成語(yǔ)故事包涵著我國(guó)從古代到現(xiàn)在的大道理大智慧，通過(guò)描寫生活的一些簡(jiǎn)單的事，讓我們感覺(jué)到有趣從而明白需要知道的，成語(yǔ)故事是我國(guó)歷史的一部分，成語(yǔ)是歷史的積淀，每一個(gè)成語(yǔ)的背后都有一個(gè)含義深遠(yuǎn)的故事，是我國(guó)幾千年以來(lái)人民智慧的結(jié)晶。下面是整理分享的英語(yǔ)成語(yǔ)故事，歡迎閱讀與借鑒，希望能夠?yàn)榇蠹規(guī)?lái)幫助，同時(shí)也希望給你們帶來(lái)一些參考的作用，如果喜歡就請(qǐng)繼續(xù)關(guān)注的后續(xù)更新吧！
1.英語(yǔ)成語(yǔ)故事
This idiom comes from Records of Three Kingdoms Kingdom of Wei Biography of Lu Yu. When Lu Yu, the minister of the State of Wei was young, his parents and brothers all died one after another, and he became an orphan. In such a difficult situation, he still studied very hard. Finally he became a talented person and served as a high officialof hisstate.Hewassouprightin performing his official duties that he was promoted to the minister of the Board of Civil Office, in charge of the officials appointments and removals.
Owing to the vacancy of Lu Yus original post, it had to fill up a new official for it. Although there were many officials to recommend some well-known people for the post, all were refused by Emperor Wen. He only let Lu Yu do it and also pointed out:"It depends on you whether we can find the right person for the important post. But we cant choose someone only with fame in stead of his real ability. You see, the fame is just like drawing cakes on the ground to allay hungry."
Then Lu expressed his idea:" You are right, YourMajesty, selections should depend on their real learning and abilities. But the real fame is still very important, such as self-possession and high moral character. So we should select people with both of them."
Now we use it to describe comforting oneself with unrealistic thoughts, without solving practical problemsand feeding on illusions.
此語(yǔ)出自《三國(guó)志魏志盧毓傳》。三國(guó)時(shí)代,魏國(guó)的大臣盧毓,自幼父母雙亡,兩位兄長(zhǎng)又先后去世,他成了孤兒。但他刻苦學(xué)習(xí),終于成了很有才學(xué)的人,而且做了朝廷大臣。他為官清正、廉潔,因而連連提升,后被任命為吏部尚書,負(fù)責(zé)官吏的任免。
盧毓升任吏部尚書后,他原擔(dān)任的中書郎職務(wù)空缺,需要選拔人補(bǔ)上,當(dāng)時(shí)有很多大臣都推薦一些有名氣的人來(lái)?yè)?dān)任,但都被魏文帝拒絕了。魏文帝曹睿要盧毓選好這個(gè)官,并對(duì)他說(shuō):“這次選拔中書郎,能否選到合適的人,就看你了。千萬(wàn)不要選那些只有虛名而沒(méi)有真才實(shí)學(xué)的人,虛名就像在地上畫的餅,是不能充饑的。”
盧毓對(duì)此說(shuō)出了他的意見(jiàn):“陛下說(shuō)得很對(duì),選拔不能只看名氣,但名氣也能反映一定的實(shí)際情況,如果是修養(yǎng)、才學(xué)都好而有名氣就不應(yīng)該嫌棄,主要看他們是否有真才實(shí)學(xué)?！?BR> 2.英語(yǔ)成語(yǔ)故事
Imitating Another without Success and Losing What Used to Be OnesOwn Ability
Tradition has it that more than 2,oooyears ago,there lived a young man in the Shouling area of the State of Yan.As his name is not known ,we just call him Shouling young man for conveniences sake.
self confident He was at a loss as to how to behave all the time.
His family members advised him to overcome this shortcoming,but he thought they were fond of poking their noses into his business and were unwilling to provide him with tuition fee.His relatives and neighbours sneered at him,saying that he would never be able to learn anything.Asthe days went by,he even began to doubt whether he should walk the way he did,for he felt more and more that his walking gestures were too clumsy and awkward.
