買櫝還珠

get the casket and return the pearl

買櫝還珠

A man from the state of Chu wanted to sell a precious pearl in the state of Zheng.

有個楚國人想在鄭國出售一顆珍貴的珍珠。

He made a casket for the pearl out of the wood from a magnolia tree, which he fumigated with spices. He studded the casket with pearls and jade, ornamented it with red gems and decorated it with kingfisher feathers.

他用木蘭為珍珠作了個匣子，用香料把匣子熏香，還用珠，玉，紅寶石來加以裝飾，并插上了翠鳥的羽毛。

A man of the state of Zheng bought the casket and gave him back the pearl.

一個鄭國人買走了這個匣子，卻把珍珠還給了他。

Too luxuriant decoration usually supersedes what really counts.

過于華麗的裝飾往往會喧賓奪主。

This man from Chu certainly knew how to sell a casket but he was no good at selling his pearl. And the man of Zheng didn't know which is really valuable.

那個楚國人知道如何賣掉匣子，卻不擅長出售珍珠(忽略了物品的重點，取舍不當)。至于買匣子的鄭國人，他根本不懂什么才是真正有價值的。

【文化鏈接】

“買櫝還珠”這個故事中那個買走了盒子卻舍棄珍珠的鄭國人其實“只注重了外表，卻忽略了實質(zhì)”，而英文中表達諸如此類的“買櫝還珠”“以貌取人”意思的短語就可以用“judge a book by its cover”，直譯也就是“光憑一本書的書皮，就判斷書的內(nèi)容的好壞”。

在英國達人秀中脫穎而出的草根明星“蘇珊大媽”雖然沒有華麗的外表，但是她以自己的實力一鳴驚人，所以蘇珊大媽這個例子就告訴我們：Never judge a book by its cover.(不要買櫝還珠/不要以貌取人)