Chinese Practice
雞鳴戒旦
(ji1 ming2 jie4 dan4)
Photo: Paul Cooper, Taipei Times
照片：台北時報記者古德謙攝
Cock crows, announcing dawn
成語「雞鳴戒旦」字面上的意思是「雞叫告知天亮了」，語出《詩經．齊風．雞鳴》。該詩描述了賢淑的妃子在雞鳴時一再警醒荒淫的齊哀公參加早朝，勸他不要把公務留到太陽都下山了，任由眾官員聚集在朝中空等君王指令。描述這故事的詩句如下：
蟲飛薨薨、甘與子同夢。
會且歸矣、無庶予子憎。
意即「蟲子嗡嗡地飛，我寧可繼續跟你同眠溫柔鄉，一起做著美夢。但是上朝的官員們就快就要解散回去了，別讓他們鄙視我們吧。」
此成語後來便意指，因害怕沒有足夠的時間完成所有該做的事，一大早便起床。
在英語中也有類似的成語，即the early bird catches the worm。最初見於John Ray在一六七○年出版的《英語諺語集》，原文作the early bird catcheth the worm。該書的書名意味早在當時，這片語即已被當作諺語使用。
（台北時報編譯林俐凱譯）
他為了即將來臨的考試雞鳴戒旦，深怕沒有足夠的時間把每一科都唸完。
(He is going to get up when the cock crows every morning to prepare for his impending exams. He’s scared he won’t have enough time to finish studying all the courses.)
沒有必要為了搶首賣而雞鳴戒旦，把自己搞得緊張兮兮。
(There’s no need getting yourself all worked up about getting up with the crack of dawn to be the first to buy.)
英文練習
the early bird catches the worm
The idiom 雞鳴戒旦, literally “the cock crows, announcing the dawn” originates from a poem called the Cock Crows in the Odes Of Qi in the ancient Chinese classic the Book of Poetry. The poem imagines a virtuous woman repeatedly cautioning the licentious and dissolute Duke of Ai to attend to affairs of state when the cock crows, and not to leave things until sundown, ignoring the court crowded with officials awaiting his orders. Here is one stanza:
“The insects buzz around; it would be sweet to lie by you and dream.
But the assembled officers are soon to leave; Let them not despise us.“
The idiom has come to mean, then, needing to rise early in the morning to allow sufficient time for your affairs.
It has an English equivalent in the proverb “the early bird catches the worm,” the first recorded reference of which appears in John Ray’s “A collection of English proverbs” published in 1670, written as “the early bird catcheth the worm.” The title of the book suggests that, even this early, the phrase was considered a proverb.
(Paul Cooper, Taipei Times)
I need to get up bright and early tomorrow. The early bird catches the worm.
（我明天得要早起。早起的鳥兒有蟲吃。）
There is a special offer on the Early Bird breakfast, only available until 7:30am.
（早餐有早鳥特惠價，只到早上七點半。）
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