The Snake in the Cup杯弓蛇影

伊諾

In the Jin Dynasty， there was a man named Yue Guang. He had a good friend. Yue Guang often invited his friend to have a drink in his house. His friend also liked to accept his invites.

But after one time， Yue Guang’s friend didn’t come again. Yue Guang went to visit him. His friend was very ill in bed. Yue Guang asked， “How did you become ill？”

“Last time we were drinking in your house， I saw a small snake in the cup. But I didn’t say anything. I drank the alcohol. After that， I felt there was a snake in my body. I felt bad every day， so I got sick，” the friend said.

Yue Guang felt strange. “Why was there a snake in the cup？” He went back home and checked his house. Then， he saw a bow on the wall.

Yue Guang invited the friend to his house again. He pointed to the bow on the wall， and said to his friend， “The snake in your cup was the shadow of the bow.”

Words：

dynasty王朝;朝代

invite 邀請

accept 接受（建議、邀請等）

alcohol酒

check 檢查

bow 弓

point（用手指頭或物體）指，指向

shadow陰影;影子

Hearing that， the friend laughed and soon felt better.

《杯弓蛇影》，最早見于東漢學者應劭的《風俗通義·怪神》，《晉書·樂廣傳》又有類似故事記載。原文是將映在酒杯里的弓影誤認為蛇，后比喻因疑神疑鬼而引起恐懼。