One day,he met some people on the road who werechattingand laughing.One of themsaid that people in Handan walked most gracefully.And thatwas just what he was most concerned about,so he hurreed towards themand wanted to make further inquiries.To his surprise,when these people saw him,they stalked off laughing.
He could not picture to himself in what way their walking gestures were graceful,no matter how hard he racked his parents one day.He went to Handanwhich was far away to learn how to walk.
As soon as he arrived in Handan,he was dazzled to find that everything was novel.He learned from the children there how to walk,because he thought that the childrens walking gestures were lively and pleasing to the eye.He learnd from the old people there how to walk,because he thought the old peoples walking gestures were steady .He learnd from the women there how to walk,because he thought the women swaying walking gestures were beautiful.That being the case with him ,in less than half a month he even forgot how to walk.As he had already used up his traveling expenses,he had to crawl back home.
This story come from the article"Autumn Water"in The Works of Xhuang Zi(Zhuang Zi was a famous ancient Chinese philosopher of about 300B.c.).Later the set phrase"initating another without success and losing what used to be ones own ability"is used to refer to acts of copying others mechanisally in disregard of specififc conditions.
相傳在兩千年前，燕國(guó)壽陵地方有一位少年，不知道姓啥叫啥，就叫他壽陵少年吧!
這位壽陵少年不愁吃不愁穿，論長(zhǎng)相也算得上中等人材，可他就是缺乏自信心，經(jīng)常無(wú)緣無(wú)故地感到事事不如人，低人一等——衣服是人家的好，飯菜是人家的香，站相坐相也是人家高雅。他見(jiàn)什么學(xué)什么，學(xué)一樣丟一樣，雖然花樣翻新，卻始終不能做好一件事，不知道自己該是什么模樣。
家里的人勸他改一改這個(gè)毛病，他以為是家里人管得太多。親戚、鄰居們，說(shuō)他是狗熊掰棒子，他也根本聽不進(jìn)去。日久天長(zhǎng)，他竟懷疑自己該不該這樣走路，越看越覺(jué)得自己走路的姿勢(shì)太笨，太丑了。
有一天，他在路上碰到幾個(gè)人說(shuō)說(shuō)笑笑，只聽得有人說(shuō)邯鄲人走路姿勢(shì)那叫美。他一聽，對(duì)上了心病，急忙走上前去，想打聽個(gè)明白。不料想，那幾個(gè)人看見(jiàn)他，一陣大笑之后揚(yáng)長(zhǎng)而去。
邯鄲人走路的姿勢(shì)究竟怎樣美呢?他怎么也想象不出來(lái)。這成了他的心病。終于有一天，他瞞著家人，跑到遙遠(yuǎn)的邯鄲學(xué)走路去了。
一到邯鄲，他感到處處新鮮，簡(jiǎn)直令人眼花繚亂?？吹叫『⒆呗罚X(jué)得活潑、美，學(xué);看見(jiàn)老人走路，他覺(jué)得穩(wěn)重，學(xué);看到婦女走路，搖擺多姿，學(xué)。就這樣，不過(guò)半月光景，他連走路也不會(huì)了，路費(fèi)也花光了，只好爬著回去了。
3.英語(yǔ)成語(yǔ)故事
Once upon a time, there was a farmer.One day, while he was working in the fields, he saw a hare run into a tree stump accidentally and die of a broken neck.
The farmer took the hare home and cooked a delicious meal for himself.
That night he thought: "I neednt work so hard. All I have to do is wait every day by the stump to pick up the hare that runs into it.
So from then on he gave up farming, and stood by the tree stump waiting for the hare to come and run into it.
Butfromthen on, he never saw another hare run into the tree stump.
