Draw a Snake and Add Feet to It “画蛇添足”
Long long ago, several people had a jar of wine among them and all of them wanted to drink it by himself. So they set a rule that every one would draw a snake on the ground and the man who finished first would have the wine. One man finished his snake very soon and he was about to drink the wine when he saw the others were still busy drawing, so he decided to draw the feet to the snake. However, before he could finish the feet, another man finished and grabbed the jar from him, saying, "Who has ever seen a snake with feet?” The story of "Draw a snake and add feet to It.” tells us going too far is as bad as not going far enough.
古时几个人分一壶酒。他们都想独自喝完那壶酒，所以就定了一个规矩：每人在地上画一条蛇，谁画得最快，这壶酒就归谁。有一个人很快就把蛇画好了。他正打算喝这壶酒时，看见别人都还在忙着画，就决定给蛇再画上几只脚。结果，他的蛇脚还没加完，另一个人已经把蛇画好了。那人一下把酒壶夺了过去，说：“有谁见过长脚的蛇?”。这个故事告诉我们这样的道理：做得过分和做得不够都是不对的
On a vacation trip, Duke Huan of the state of Qi came to the ruin of the capital of Guo Shi , which perished long ago.
Seeing the desolate and bleak prospects of broken tiles, collapsed walls, and clusters of weeds, he could not help asking the local people about the reason of the ruin of Guo Shi.
They replied,"Guo Shi was fond of doing good deeds, and averse to evildoing, which led to the perdition."
When the Duke could not understand the answer, people explained ," Though he liked doing good, he had never been able to do so; though he hated evildoing, never could he help not participating. That caused the ruin of his capital."
郭氏之墟
齐桓公出游途中，来到已经灭亡许久的郭氏都城的废墟。
看到瓦砾残垣、杂草丛生的萧条景象，忍不住问当地百姓郭氏灭亡的原因。
百姓们回答说："郭氏由于喜爱善行善事。厌恶邪恶丑行而导致灭亡。"
齐桓公不能理解这种回答，百姓们便解释说："郭氏虽然喜爱善行善事，但从来都不能做到;尽管厌恶邪恶丑行，却总是忍不住参与其中。这就是他的都城变成废墟的原因。"
A mouse once took a bite out of a bull's tail as he lay dozing. The bull jumped up in a rage and, with his head low to the ground, chased the mouse right across the yard. The mouse was too quick for him, however, and slipped easily into a hole in the wall.
The bull charged the wall furiously again and again, but although he bruised his head and chipped his horns, the mouse stayed safely inside his hole. After a time the bull gave up and sank down to rest again.
As soon as the bull was asleep, the little mouse crept to the mouth of the hole, pattered across the yard, bit the bull again -- this time on the nose -- and rushed back to safety. As the bull roared helplessly the mouse squeaked:
"It's not always the big people who come off best. Sometimes the small ones win, you know."
英语小知识
英语分数巧记
英语分数不费事，“母序子基”四个字。
分子若是大于一，分母还须加-s。
疑问句顺口溜
反义疑问真好变，前后肯否相反地。
有情要用情加主，有be要用be加主。
若是无情又无be，要用do主来代替。
Let's go特殊记，Shall we 提前要牢记。
肯定英汉翻译同，否定英汉翻译异。
祈使句记忆顺口溜
祈使句无主语，主语you常省去。
动词原形谓语当，句首Don't变否定。
朗读应当用降调，句末常标感叹号。
小学英语形容词比较级顺口溜
比较级是形容词，一好一坏要记牢，
good更好是better, bad更坏是worse
结尾有e只加r，nice变成nicer;
双写目前有三个，bigger, fatter 和hotter
其余全部加er。