1、增广贤文(英汉对照),Popular Collection of Traditional Chinese Wise Sayings,To understand the present, one should first know the past because without the past there is no present. 观今宜鉴古，无古不成今。,Although you may know many people, not many are really honest with you. 相识满天下，知心能几人。,If you live close to the water,
2、you will know the character of the fishes well. If you live by a wooded mountain, you will know the different songs of the birds. 近水知鱼性，近山识鸟音。,A flower does not grow sometimes when you purposely plant it whereas a willow grows and offers a shade sometimes when you purposelessly transplant it. 有意栽花花不
3、发，无心插柳柳成荫。,The person who comes to you to make a report about a trouble is none other than the trouble-maker. 来说是非者，便是是非人。,When people have tea and wine enouph to entertain others, they have many guests who seem as intimate as their brothers; when they are in need and danger, nobody comes to their a
4、id. 有茶有酒多兄弟，急难何曾见一人。,When you picture a tiger it is easier for you to picture its hide than its bones. When you see a person it is easier for you to know their faces than their hearts and minds. 画龙画虎难画骨，知人知面不知心。,Wealth is like muck, and yet benevolence and righteousness are as valuable as gold. 钱财如粪
5、土，仁义值千金。,As distance tests a horses strength, so time reveals a persons heart. 路遥知马力，事久见人心。,The water from my native place, no matter whether it is tasty, is beauty; the people from my native place, no matter who they might be, are dear to me. 美不美，乡中水; 亲不亲，故乡人。,If you are not a hospitable host at ho
6、me, you will find it difficult to meet a hospitable host when you visit others away from home. 在家不会迎宾客，出外方知少主人。,The poor living downtown are called by nobody, and the rich living even in remote mountains are visited by many people including their distant relations. 贫居闹市无人问，富在深山有远亲。,As in the Yangtze
7、 River the waves behind drive on those before, so in the world man of a new generation is driving endlessly that of an old one forward. 长江后浪推前浪，世上新人赶旧人。,A waterside tower gets the moonlight first, plants exposed to the sun meet spring earlier. 近水楼台先得月，向阳花木早逢春。,Distant water wont put out a fire close
8、 at hand, a relative far off gives less help than a neighbour close by. 远水难救近火，远亲不如近邻。,Human relationships are as thin as a sheet of paper, affairs of human life keep changing like chess playing. 人情似纸张张薄，世事如棋局局新。,It is natural in the world to find trees that are a thousand years old, and it is prett
9、y rare to find persons who are a hundred years of age. 山中也有千年树，世上难逢百岁人。,A drop of water is as satisfying as sweet dew when people are thirsty, and yet a little bit more liquor is worse than nothing to a drunkard unpleasantly. 渴时一滴如甘露，醉后添杯不如无,I profit more from one talk with you than from ten years o
10、f my reading. 同君一席话，胜读十年书。,When the city gate catches fire, the fish in the moat come to grief or suffer bad luck. 城门失火，殃及池鱼。,There is greater merit in saving one life than in building a seven-tiered pagoda. 救人一命，胜造七级浮屠。,To do is more useful than to say, and self-help is better than the help from ot
11、hers God helps those who help themselves. 使口不如自走，求人不如求己。,Would rather believe the possibility than do the impossibility. 宁可信其有，不可信其无。,If you are destined to have something, you can sooner or later have it; if you are not so, dont you insist on having it. 命里有时终须有，命里无时莫强求。,A little error may lead to a
12、 large discrepancy-a small error to make may lead to a great mistake. 差之毫厘，失之千里。,Good news never goes beyond the gate while bad news spreads far and wide. 好事不出门，恶事传千里。,Brothers, when they grow up, may leave each other and be residents of different areas. 小时是兄弟，长大各乡里。,You may go near to a tiger, but
13、you can not go near to a vicious person. 虎身犹可近，人毒不堪亲。,The poor are care-free while the rich and powerful are worried. 贫穷自在，富贵多忧,People who give no thought to difficulties in the future is sure to be beset by worries much closer at hand. 人无远虑，必有近忧。,To stifle your indignation once can avoid your worri
14、es for a hundred days. 忍得一时之气，免得百日之忧。,Drink to your hearts content today while you may, for perhaps you wont be able to drink another day; if sorrow comes tomorrow, let it be tomorrows sorrow. 今朝有酒今朝醉，明日愁来明日忧。,Kind persons suffer from more deceivers, good horses serve more riders. 人善被人欺，马善被人骑。,Witho
15、ut ill-gotten wealth, a person cannot be rich; and similarly, without being fed at night, a horse cannot become fat. 人无横财不富，马无夜草不肥。,When you are graced, you should think of the time when you might be disgraced; in times of safety, you should think of anger and difficulty. 得宠思辱，居安思危。,Although you may
