鹬蚌相争
两个人互不相让,斗得两败俱伤,结果让旁人占了便宜。
When two fight and won't give in, a third party walks off with the prize.
在很久以前的河滩上,阳光明亮。一只河蚌爬出水面,张开壳晒太阳。
一只叫鹬的水鸟飞过来,看见河蚌鲜嫩的肉,伸出长长的嘴,一下啄了进去。河蚌吓得立刻把壳合上,死死夹住了鹬的嘴。鹬用力拔,拔不出来;河蚌用力逃,也逃不掉。
鹬气呼呼地说:“今天不下雨,明天不下雨,你这个蚌非渴死不可!”河蚌也不服气:“今天不松口,明天不松口,你这个鹬非饿死不可!”
两个谁也不肯让。就在这时候,一位渔翁走了过来,一眼看见这热闹的场面,哈哈一笑,弯腰把鹬和蚌一起捡了起来,高高兴兴地装进了篓子。
这就是“鹬蚌相争,渔翁得利”的故事。它告诉我们:两个人互不相让,最后吃亏的往往是自己,便宜却让别人占了去。
Long ago, on a sunny riverbank, a clam crawled out of the water and opened its shell to bask in the warm sun.
A snipe — a long-beaked water bird — flew down, spotted the tender flesh of the clam, and stabbed its beak inside. The clam snapped its shell shut in fright, trapping the snipe's beak. The snipe pulled and pulled, but could not get free; the clam tried to escape, but could not move.
“If it doesn't rain today, and doesn't rain tomorrow,” snapped the snipe, “you'll dry up and die!” “If I don't open today, and don't open tomorrow,” answered the clam, “you'll starve to death!”
Neither would give in. Just then, an old fisherman came walking by. He saw the two locked together, laughed, bent down, picked up both the snipe and the clam, and dropped them happily into his basket.
This is the story of “snipe and clam fight, the fisherman wins.” When two sides refuse to yield, they often both lose, while someone else walks off with the prize.
Let's