【每週成語】
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成語：一字千金（YI ZI QIAN JIN）: A single word is worth a thousand pieces of gold; every word worth a gem.
出處：史記，呂不韋傳。
釋義：形容一篇文章的價值很高，字字珠璣，不可多得。
故事：戰國末期，秦國有位大商人名呂不韋，他在趙國經商時曾以很多錢財幫助過秦莊襄王，並將自己的愛妾趙姬嫁給秦襄王。當時秦莊襄王名字叫異人（後來改名子楚）正被質押在趙國當人質。當子楚接王位後定名為莊襄王，封呂不韋為文信侯，官居相國。莊襄王在位僅三年就死了，由他13歲的兒子嬴政（趙姬所生）接王位，他便是歷史上有名的秦始皇，尊呂不韋為仲父，行政大權操在呂不韋和趙姬手裡。
當時養士之風甚盛，有名的戰國四公子都養有門客數千人。呂不韋也養了三千門客作為他的智囊團。他們經常將自己的計謀提出來以鞏固呂不韋的政權。那些門客三教九流的人都有，各有各的見解和專長。他們將資料寫在紙上，編成一部20萬言的巨著名曰“呂氏春秋”。呂不韋拿這本書作為秦國統一天下的經典。當時，呂不韋將這本書在秦國首都咸陽公佈，並懸賞千金。凡人能在書中增一字或減一字者可獲得一公斤黃金。
用法：他花了10年功夫才完成這本書，可說字字珠璣，“一字千金”。
故事英譯：At the last years of Warring States, there was an ambitious merchant of Kingdom Qin, named Lu Bu Wei, who had helped King Zhuang Xiang of Kingdom Qin with lots of money when he was trading in Kingdom Zhao and let his favorite concubine Zhao Ji marry King Zhuang Xiang who in the meantime was named Yi Ren ( later changed Zi Chu) and was pawned as a hostage at Han Dan of Kingdom Zhao. When Zi Zhu ascended to the throne, titled as King Zhuang Xiang of Qin and Lu Bu Wei was bestowed the title Marquis Wen Xin, and appointed as Prime Minister. King Zhuang Xiang was on the reign only three years and died; his son (delivered by Zhao Ji) succeeded to the throne，who is the most famous emperor Qin Shi Huang, and he called Lu Bu Wei respectively as the second father. The whole political administrative power was grasped totally in the hands of Premier Lu Bu Wei and Zhao Ji.
In the meantime, the mode of raising and cultivating advising guests was prevailing and thriving; the famous four princes of Warring States each of them maintained thousands of hangers-on; and Lu Bu Wei also fed three thousands of hangers-on as his think-tank, who always were trying to contribute their various schemes for solidifying Lu’s political power. Those hangers-on included all walks of life and each had their own opinion and forte. They recorded the material on paper and edited all those documents into a great book of 200 thousand words which titled “Lu’s Spring-Autumn”. Lu Bu Wei took the book as the classics of Kingdom Qin for unifying the whole China. Meanwhile, Lu Bu Wei noticed the book and set rewards at Xian Yang, the Capital City of Qin, that anyone who could add or reduce one word in the text of the book would get the reward one thousand gold (about equal to 1kg).
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