Chinese allegories
歇后語(yǔ)
Two-part allegorical saying (of which the first part, always stated, is descriptive, while the second part, often unstated, carries the message)

l?o sh? guò jiē – rén rén h?n d?
老鼠過(guò)街 – 人人喊打
A rat runs across the street. – Everybody shouts, "Kill it!"; to be extremely unpopular

duì niú tán qín – bù q? zuò yòng
對(duì)牛彈琴 – 不起作用
Play the lute to a cow – address the wrong audience; to act to little effect

sān tiān d? yú, li?ng tiān shài w?ng – mó yáng gōng
三天打魚(yú)，兩天曬網(wǎng) – 磨洋工
Go fishing for three days and then dry the nets for two – dawdle over one's work; work off and on

xi?o xiàng zi l? ná zhú gān – zhí lái zhí qù
小巷子里拿竹竿 – 直來(lái)直去
Take a bamboo in an alley – go straight; speak frankly and openly

guò hé chāi qiáo – wàng ēn fù yì
過(guò)河拆橋 – 忘恩負(fù)義
Demolish the bridge once the river is crossed. – be ungrateful to one's benefactor

bái zh? hēi zì – hēi bái fēn míng
白紙黑字 – 黑白分明
(Written) in black and white – in sharp contrast; being clear-cut

zhū bā jiè zhào jìng zi – l? wài bù shì rén
豬八戒照鏡子 – 里外不是人
Zhu Bajie (Pig in Journey to the West, one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature, who carries a rake as a weapon) looks in the mirror – neither he nor his reflection is anything but a pig; (figuratively), trying to please everyone and ending up pleasing no-one. When you are in such a situation you feel like "里外不是人".

rè guō shang de m? y? – jí de tuán tuán zhuàn
熱鍋上的螞蟻 – 急得團(tuán)團(tuán)轉(zhuǎn)
Ants crawling frantically on a hot pan – cat on a hot tin roof

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