汉语习语英译参考资料 .doc

1. Constant dripping wears the stone. 2. to burn one’s boat 3. Walls have ears. 4. Many a little makes a mickle. 5. Look before you leap. 6. There is no smoke without a fire. 7. to kill two birds with one stone 8. What is said cannot be unsaid. 9. As you sow, so will you reap. 10. Man proposes, God disposes. 11. as easy as turning over one’s hand 12. as short-sighted as mice / see no further than one’s nose 13. A gentleman uses his tongue, not his fists. 14. There’ll never be a shortage of firewood as long as green hills remain. / As long as green mountains are there, one needs not worry about firewood / While there is life, there is hope. 15. A bosom friend afar brings a distant land near. / The world is but a small place, after all. / Long distance separates no bosom friend. 16. A thousand-li journey is started by taking the first step. 17. The gift itself may be as light as a feather, but sent from afar, it conveys deep feelings. 18. to cut the feet to fit the shoes 19. Distant water cannot put out a nearby fire. 20. Good medicine is bitter in the mouth, but good for the disease. 21. Listen to both sides and you will be enlightened; heed only one side and you will be benighted. 22. to be going from bad to worse / to be deteriorating 23. to know practically nothing about 24. to be snubbed / to meet with a rebuff / to be rejected 25. frankly speaking / Let’s not mince matters. / Let’s speak frankly. / Let’s be frank.. 26. What’s done is done, and cannot be undone. 27. regardless of the consequences 28. to be simply nothing compared to 29. in a turmoil / to be extremely upset 30. One boy is a boy, two boys half a boy, three boys no boy. / Everyone’s business is nobody’s business. 31. to kill the chicken to frighten the monkey / to punish somebody as warning to others 32. to show off one’s skill with the axe in front of Lu Ban the master carpenter / to display one’s slight skill in front of an expert / to teach your grandma to suck eggs 33. Let bygones be bygo