自相矛盾

to contradict oneself

自相矛盾

A man of the state of Chu (chǔ guó 楚國) had a spear and a shield for sale.

楚國有個賣兵器的人，在市場上賣矛和盾。

He was loud in praises of his shield."My shield is so strong that nothing can pierce it through."

為了讓人家愿意買他的貨，他先舉起盾向人們夸口道：“你們看，我的盾是世上最堅固的盾，任何鋒利的東西都不能刺穿它。”

He also sang praises of his spear."My spear is so strong that it can pierce through anything."

接著又舉起他的矛，向人吹噓說：“你們再看看我的矛，它鋒利無比，無堅不摧，無論多么堅硬的盾，都擋不住它，一刺就穿!”

"What would happen," he was asked, "if your spear is used to pierce your shield?"

人群中有人問道：“如果用你的矛去刺你的盾，結(jié)果怎么樣?”

It is impossible for an impenetrable shield to coexist with a spear that finds nothing impenetrable.

這世界上一樣無堅不摧的東西永遠(yuǎn)不會與一樣什么都能摧毀的東西共存。

【文化鏈接】

“自相矛盾”的英文表達(dá)，常用“to contradict oneself”，比如：“你自相矛盾了”就可以說：“You're contradicting yourself.”或者“You've contradicted yourself.”

曾經(jīng)有一個英文帖子就討論過“Can you contradict yourself in one sentence? ”(你能在一句話里面做到自相矛盾嗎?)，答案千奇百怪，這里就給大家看兩個例子~

1. In the military it's, "Hurry up and wait."(在軍隊里，有一種說法叫做“Hurry up and wait. ”，英語解釋是：“The concept of making every effort to arrive at a location ahead of the appointed time, with the expectation of having to wait upon arrival. ”也就是說不惜一切力量在指定時間之前就到達(dá)了目的地，但自己知道到達(dá)之后也要一直等到指定的時間。“hurry up(迅速)” 和“wait(等待)”是含有一定相對意義的詞，所以就在這么簡短的一句話中，就做到了自相矛盾~這句話也被廣泛應(yīng)用在各個場所、各個領(lǐng)域)

2.Yes, I can't.(這句有很簡短啊，同時還達(dá)到效果了~“yes(是的)”和“can't(不能、不會)”形成了自相矛盾的效果)