草木皆兵

be afraid of one's own shadow

草木皆兵

In AD 383, the king of Former Qin (秦朝), Fu Jian (fú jiān 苻堅(jiān)), led a huge army to attack Eastern Jin.

公元383年，秦王苻堅(jiān)率領(lǐng)步兵、騎兵90萬，攻打江南的晉朝。

After losing the first round of fighting, Fu Jian looked down from a city wall, and was terrifiedwhen he saw the formidable battle array of the Eastern Jin army.

在一輪戰(zhàn)敗后，苻堅(jiān)從城墻俯視周遭，當(dāng)他看到勢(shì)不可破的東晉部隊(duì)，他感到很害怕。

And then looking at the mountains around, he mistook the grass and trees for enemysoldiers.

此時(shí)，苻堅(jiān)在壽春城上望見晉軍隊(duì)伍嚴(yán)整，士氣高昂，再北望八公山，只見山上一草一木都像晉軍的士兵一樣，于是更加恐慌。

As a result, when the nervous Fu Jian led his army into battle, it suffered a crushing defeat.

后來苻堅(jiān)全軍覆沒，帶著少數(shù)殘余的隊(duì)伍逃回去了。

This idiom describes how one can defeat oneself by imaging difficulties.

這個(gè)成語后來形容人在極度驚恐時(shí)，疑神疑鬼的心理狀態(tài)。

【文化鏈接】

英文中“草木皆兵”的相應(yīng)說法可以用“afraid of one's own shadow”，也就是一個(gè)人連自己的影子都怕，當(dāng)一個(gè)人連自己的影子都怕的時(shí)候，是不是就是疑神疑鬼，“草木皆兵”了呢~~

我們來一起看一個(gè)例句吧~

She stays at home all the time and never makes any new friends. She seems to be afraid of her own shadow.

她老待在家里, 從不交新朋友，感覺“草木皆兵”。