夜郎自大
见识太少,却把自己看得很大。比喻自以为了不起。
Knowing little yet thinking oneself great — conceit born of a narrow view.
汉朝的时候,在中国的西南方,有一个很小的国家,叫做夜郎国。夜郎国的山很多,地方不大,国王却从来没有走出过自己的国境。
一天,汉朝皇帝派了一位使者,到西南去访问。使者先去了旁边的滇国,又来到夜郎。夜郎国王见到使者,十分得意地问:“你们汉朝和我们夜郎,哪个大呀?”
使者听了,差点笑出声来。原来,夜郎小得只有汉朝的一个县那么大,可国王却以为天下再也没有比夜郎更大的国家。
使者没有笑话他,只是耐心地告诉他:汉朝有千万里的土地,有长江大河,有无数的城市和百姓。夜郎国王这才知道,自己原来只是井底的一只青蛙。
后来,人们就用“夜郎自大”来笑那些见识不多,却以为自己很了不起的人。
In the Han dynasty, in the far southwest of China, there was a tiny country called Yelang. Its land was mostly mountains, and it was small — but its king had never once stepped outside his own borders.
One day the Han emperor sent an envoy to visit the southwest. The envoy first went to the state of Dian, then arrived in Yelang. The king of Yelang met him and asked proudly, “Between Han and Yelang, which is bigger?”
The envoy nearly laughed out loud. Yelang was only about the size of a single Han county, yet the king truly believed there could be no country greater than his own.
Instead of mocking him, the envoy patiently described Han: lands reaching thousands of miles, great rivers like the Yangtze, countless cities and people. Only then did the king realize he had been like a frog at the bottom of a well.
Today “Yelang thinks itself great” teases anyone who, knowing little, believes themselves very important.
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