從前，有一個(gè)農(nóng)夫。一天，在他耕田的時(shí)候，忽然跑過(guò)來(lái)一只野兔，恰好碰在一個(gè)樹樁上，脖子折斷死了。
農(nóng)夫把兔子拾回家去，美美地吃了一頓兔肉。
當(dāng)晚，他就想：“我何必辛辛苦苦的種地呢？每天在樹樁旁等著撿撞倒的野兔就好了”。
于是他從此不再耕種，每天在樹樁旁等待野兔的到來(lái)。
但是，從那以后，他再?zèng)]有發(fā)現(xiàn)一只野兔撞在樹樁上。
4.英語(yǔ)成語(yǔ)故事
In the Warring States Period, there was a man in the State of Wei called Geng Lei. One day he said to the king: I can shoot down birds by simply plucking my bowstring. When the king expressed doubt, Geng Lei pointed his bow at a wild goose flying in the sky, twanged the bowstring, and the goose fell to the ground. Geng Lei said, This goose has been hurt in the past. Hearing the twang of the bowstring, it assumed that it was doomed. So it simply gave up trying to live.
This idiom means that if one has been frightened in the past ones will may become paralysed in a similar situation.
戰(zhàn)國(guó)時(shí)期(公元前403―221年中國(guó)中原地區(qū)各諸侯國(guó)連年?duì)帒?zhàn)的時(shí)代)魏國(guó)有個(gè)名叫更羸的人。一天，他對(duì)國(guó)王說(shuō)：“我只要拉開弓，空射一下，就能把天上的鳥射下來(lái)。”國(guó)王不相信。更羸便對(duì)準(zhǔn)天上飛來(lái)的一只雁射去，果真那只雁聽到拉弦的聲音就掉了下來(lái)。國(guó)王感到很奇怪。更羸說(shuō)，“那是一只受過(guò)傷的雁。它一聽到我拉開弓弦的聲響，就驚慌得支持不住，自然要掉下來(lái)了?！?BR> “驚弓之鳥”這個(gè)成語(yǔ)比喻受過(guò)驚恐之后，有一點(diǎn)動(dòng)靜就特別害怕。
5.英語(yǔ)成語(yǔ)故事
In the reign of Emperor the Second of the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.), the prime minister Zhao Gao, obsessed with ambitions, was planning to usurp the throne day and night. But he did not know how many of the ministers in the court were allowed to be ordered about by him and how many of them were his opponents. So he thought out a way to test how high his prestige among the ministers was and also to find out who dared to oppose him.
One day when court was held, Zhao Gao let someone bring a stag to the court and, with a broad smile on his face, he said to Emperor the Second of the Qin Dynasty:"Your Majesty, here is a fine horse Im presenting to you." Looking at the animal, Emperor the Second thought that it was obviously a stag and that it couldnt be a horse. So he said smilingly to Zhao Gao:"Mister Prime Minister, you are wrong. This is a stay. Why do you say it is a horse?" Remaining calm, Zhao Gao said:"Will your Majesty please see more clearly? This really is a horse that covers a thousand li a day." Filled with suspicion, Emperor the Second looked at the stag again and said:"How can the antlers be grown on the head of a horse?" Turning around and pointing his finger at the ministers, Zhao Gao said in a loud voice:"if our Majesty do not believe me, you can ask the ministers."
The nonsense of Zhao Gao made the ministers totally at a lose, and they whispered to themselves: What tricks was Zhao Gao playing? Was it not obvious whether it was a stag or a horse? But when they saw the sinister smile on Zhao Gaos face and his two rolling eyes which were gazing at each of them, they suddenly understood his evil intentions.
Some of the ministers who were timid and yet had a sense of right eousness did not dare to say anything, because to tell lies would make their conscience uneasy and to tell the truth would mean that they would be persecuted by Zhao Gao later. Some ministers with a sense of justice persisted that it was a stag and not a horse. There were still some crafty and fawning ministers who followed Zhao Gao closely in ordinary times. They immediately voiced their support to Zhao Gao, saying to the emperor:"This really in a horse that covers a thousand li a day."