16、 escort a guest a thousand miles, yet the parting must come at last. 送君千里，终须一别。,Dragons in shallow water are teased by shrimps. Tigers that come to a level and open country are bullied by doges. 龙游浅水遭虾戏，虎落平阳被犬欺。,Noticed by none during their 10 years hard study, some scholars became known all over th
17、e empire once they won honours. 十载寒窗无人问，一举成名天下知。,Just as one stores up grain against lean years, one rears children against old age. 养儿防老，积谷防饥。,When you are lucky, even the wind helps you; when you are not lucky, even an unexpected thing may suddenly destroy your hope. 时来风送滕王阁，运去雷轰荐福碑。,A word once m
18、outhed cannot be taken back even by a team of four horses-what is said cannot be unsaid. 一言既出，驷马难追。,When I walk along with two others, one of them must serve me as my teacher. 三人行必有我师。,Laziness in youth spells regret in old age. 少壮不努力，老大徒伤悲。,The net of Heaven has large meshes, but it lets nothing th
19、roughthe guilty can never escape Heavens and mans justice. 天网恢恢，疏而不漏。,The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind-covet gains ahead, unaware of danger behind. 螳螂捕蝉，岂知黄雀在后。,The chance to be in the same ferryboat comes to two persons only once in a hundred generations, the fate to be a
20、married couple comes to a man and a woman only once in a thousand generations. 百世修来同船渡，千世修来共枕眠。,Man lives and dies, God or fate disposes. 死生有命，富贵在天。,Good will be rewarded with good, and evil with evil; if the reward is not forthcoming, it is because the time has not yet come. 善有善报，恶有恶报，不是不报，日子未到。,Le
21、wdness is the worst of all vices, and filial piety is the best of all virtues. 万恶淫为首，百行孝当先。,Guard against starvation every year, and take precautions against burglars every night. 年年防饥，夜夜防盗。,Double-dealers in human society are more terrible and dangerous than tigers in mountains. 入山不怕伤人虎，只怕人情两面刀。,Ti
22、me flies like an arrow, days and months pass like a working shuttle-how time flies. 光阴似箭，日月如梭。,Opportunities of time vouchsafed by Heaven are not equal to advantages of situation afforded by the Earth, and advantages of situation afforded by the Earth are not equal to the union arising from the acco
23、rd of Men. 天时不如地利，地利不如人和。,The worth of other pursuits is small, the study of books excels them all. 万般皆下品，唯有读书高。,Even sheep and crows are of filial piety-the former kneel when sucking the breast as if they were thanking their mothers for the milk, the latter feed mother crows in return when fully gr
24、own. 羊有跪乳之恩，鸦有反哺之义。,Do not go deep into the mountains, knowing well that there are tigers there. 明知山有虎，莫向虎山行。,Roads cannot be level without being spaded up, nothing can be accomplished without peoples working, persons cannot be kind without being advised, and bells cannot toll without being struck (
25、or: Roads cannot be level without being spaded, without peoples working nothing can be accomplished, persons cannot be kind without being advised, and without being struck bells cannot sound). 路不铲不平，事不为不成，人不劝不善，钟不敲不鸣。,Your parents are living Buddha, there is no need for you to go to the fairy mounta
26、in to worship Buddhist patriarch. 堂上二老是活佛，何用灵山朝世尊。,Stars high in the sky, many and bright as they are, are not as bright as the moon shining alone. 众星朗朗，不如孤月独明。,Some people are old but still have young hearts, and there are also some people who are poor but still ambitious. 人老心不老，人穷志不穷。,Generally, a
27、 person cannot be always well for a thousand days, and a flower cannot bloom for a hundred days. 人无千日好，花无百日红。,The rain fell throughout the night on the roof already leaking, and the shabby boat met unfavourable winds-misfortune was doubled. 屋漏更遭连夜雨，行船又遇打头风。,Just as bitter medicine is effective to cu
28、re sickness, unpalatable advice benefits conduct and business. 良药苦口利于病，忠言逆耳利于行。,Those who act in agreement with the objective law remain, and those who do against it shall perish. 顺天者存，逆天者亡。,Men will die for wealth, as birds for food. 人为财死，鸟为食亡。,You cant judge people by appearances, and you cant mea
29、sure sea water with bushels-great minds cannot be fathomed. 凡人不可貌相，海水不可斗量。,Armies are to be maintained in the course of long years, but to be used in the nick of time. 养兵千日，用兵一时。,Some people never burn incense when all is well but clasp Buddhas feet when in distress-do nothing until the last minute. 闲时不烧香，急时抱佛脚。,A tree is not afraid of its trembling in the wind so long as it has roots deep in earth, and it is not afraid either that it has a slanting shadow under the moon so long as it stands uprightly. 根深不怕风摇动，树正何愁月影斜。,
