Scare Yourself

◎供稿：龙 菲

在生活中无论遇到什么问题，我们应该先问一个为什么，然后通过调查研究去努力弄清事情的真相，求得正确的解决方法。

In the Western Jin Dynasty, there was a man named Yue Guang. He was1)hospitable.One day, he invited a friend to have a drink at his home. When they were drinking, his friend caught a glimpse of a small snake in his cup. Though2)disgusted,his friend still swallowed the wine down. As soon as he got home, he was ill.

Several days later, Yue Guang knew of his friend’s illness and the cause. He thought that there couldn’t be a snake in the wine cup. So he went back to go over the place where they had the drink and finally he found the cause: there was a colourful3)bowon the wall of the hall, and the shadow of the bow happened to throw exactly at the place where his friend had put his wine cup. Yue Guang hurried to his friend’s home and told him about this. As soon as his friend came to understand that it was the4)reflectionof a bow instead of a snake in his cup, he got over his illness at once.

词组加油站

catch a glimpse of 瞥见

swallow down 吞下

go over 仔细检查

get over 恢复

1) hospitable [hɒˈspɪtəbl] adj.热情好客的

2) disgusted [dɪsˈɡʌstɪd] adj.恶心的

3) bow [baʊ] n.弓

4) reflection [rɪˈflekʃn] n.倒影

西晋时有一个叫乐广的人，他热情好客。一天，他邀请一位朋友到家里喝酒。当他们举杯畅饮时，他的朋友无意瞥见杯中似有一条小蛇。虽感觉恶心，但碍于情面，朋友硬着头皮把酒喝下了。一到家，朋友就病了。

几天后，乐广知道了朋友的病情和病因。乐广认为酒杯里不可能有蛇。因此，他回到他们当时喝酒的位置上，最后找到了原因：他家厅堂的墙上挂了一张色彩鲜艳的弓，蛇一定是倒映在酒杯中的弓影。乐广急忙地跑到朋友的家里，把这件事告诉了他。朋友知道杯子里不是蛇而是弓的倒影时，病立刻好了。

Fill in the blanks:

There was a colourful _____ on the wall of the hall, and the shadow of the bow happened to throw exactly at the place where his friend had put his _____________.

Know More

There are three main meanings of the story. First, be open-hearted, do not be paranoid without a basis. Second, be good at thinking and have the courage to make discoveries. Third, don’t be fooled by the illusion of things.

“杯弓蛇影”的故事主要有三种寓意：第一，要心胸坦荡，不要没有依据就疑神疑鬼；第二，要善于思考、勇于发现；第三，不要被事情的假象所迷惑。