Beat the Grass and Startle the Snake打草驚蛇

Micky

“打草驚蛇”出自《七修類稿·辯證六·諺語始》：“南唐王魯為當涂令，日營資產，部人訴主簿貪污，魯曰：‘汝雖打草，吾已驚蛇。’”

In the Southern Tang， therewas a magistrate in Dangtu namedWang Lu. He was very 1）greedyand took many 2）bribes. One of hissecretaries was equally corrupt.

One day， a man went to themagistrate to 3）lodge a complaint against the secretary. Thesecretary’s crimes were almost thesame as the crimes the magistratehimself committed. Wang Lu wasso frightened that he forgot hisproper role in handling the case.Instead of issuing a judgment， he couldn’t help writing these?words concerning the complaint， “By beating the grass， you have startled me who am like a snake under the grass！”

1） greedy adj. 貪婪的

2） bribe n. 賄賂

3） lodge v. 正式提出

Fill in the blanks：

Both Wang Lu and his secretary were__________and corrupt.

南唐時期，有一個名叫王魯的人在當涂做縣官。這個人非常貪財，收受了很多賄賂。他手下有一個主簿，也同樣貪贓。

一天，有人到王魯這兒控告他的主簿。 這個主簿的罪行跟王魯的所作所為幾乎完全相同。王魯嚇得都不知道如何來處理這件案子。他沒有作出判決，而是不由自主地在訴狀上寫道：“汝雖打草，吾已蛇驚。”

Know More

The original meaning of the idiom “beat the grass and startle the snake” isthat punishment for someone can serve as a warning to others. But people nowuse the idiom to indicate that premature actions put the enemy on guard.

成語“打草驚蛇”，原指懲罰了別人，也警戒了自己；后比喻做事不周密，致使對方有了警覺和防范。

參考答案：greedy