孔院微课堂 | 成语故事：对牛弹琴

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（本文转载自《孔子学院》中英文对照版2021年第2期/总第70期）

纵使两种语言多么不同，我们似乎总能在二者之间找到对应的表达。

It seems that no matter how different two languages may be, it is always possible to find matching expressions.

例如，当英文母语者说“对着砖墙说话”或“献珠予猪”时，中文母语者会自然而然联想到成语“对牛弹琴”。

For example, when English speakers say, “talking to a brick wall” or “casting pearls before swine,” the Chinese are very likely to quote the idiom Dui Niu Tan Qin, or “to play the lute to the cattle”.

这个成语源于一个故事，原意是启示演讲者用观众能听懂的语言发表演讲。

This expression derives from a story that originally means one should address the audience in a language that it recognizes.

牟融是东汉 ( 公元 25 年—公元 220 年 ) 末年的一位著名学者，多年来潜心钻研佛经。

Mou Rong was a well-known scholar who lived in the late years of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220 AD) and had spent many years studying the Buddhist scriptures.

一天，他为一群儒家学子讲授佛教。在传授时，牟融未曾使用佛经中的一个词。相反，他反复引用儒家经典中的段落和词句来解释佛教的要旨。

One day, the scholar gave a lecture on Buddhism to a group of Confucianists. During the lecture, Mou never used a single word from the Buddhist sutra. Instead, he repeatedly quoted paragraphs and expressions from the Confucian classics to explain the gist of Buddhism.

一位听众打断了牟融，问他为什么在演讲中从不使用一句佛语。 

One guy in the audience interrupted Mou to ask why he never used a single Buddhist term in his lecture.

于是，牟融给在座的儒家学子讲了一个故事：

Mou explained by telling the gathered Confucianists a story.

很久很久以前，有个才华横溢的音乐家，姓公明名仪，擅长弹琴。一次，公明仪外出游玩，随身带着他心爱的琴。看到郊外风景秀丽，他心情舒畅，不禁想弹奏一曲。可环顾四周，空无一人，只有不远处一群正在吃草的牛。他想 :“那就弹给牛听吧 !”于是放下琴，席地而坐，弹了起来。

“A long, long time ago, Gong Mingyi, a highly-talented musician who was best known for his lute performance, went on a trip in the countryside carrying his beloved lute with him. He felt so intoxicated by the bucolic beauty of the surrounding scenery that he decided to sit down and play the lute to express his happy feeling. However, when he looked around, the musician couldn’t see a soul anywhere to appreciate his performance. Instead, he spotted a herd of cattle grazing not so far away. “Well, let me just play the lute for the cattle there, Gong said to himself. Then, he sat down on the ground, put the lute on his lap and began to play. 

然而，牛自始至终低着头在附近吃草，对音乐没有任何反应。

“But, the cattle kept grazing around and showed no reaction to the music. 

公明仪懊丧地站起身来，准备离去。谁知，在他收拾琴的时候，无意间碰到一根琴弦，发出有点像小牛叫的声音。那老牛蓦地停止吃草，抬起头来四面张望。见没有小牛，就摇了摇尾巴，又低头吃起草来。

“Gong was disheartened by this. So, he stopped playing and was set to leave. Just then, he accidentally touched a string of his lute, producing a sound like a calf mooing. Instantly, a big cow raised her head and looked around. After finding no calves nearby, the cow flipped her tail a couple of times and went back to grazing.

见此情形，公明仪意识到，动物并不是听不到音乐，而是听不懂音乐。

“After carefully observing the expressions of the cattle, the musician realized that it was not that the animals did not hear the music but that they could not understand it.

于是，他改用古琴模仿牛虻、蚊子和家蝇的声音。果然，牛又一次停下来，专心听起音乐。

“Gong then started to play the lute again, imitating the sound of gadflies, mosquitoes and houseflies. Just as he expected, the cattle stopped grazing and listened attentively to the music.”

牟融最后解释道，他用儒家术语向儒家学者解释佛经，也是出于同样的原因。

The scholar concluded the story by saying that for the same reason, he had used Confucianist terms to explain the Buddhist canon to a group of Confucianists.

今天，“对牛弹琴”这一成语仍然被频繁使用，但更多是指对着石碑吹吉格舞曲，或给一群目不识丁的文盲朗读莎士比亚的作品。

Today, the idiom is still frequently used, but it refers to the act of whistling jigs to a milestone or reading Shakespeare to a group of illiterate log heads.

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作者：张稼硕 Zhang Jiashuo  

中文翻译：杨其帆 Yang Qifan

图文排版：何纯洁（实习）

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