After the event, Zhao Gao punished by various means those ministers with a sense of justice who were not obedient to him, even with whole families of some of those ministers executed.
This story appears in "The Life of the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty" in The Historical Records written by Sima Qian. From this story people have derived the set phrase "calling a stag a horse" to mean deliberately misrepresenting some thing and misleading the public.
秦二世時(shí)，丞相趙高野心勃勃，日夜盤算著要篡奪皇位?？沙写蟪加卸嗌偃四苈犓麛[布，有多少人反對(duì)他，他心中沒(méi)底。于是，他想了一個(gè)辦法，準(zhǔn)備試一試自己的威信，同時(shí)也可以摸清敢于反對(duì)他的人。
一天上朝時(shí)，趙高讓人牽來(lái)一只鹿，滿臉堆笑地對(duì)秦二世說(shuō)：“陛下，我獻(xiàn)給您一匹好馬?！鼻囟酪豢?，心想：這哪里是馬，這分明是一只鹿嘛！便笑著對(duì)趙高說(shuō)：“丞相搞錯(cuò)了，這里一只鹿，你怎么說(shuō)是馬呢？”趙高面不改色心不跳地說(shuō)：“請(qǐng)陛下看清楚，這的確是一匹千里馬?！鼻囟烙挚戳丝茨侵宦梗瑢⑿艑⒁傻卣f(shuō)：“馬的頭上怎么會(huì)長(zhǎng)角呢？”趙高一轉(zhuǎn)身，用手指著眾大臣，大聲說(shuō)：“陛下如果不信我的話，可以問(wèn)問(wèn)眾位大臣。”
大臣們都被趙高的一派胡言搞得不知所措，私下里嘀咕：這個(gè)趙高搞什么名堂？是鹿是馬這不是明擺著嗎！當(dāng)看到趙高臉上露出陰險(xiǎn)的笑容，兩只眼睛骨碌碌輪流地盯著趙高臉上露出陰險(xiǎn)的笑容，兩只眼睛骨碌碌輪流地盯著每個(gè)人的時(shí)候，大臣們忽然明白了他的用意。
一些膽小又有正義感的人都低下頭，不敢說(shuō)話，因?yàn)檎f(shuō)假話，對(duì)不起自己的良心，說(shuō)真話又怕日后被趙高所害。有些正直的人，堅(jiān)持認(rèn)為是說(shuō)明書而不是馬。還有一些平時(shí)就緊跟趙高的*佞之人立刻表示擁護(hù)趙高的說(shuō)法，對(duì)皇上說(shuō)，“這確是一匹千里馬！”
事后，趙高通過(guò)各種手段把那些不順從自己的正直大臣紛紛治罪，甚至滿門抄斬。
故事出自《史記秦始皇本紀(jì)》。成語(yǔ)“指鹿為馬”比喻故意顛倒是非，混淆黑白。
1.英語(yǔ)成語(yǔ)故事
This idiom comes from Records of Three Kingdoms Kingdom of Wei Biography of Lu Yu. When Lu Yu, the minister of the State of Wei was young, his parents and brothers all died one after another, and he became an orphan. In such a difficult situation, he still studied very hard. Finally he became a talented person and served as a high officialof hisstate.Hewassouprightin performing his official duties that he was promoted to the minister of the Board of Civil Office, in charge of the officials appointments and removals.
Owing to the vacancy of Lu Yus original post, it had to fill up a new official for it. Although there were many officials to recommend some well-known people for the post, all were refused by Emperor Wen. He only let Lu Yu do it and also pointed out:"It depends on you whether we can find the right person for the important post. But we cant choose someone only with fame in stead of his real ability. You see, the fame is just like drawing cakes on the ground to allay hungry."
Then Lu expressed his idea:" You are right, YourMajesty, selections should depend on their real learning and abilities. But the real fame is still very important, such as self-possession and high moral character. So we should select people with both of them."
Now we use it to describe comforting oneself with unrealistic thoughts, without solving practical problemsand feeding on illusions.
