買櫝還珠

get the casket and return the pearl

買櫝還珠

A man from the state of Chu wanted to sell a precious pearl in the state of Zheng.

有個(gè)楚國(guó)人想在鄭國(guó)出售一顆珍貴的珍珠。

He made a casket for the pearl out of the wood from a magnolia tree, which he fumigated with spices. He studded the casket with pearls and jade, ornamented it with red gems and decorated it with kingfisher feathers.

他用木蘭為珍珠作了個(gè)匣子，用香料把匣子熏香，還用珠，玉，紅寶石來(lái)加以裝飾，并插上了翠鳥(niǎo)的羽毛。

A man of the state of Zheng bought the casket and gave him back the pearl.

一個(gè)鄭國(guó)人買走了這個(gè)匣子，卻把珍珠還給了他。

Too luxuriant decoration usually supersedes what really counts.

過(guò)于華麗的裝飾往往會(huì)喧賓奪主。

This man from Chu certainly knew how to sell a casket but he was no good at selling his pearl. And the man of Zheng didn't know which is really valuable.

那個(gè)楚國(guó)人知道如何賣掉匣子，卻不擅長(zhǎng)出售珍珠(忽略了物品的重點(diǎn)，取舍不當(dāng))。至于買匣子的鄭國(guó)人，他根本不懂什么才是真正有價(jià)值的。

【文化鏈接】

“買櫝還珠”這個(gè)故事中那個(gè)買走了盒子卻舍棄珍珠的鄭國(guó)人其實(shí)“只注重了外表，卻忽略了實(shí)質(zhì)”，而英文中表達(dá)諸如此類的“買櫝還珠”“以貌取人”意思的短語(yǔ)就可以用“judge a book by its cover”，直譯也就是“光憑一本書(shū)的書(shū)皮，就判斷書(shū)的內(nèi)容的好壞”。

在英國(guó)達(dá)人秀中脫穎而出的草根明星“蘇珊大媽”雖然沒(méi)有華麗的外表，但是她以自己的實(shí)力一鳴驚人，所以蘇珊大媽這個(gè)例子就告訴我們：Never judge a book by its cover.(不要買櫝還珠/不要以貌取人)