班门弄斧
在鲁班门前摆弄斧子。比喻在专家面前卖弄自己的本事。
Showing off your axe at Lu Ban's door — trying to impress an expert with a skill they already mastered long ago.
古时候有一位非常有名的木匠,叫鲁班。他手艺高超,天下的木匠都敬佩他,把他当成祖师爷。
很久以后,有一个年轻的木匠,做活做得还可以,就常常在别人面前夸自己的本事。
有一次,他路过鲁班的家门口,看见门前有一棵大树,就拿出斧子,当着鲁班家人的面一通乱砍,还说:“看我这斧头,耍得多漂亮!”
旁边的人看了,忍不住笑起来:“这里可是鲁班的家门口,你在这里耍斧子,不是自不量力吗?”这位年轻木匠听完,脸一下子红了。
后来人们就用“班门弄斧”来提醒大家:在真正的高手面前,最好多学一学,不要太急着卖弄自己。
Long ago there lived a master carpenter named Lu Ban. His skill was so famous that carpenters everywhere honored him as their ancestral teacher.
Many years later, a young carpenter with only average skill liked to boast about his own work.
One day he happened to pass Lu Ban's old house. Seeing a great tree in front of the door, he pulled out his axe and started chopping away showily, right in front of Lu Ban's family. “Look at how well I swing this axe!” he bragged.
The people watching burst out laughing. “This is Lu Ban's own doorway! Swinging an axe here — aren't you reaching beyond your own ability?” The young man's face turned bright red.
Ever since, “swinging an axe at Lu Ban's door” reminds us: before a true master, it's wiser to learn than to show off.
Let's