此語(yǔ)出自《三國(guó)志魏志盧毓傳》。三國(guó)時(shí)代,魏國(guó)的大臣盧毓,自幼父母雙亡,兩位兄長(zhǎng)又先后去世,他成了孤兒。但他刻苦學(xué)習(xí),終于成了很有才學(xué)的人,而且做了朝廷大臣。他為官清正、廉潔,因而連連提升,后被任命為吏部尚書,負(fù)責(zé)官吏的任免。
盧毓升任吏部尚書后,他原擔(dān)任的中書郎職務(wù)空缺,需要選拔人補(bǔ)上,當(dāng)時(shí)有很多大臣都推薦一些有名氣的人來(lái)?yè)?dān)任,但都被魏文帝拒絕了。魏文帝曹睿要盧毓選好這個(gè)官,并對(duì)他說(shuō):“這次選拔中書郎,能否選到合適的人,就看你了。千萬(wàn)不要選那些只有虛名而沒(méi)有真才實(shí)學(xué)的人,虛名就像在地上畫的餅,是不能充饑的。”
盧毓對(duì)此說(shuō)出了他的意見(jiàn):“陛下說(shuō)得很對(duì),選拔不能只看名氣,但名氣也能反映一定的實(shí)際情況,如果是修養(yǎng)、才學(xué)都好而有名氣就不應(yīng)該嫌棄,主要看他們是否有真才實(shí)學(xué)?！?BR> 2.英語(yǔ)成語(yǔ)故事
Imitating Another without Success and Losing What Used to Be OnesOwn Ability
Tradition has it that more than 2,oooyears ago,there lived a young man in the Shouling area of the State of Yan.As his name is not known ,we just call him Shouling young man for conveniences sake.
self confident He was at a loss as to how to behave all the time.
His family members advised him to overcome this shortcoming,but he thought they were fond of poking their noses into his business and were unwilling to provide him with tuition fee.His relatives and neighbours sneered at him,saying that he would never be able to learn anything.Asthe days went by,he even began to doubt whether he should walk the way he did,for he felt more and more that his walking gestures were too clumsy and awkward.
One day,he met some people on the road who werechattingand laughing.One of themsaid that people in Handan walked most gracefully.And thatwas just what he was most concerned about,so he hurreed towards themand wanted to make further inquiries.To his surprise,when these people saw him,they stalked off laughing.
He could not picture to himself in what way their walking gestures were graceful,no matter how hard he racked his parents one day.He went to Handanwhich was far away to learn how to walk.
As soon as he arrived in Handan,he was dazzled to find that everything was novel.He learned from the children there how to walk,because he thought that the childrens walking gestures were lively and pleasing to the eye.He learnd from the old people there how to walk,because he thought the old peoples walking gestures were steady .He learnd from the women there how to walk,because he thought the women swaying walking gestures were beautiful.That being the case with him ,in less than half a month he even forgot how to walk.As he had already used up his traveling expenses,he had to crawl back home.
This story come from the article"Autumn Water"in The Works of Xhuang Zi(Zhuang Zi was a famous ancient Chinese philosopher of about 300B.c.).Later the set phrase"initating another without success and losing what used to be ones own ability"is used to refer to acts of copying others mechanisally in disregard of specififc conditions.
相傳在兩千年前，燕國(guó)壽陵地方有一位少年，不知道姓啥叫啥，就叫他壽陵少年吧!
