中文俗语英语翻译.docx

中文俗语英语翻译中文俗语英语翻译 恶者传千里 Bad news travels quickly. 智者不惑 A wise man is free from perplexities. 无风不起浪 There is no smoke without free(where there is smoke, there is fire) 为虎作伥 To act as guide to a tiger. 画蛇添足 To paint the lily. 奇装异服 A fantastic garb. 孤注一掷 To put all one's eggs in one basket. 忠言逆耳 Honest advice is unpleasant to the ear. 抛砖引玉 To throw out a minnow to catch a whale. 明辨是非 To distinguish right from wrong. 知足常乐 Happy is he who is content. 知足者富 He who feels contented is rich. 知人知面不知心 It's easy to know men's faces, but not their hearts. 知己知彼百战百胜 Know your enemy and know yourself. 空中楼阁 Castels in the air. 金科玉律 The golden rule. 雨后春笋 Like bamboo shoots after a spring shower. 勇者不惧 A brave man will not shrink from dangers. 洗心革面 To turn over a new leaf. 美中不足 A fiy in the ointment. 背道而驰 To run counter. 赴汤蹈火 To go through fire and water. 风烛残年 To have one foot in the grave. 风声鹤泪草木皆兵 To apprehend danger in every sound. 活到老学到老 It's never too late to learn. 前事不忘后事之师 Remember the past and it will guide your future. 星星之火可以燎原 A single spark can start a prairie fire. 害群之马 Black sheep. 家丑不外扬 Don't wash your dirty linen in public. 恩威并用 Alternate weakness with severity. 旁观者清 The outsider sees the best of the game. 时运不济 To have a bad time. 殊途同归 All roads lead to Rome. 回头浪子 The return of a prodigal. 先下手为强 Offence is the best defence(the best defence is offence.) 同甘共苦 To share one's joys and sorrows. 因时制宜 To act according to circumstances. 有勇无谋 More brave than wise. 有备无患 Good watch prevents misfortune. 有志者事竟成 Where there's a will, there's a way. 江山易改本性难移 The child is father of the man. 百无一失 Not a single miss in a hundred times. 百闻不如一见 To see is to believe. 自力更生 To shift for oneself. 自讨苦吃 To make a rod for one's own back 吃得苦中苦方为人上人 If you wish to be the best man, you must be prepared to suffer the bitterest of the bitter. 弄巧成拙 Overreach oneself; overshoot oneself; overshoot the mark. 忍无可忍 To be at the end of one's patience. 忘恩负义 To kick down the ladder. 走马看花 A flying visit. 防患于未然 To nip a thing in the bud. 秀才不出门能知天下事 A scholar does not step outside his gate, yet he knows the happenings under the sun. 事实胜于雄辩 Facts are most convincing. 来得容易去得快 Easy come, easy fo. 一言既出,驷马难追 A word spoken is past recalling. 一见钟情 To fall in love at first sight. 一箭双?(一举两得) To kill two birds with one stone. 一寸光阴一寸金 Time is money. 一失足成千古恨 The error committed on impulse may turn out to be the sorrow of a whole life. 一将功成万骨枯 What millions died that Caesar might be great. 一年之计在于春,一日之计在于晨 Plan your year in spring and your day at dawn. 九死一生 To have a hair-breadth escape. 人生如梦 Life is but a dream. 人生自古谁无死 Death comes to all men. 人生百岁古来稀 It is seldom that a man lives to be a hundred years old 人定胜天 Man can conquer nature. 三思而后行 Look before your leap. 三句不离本行 To talk shop. 千钧一发 To hang by a hair thread. 大智若愚 He who cannot play the fool is not a wise man. 大器晚成 Rome was not built in a day. 山穷水尽 At the end of one's resources. 不告而别 To take French leave. 积少成多 Every little makes a mickle. 钱可通神 Money can move even the gods. 谋事在人成事在天 Man proposes and God disposes. 优胜劣败 The weakest goes to the wall. 声东击西 To look one way and row another. 脍炙人口 In everyone's mouth. 螳臂挡车 To kick against the pricks. 鞠躬尽瘁 To give the last measure of devotion. 聪明反被聪明误 To suffer for one's wisdom. 旧调重弹 To harp on the same string. 覆水难收 What's done cannot be undone. 转败为胜 To convert defeat into victory. 鞭长莫及 Beyond one's grasp. 严以责己宽以待人 To be severe with oneself and lenient with others. 铁石心肠 A heart of steel. 听天由命 To be guided by destiny. 骄者必败 Pride goes before a fall. 不战而屈人之兵 The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting. 不入虎穴,焉得虎子 How can one obtain tiger-cabs without entering the tiger's lair? 天下乌鸦一般黑 Crows are black all over the world. 少年老成 To have an old head on young shoulders. 毛遂自荐 To recommand one's own person. 以身作则 To practice what one practices. 以毒攻毒 To set a thief to catch a thief. 以德报怨 To bite the hand that feeds one. To render good for evil. 以逸待劳 To wait at ease till the enemy is exhausted. 以寡敌众 To fight against longer odds. 以子之矛,攻子之盾 To turn a person's battery against himself. 四大皆空 All is vanity. 四海之内皆兄弟 All are brothers within the four seas. 打落水狗 To hit a person when he's down. 打铁趁热 Strike while the iron is hot. 未雨绸缪 To save against a rainy day. 目不识丁 Not know A from B. 失败乃成功之母 Failure is the mother of success. 任劳任怨 To bear hardship without complaint. 异想天开 To give loose to one's fancy. 众志成城 Union is strength. 趁火打劫 To fish in troubled waters. 量入为出 To cut one's coat according to one's cloth. 阳奉阴违 Ostensible obedience. 集思胜于独断 Two heads are better than one. 杀鸡焉用牛刀 Take not a musket to kill a butterfly. 跑了和尚跑不了庙 The monk may run away, but the temple can't run with him. 损人利己 To enrich oneself at others' expense. 置之死地而后生 Put the troops in death ground and they will live. 万物之灵 The lords of creation. 万事开头难 Everything is difficult at the start. 万无一失 Not a single miss in a ten thousand times. 落井下石 To hit a person when he's down. 得过且过 To live from hand to mouth. 道高一尺魔高一丈 While the priest climbs a foot, the devil climbs ten. 隔墙有耳 Pitchers have ears; walls have ears. 预防胜于治疗 Prevention is better than cure. 新官上任三把火 New brooms sweep clean. 塞翁失马焉知非福 Misfortune might be a blessing in disguise. 路遥知马力日久见人心 A distant journey tests the strength of a horse and a long task proves the character of a man. 寿终正寝 To die a natural death ( to die in one's bed) 寡不敌众 There is no contending against odds. 对牛弹琴 To cast pearls before swine. 祸不单行 Troubles never come singly. 沧海一粟 A drop in the bucket. 盖棺论定 Judge none blessed before his death. 饱食终日无所事事 To eat the bread of idleness. 慷他人之慨 To be free with other's money. 远亲不如近邻 Distant kinsmen mean less than close neighbours. 种瓜得瓜种豆得豆 You must reap what you have sown. 乐极生悲 After joy comes sadness. 熟能生巧 Practice makes perfect. 缓兵之计 A fabian policy. 缘木求鱼 To get water from a flint. 适者生存 The survival of the fittest.