handed out in contempt嗟来之食
【成语来源】
One year during the Spring and Autumn Period (春秋时期,770-476 BC), there was a the Qi State (齐国) was severely strickend by a famine.
春秋时代，有一年齐国发生大饥荒。
Qian Ao (qián ào 黔敖), a very rich but arrogant man took the occasion to showcase his generosity through preparing food by the roadside and giving it to the passing refugees in charity.
有一位叫做黔敖有钱贵族，在街边准备食物分发给来往的难民，以显示自己的慷慨。
A man with shabby clothes happened to walk by with his shoes trailing along, he was so hungry as not to open his eyes.
有一个饥民，用衣袖蒙着脸，拖着鞋，饿得眼睛都睁不开的样子，慢慢地走过来。
Seeing the poor man, Qian Ao held the food by left hand and the drink by right hand, and shouted at him,"Hi, come to eat !”
黔敖见了，就左手拿着吃的，右手捧着喝的，向他喊道：“喂，来吃吧！”
Hearing the word, the man glared his eyes and said, “It is because I am not willing to eat the food handed out in contempt that I have been famished to such a degree. "
那人一听这话，立即瞪着眼睛，说道：“我就是因为不吃‘嗟来之食，才饿到这般地步的。"
Though Qian Ao made an apology to him for that, the man still resolutely refused to eat the food and thus he died of hunger in the end.
尽管黔敖向他道歉，那人仍然坚决不吃，终于饿死了。
This set phrase now extensively denotes the disrespectful aims. This story means that a person who has a strong sense of self-respect would rather die of hunger than be despised.
此故事讲的是一个怀有强烈自尊心的人，宁可饿死也不肯接受人轻视。现在这个成语泛指带有侮辱性的施舍。
【文化链接】
中文中“嗟来之食”的意思就是“带有侮辱性的施舍”，英语直译就是“something handed out in contempt”，那如果是“主动去乞求帮助或是施舍”的话，英语该如何表达呢？
英文中常用惯语有“come hat in hand”，也就是是乞求或请求别人“施舍”，求人给一些原本不属于你的东西，源自英国民俗，根据当时英国的民间习俗，当一个人穷困潦倒、无以为生时，就可以手持帽子，低声下气地向别人乞讨，以获取他人的同情，这是一种非常丢脸的行为，所以一般人除非迫不得已，否则是不会这样做的。
所以，come hat in hand 常用来比喻“走投无路”、“穷困潦倒”、“有求于人”。
例如： Retired workers need not come hat in hand to ask for supplementary allowance. （退休工人就不必卑躬屈膝地请求追加补助费了。）
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