【每週成語】
|
成語：畫虎類犬（HUA HU LEI QUAN）: to try to draw a tiger and end up a dog—failed because of undue ambition; try to paint a tiger and end up resembling a dog; to make a poor imitation.
出處：東漢，馬援傳。
釋義：比喻一個人想把事情做好，結果不但沒有做好，反而更糟，就是“畫虎類犬 ”。類似語：弄巧成拙。
故事：東漢的馬援將軍被封為伏波將軍。有一次他寫了一封信給侄子們，其中有一段如下：“我希望你們在聽到有人談及別人的過失時，能夠像聽到有人提到你們父母的名字一樣注意。龍伯高是一位敦厚謹慎的人，我希望你們能夠仿效他的品行。杜季良的為人好俠好義，但是我不希望你們仿效他，因為如果模仿龍伯高不成，仍然可以成為一個謹慎的人；像一個雕鵠的雕刻師，雕鵠不成，雕出一個鶩來，仍然可以說雕成相似的鳥類。如果模仿杜季良不成，將會成為一個輕浮的人，這就像畫一隻老虎不成，卻畫出一隻狗來，變成根本不同的獸類了。”
用法：他想當警察不成，結果入了黑社會當了一名流氓，真是 “畫虎類犬”。
故事英譯：During the era of East Han Dynasty, General Ma Yuan, who had been bestowed as General Fu Bo, once wrote a letter to his nephews, and there was a paragraph as following, ”I hope that if someone talked about the faults of others, you should pay as attention as that somebody mentions your parent’s names. Mr. Long Bo Gao is a honest, prudent gentleman, and I hope that you should imitate his behavior. While Mr. Du Ji Liang has a conduct of righteousness and justice, however, I don’t hope that you are mimics of him, because that if you are trying to imitate Long Bo Gao, even if your imitation can’t be completed, at least you may still be a cautious man, like that a swan-carver can’t sculpt a swan completely, but he may carve a duck, he can still make a similar kind of birds. Anyway, if you failed to copy Du Ji Liang’s behavior, you are very possible to be a debauch guy, it’s just like that you’re trying to draw a tiger but end up with a dog.”
The idiom “trying to draw a tiger and end up a dog,” means that one who wants to make things better, but on the contrast he makes it worse; or one who want to be a great man but end up a rascal.
回上一頁