Chinese practice
畫龍點睛
(hua4 long2 dian3 jing1)
Photo: Paul cooper, Taipei Times
照片：台北時報記者古德謙攝
Painting in the dragons’ pupils
張僧繇（活躍於西元四九○至五四○年）是魏晉南北朝時期知名的「畫家四祖」其中一人。他在梁武帝時期專管繪畫事務，並因習得天竺東傳的繪畫技巧、佛學及人物畫，而受益良多。就像大多數的文化融合及其衍生的綜合成品一樣，它們讓文化的演進又向前邁進了一步，而圖像藝術也因此變得更具有立體感，凹凸有致。雖然張僧繇向來以山水畫聞名，但接下來要談的成語卻與他在廟宇的牆上所畫的四條龍有關。
這是四條活靈活現的龍。一開始，張僧繇認為不要為龍畫眼睛比較好，因為他擔心一旦畫了眼睛，假龍就變真龍了。不過，他最後還是拗不過大家的慫恿，而為其中的兩條龍畫了眼睛。張僧繇這麼畫龍點睛之後，晴天霹靂，那兩條畫了眼睛的龍立時活了過來，凌空而起，飛上雲霄，留下另兩隻未完成的龍在牆上。
這個成語後來就用來指稱為事情加上臨門一腳，譬如繪畫或文字創作，而讓作品更出色。
他的這個新點子為我們本來平淡無奇的專案畫龍點睛。
(This latest point really adds a flourish to what was originally a flat and lifeless project.)
沒有她為你的文章編輯、畫龍點睛，你連初賽都進不去，就別提決賽了。
(Had she not edited this article for you, and added that extra something, it would never have got into the first round, let alone the final.)
英文練習
To add the final touches
Zhang Sengyou (active circa 490-540 A.D.) was known as one of the Four Great Painters of the Six Dynasties period. He was in charge of royal painting affairs under Emperor Wudi of the Liang kingdom, and was one of the painters to benefit from new techniques that arrived in China from India, together with Buddhism and the iconography associated with it. Like most infusions of culture, and the hybrid forms that it produces, this resulted in some major advancements in art, and pictorial art acquired a more three-dimensional quality. Zhang was known as a landscape painter, but the story from which this idiom comes from concerns a painting of four dragons he did on the walls of a temple.
The story goes that the dragons were extremely life-like. It is said that Zhang felt it advisable not to paint in the pupils of the dragons, because he feared that would actually bring them to life. He was eventually persuaded to do so, however, and when he painted the pupils on two of them, thunder broke, and lightning flashed across the sky. The two dragons on which he had painted the pupils came to life and flew into the sky, leaving behind the uncompleted dragons.
The idiom has come to mean putting the final touch on something, such as a painting or a piece of writing, to bring it to life.
I’ve almost finished the article, I’m just putting the final touches to it.
這篇文章就快完成了，只差最後的點綴。
I don’t want you to see the painting yet. I still think it needs me to add the final touch.
我還不想讓你看這幅畫，我最後還要再加些點綴。
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