英语成语典故条

英文版的《守株待兔》如下：

Once upon a time, there was a farmer. One day, while he was working in the fields, he saw a hare run into a tree stump accidentally and die of a broken neck.

从前，有一个农夫。一天，在他耕田的时候，忽然跑过来一只野兔，恰好碰在一个树桩上，脖子折断死了。

The farmer took the hare home and cooked a delicious meal for himself.

农夫把兔子拾回家去，美美地吃了一顿兔肉。

That night he thought: "I needn't work so hard. All I have to do is wait every day by the stump to pick up the hare that runs into it."

当晚，他就想：“我何必辛辛苦苦的种地呢？每天在树桩旁等着捡撞死的野兔就好了”。

So from then on he gave up farming, and stood by the tree stump waiting for the hare to come and run into it.

于是他从此不再耕种，每天在树桩旁等待野兔的到来。

But from then on, he never saw another hare run into the tree stump.

但是，从那以后，他再没有发现一只野兔撞在树桩上。

成语寓意

野兔撞在树桩上死去，这是非常偶然的事，它并不意味着，别的野兔也一定会撞死在这个树桩上。可是，这个农夫竟然以偶然当作必然，不惜放下农具，任其耕田荒芜，专等偶然的收获。

这个故事告诫我们：不要存有侥幸心理，不要总想着不劳而获，如果不付出努力，而寄希望于意外之财，结果只能是竹篮打水一场空。我们的生活是要靠自己的双手去一点点地创造的，如果总想不劳而获，那么人生就会像这个宋国人的田地一样荒废掉。

英文版成语故事:凿壁偷光Kuang Heng was born in a poor family. He liked reading books very much. He needed to work at daytime, so he had to read books during night. But he was too poor to buy a candle.One day, he found his neighbour had candles, but the light couldn’t go through his room. So he dug a small hole on the wall so that he could use the light to read books. From that day, he read books every night until the light went out.However, he finished reading all his books and there were no books for him to read. Then he went to a rich man’s house and worked for him without payment. The rich man asked: “ Why don’t you want the money?” Kuang Heng said: “ Because I only want to borrow your books.” The rich man agreed. Kuang Heng read the books one by one.Finally, he became a great scholar.匡衡勤奋好学，但家中没有蜡烛。邻家有蜡烛，但光亮照不到他家，匡衡就在墙壁上凿了洞引来邻家的光亮，让光亮照在书上读书。县里有个大户人家不怎么识字，但家中富有，有很多书。匡衡就到他家去做雇工，但不要报酬。主人感到很奇怪，问他为什么这样，他说：“我希望读遍主人家的书。”主人听了，深为感叹，就借给匡衡书。于是匡衡成了一位伟大的学者。