成语故事:惊弓之鸟a bird startled by the mere twang of a bow-string
更羸与魏王处京台之下①，仰见飞鸟。更羸谓魏王曰：“臣为王引弓虚发而下鸟②。”魏王曰：“然则射可至此乎？”更羸曰：“可。”有间③，雁从东方来，更羸以虚发而下之。魏王曰：“然则射可至此乎？”更羸曰：“此孽也④。”王曰：“先生何以知之？”对曰：“其飞徐而鸣悲⑤，——飞徐者，故疮痛也⑥；鸣悲者，久失群也；故疮未息而惊心未去也， 闻弦音引而高飞⑦，故疮陨也⑧。”——《战国策》
[注释]
更羸（léi）——战国时的名射手。京台——高台。
②虚发——虚拉弓弦，不放箭。下鸟——使鸟落下。
③有间（jiàn）——过一段时间。
④孽（niè）——病。
⑤徐——缓慢.
⑥故疮——旧伤。
⑦引——伸，展。这里指伸展翅膀。
⑧陨（yǔn）——从高处掉下来。
In the Warring States Period, there was a man in the State of Wei called Geng Lei who was very good at toxophily. One day he and his king were drinking on the backyard, when they saw a bird flying on the sky and Geng Lei said to the king,"I can shoot down birds by simply plucking my bowstring." When the king expressed doubt with shaking head,“You can’t do that whoever you are. "Geng Lei said:"But I can".After a while,a lonely wild goose was flying slowly from East.Geng Lei pointed his bow at the goose flying on the sky, twanged the bowstring, and the wild goose fell to the ground.The king can’t believe his eyes and said:“what a high standard of your toxophily is.” Geng Lei said:“This wild goose has been hurt in already. Hearing the twang of the bowstring and falling.So,It’s none of my business." The king was still wondering:"It’s flying on the sky,how do you know that?" Geng Lei said:"It flies slowly with a sadness yelling.Because It's a lonely wild goose and not recover by now.It assumed that it was doomed. So it simply gave up trying to live.”
从前,有一位名叫更赢的人,他是一位有名的神箭手.有一天,他陪魏王在后花园里喝酒,他们抬头看见一只飞鸟,更赢对魏王说:「我为大王表演一个拉弓虚射就能使鸟掉下来的技能.」魏王摇头笑笑:「射箭技术可以达到这麼高的水平吗 」更赢说:「能.」 过了没有多久,一只孤雁从东方徐徐飞来,更赢摆好姿式,拉满弓弦,虚射一箭,雁应声而落.魏王简直不相信自己的眼睛,惊叹道:「箭术难道真的可以达到这种地步 」更赢於下弓解释说:「这是一只有隐伤的鸟,听见弦声惊悖而下落的,并非我的技术高明!」魏王更纳闷了:「大雁在天空中飞,先生怎麼知道它有隐伤 」更赢回答说:「它飞得慢,鸣声又凄厉,是因为长久失群,原来的伤口没有愈合,惊恐的心理还没有消除,一听到弦声,就猛一下子搧动翅膀往高处飞,瞬间就牵动旧的创伤,疼得使它跌落下来.」
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