Chinese Practice
弄巧成拙
(nong4 qiao3 cheng2 zhuo1)
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
照片:維基共享資源
Attempting to be clever, but appearing foolish
成語「弄巧成拙」是出自禪宗佛教史書《五燈會元》所記載,龐居士(西元七四○~八○八年)和馬祖道一禪師(西元七○九~七八八年)的一段互動。龐居士想在禪師面前賣弄一番,但禪師只以眼睛往下看和往上看來回應龐居士的話,表示龐居士自己該省悟的事還很多。最後龐居士便說自己「適來弄巧成拙」(本想賣弄自己的聰明,卻反而讓自己顯得笨拙)。
這段話的背景是在古中國唐代,但若龐居士說的是現代英語,他便會說「I was trying to be too clever by half, and ended up getting egg on my face.」(我自以為聰明想要賣弄,結果卻落得狼狽不堪)。
「Too clever by half」和「getting egg on your face」這兩個片語皆頗耐人尋味。聰明畢竟應是件好事——那麼我們有可能會嫌自己太過聰明嗎?又憑什麼來衡量何謂一倍半太過的聰明?這句話的意思顯然是用來諷刺,並意味若你想要顯示自己的聰明的話是不會成功的,而且最後反而會顯得愚蠢。「Getting egg on your face」(你臉上有蛋)也有類似的意義——如果你想要做超出自己能力的事,最後只會讓你自己顯得愚蠢。
(台北時報編譯林俐凱譯)
我本來以為翻牆過去可以抄近路,沒想到摔了一大跤,反而弄巧成拙。
(I thought I’d take a shortcut by climbing over the wall, and went head over heels. I was being too clever by half.)
這個政策立意甚佳,但在執行上有點弄巧成拙,造成許多不便。
(This policy actually makes a lot of sense, but it was executed in a ham-fisted way and created all kinds of problems.)
英文練習
Egg on your face
Too clever by half
The Chinese idiom 弄巧成拙 is actually taken directly from an account of a conversation between a Chan Buddhist lay disciple, the Layman Pang (740–808AD), and Chan Buddhist master, Mazu Daoyi (709–788AD) recorded in the Compendium of the Five Lamp Records. In the exchange, Pang attempts to impress the Chan master, but Mazu responds only by lowering and raising his eyes, indicating that Pang still had much to understand. It ends with Pang desisting, and saying to himself 適來弄巧成拙: “I thought I would try to show off my skill, but I only succeeded in looking foolish.”
That exchange happened in Tang China. Had the Layman Pang been speaking in modern colloquial English, he might have said something like, “I was trying to be too clever by half, and ended up getting egg on my face.”
The phrases “too clever by half” and “getting egg on your face” are both quite curious. Being clever, after all, is supposed to be a good thing: Is it really possible to be “too” clever? And what does it mean to measure the extent of your surplus cleverness by saying that it is half as much again? Clearly, the phrase is supposed to be sarcastic, and suggests that if you were trying to be clever then you didn’t succeed, and by extension ended up looking foolish. Getting egg on your face, too, has this meaning: that you somehow fumble in an attempt, and succeed only in making yourself look stupid.
(Paul Cooper, Taipei Times)
If it goes well, people will be impressed. If it goes badly, you’ll end up with egg on your face.
(如果一切進行順利,就會令人刮目相看。如果出了差錯,就會狼狽不堪。)
I thought I’d save myself some time, but I was too clever by half. In the end I spent ages sorting out the mess.
(我本來以為這樣可以省事一點,結果弄巧成拙,反而花更多時間善後。)
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