這位壽陵少年不愁吃不愁穿，論長(zhǎng)相也算得上中等人材，可他就是缺乏自信心，經(jīng)常無(wú)緣無(wú)故地感到事事不如人，低人一等——衣服是人家的好，飯菜是人家的香，站相坐相也是人家高雅。他見(jiàn)什么學(xué)什么，學(xué)一樣丟一樣，雖然花樣翻新，卻始終不能做好一件事，不知道自己該是什么模樣。
家里的人勸他改一改這個(gè)毛病，他以為是家里人管得太多。親戚、鄰居們，說(shuō)他是狗熊掰棒子，他也根本聽不進(jìn)去。日久天長(zhǎng)，他竟懷疑自己該不該這樣走路，越看越覺(jué)得自己走路的姿勢(shì)太笨，太丑了。
有一天，他在路上碰到幾個(gè)人說(shuō)說(shuō)笑笑，只聽得有人說(shuō)邯鄲人走路姿勢(shì)那叫美。他一聽，對(duì)上了心病，急忙走上前去，想打聽個(gè)明白。不料想，那幾個(gè)人看見(jiàn)他，一陣大笑之后揚(yáng)長(zhǎng)而去。
邯鄲人走路的姿勢(shì)究竟怎樣美呢?他怎么也想象不出來(lái)。這成了他的心病。終于有一天，他瞞著家人，跑到遙遠(yuǎn)的邯鄲學(xué)走路去了。
一到邯鄲，他感到處處新鮮，簡(jiǎn)直令人眼花繚亂?？吹叫『⒆呗罚X(jué)得活潑、美，學(xué);看見(jiàn)老人走路，他覺(jué)得穩(wěn)重，學(xué);看到婦女走路，搖擺多姿，學(xué)。就這樣，不過(guò)半月光景，他連走路也不會(huì)了，路費(fèi)也花光了，只好爬著回去了。
3.英語(yǔ)成語(yǔ)故事
Once upon a time, there was a farmer.One day, while he was working in the fields, he saw a hare run into a tree stump accidentally and die of a broken neck.
The farmer took the hare home and cooked a delicious meal for himself.
That night he thought: "I neednt work so hard. All I have to do is wait every day by the stump to pick up the hare that runs into it.
So from then on he gave up farming, and stood by the tree stump waiting for the hare to come and run into it.
Butfromthen on, he never saw another hare run into the tree stump.
從前，有一個(gè)農(nóng)夫。一天，在他耕田的時(shí)候，忽然跑過(guò)來(lái)一只野兔，恰好碰在一個(gè)樹樁上，脖子折斷死了。
農(nóng)夫把兔子拾回家去，美美地吃了一頓兔肉。
當(dāng)晚，他就想：“我何必辛辛苦苦的種地呢？每天在樹樁旁等著撿撞倒的野兔就好了”。
于是他從此不再耕種，每天在樹樁旁等待野兔的到來(lái)。
但是，從那以后，他再?zèng)]有發(fā)現(xiàn)一只野兔撞在樹樁上。
4.英語(yǔ)成語(yǔ)故事
In the Warring States Period, there was a man in the State of Wei called Geng Lei. One day he said to the king: I can shoot down birds by simply plucking my bowstring. When the king expressed doubt, Geng Lei pointed his bow at a wild goose flying in the sky, twanged the bowstring, and the goose fell to the ground. Geng Lei said, This goose has been hurt in the past. Hearing the twang of the bowstring, it assumed that it was doomed. So it simply gave up trying to live.
This idiom means that if one has been frightened in the past ones will may become paralysed in a similar situation.
戰(zhàn)國(guó)時(shí)期(公元前403―221年中國(guó)中原地區(qū)各諸侯國(guó)連年?duì)帒?zhàn)的時(shí)代)魏國(guó)有個(gè)名叫更羸的人。一天，他對(duì)國(guó)王說(shuō)：“我只要拉開弓，空射一下，就能把天上的鳥射下來(lái)。”國(guó)王不相信。更羸便對(duì)準(zhǔn)天上飛來(lái)的一只雁射去，果真那只雁聽到拉弦的聲音就掉了下來(lái)。國(guó)王感到很奇怪。更羸說(shuō)，“那是一只受過(guò)傷的雁。它一聽到我拉開弓弦的聲響，就驚慌得支持不住，自然要掉下來(lái)了?！?BR> “驚弓之鳥”這個(gè)成語(yǔ)比喻受過(guò)驚恐之后，有一點(diǎn)動(dòng)靜就特別害怕。
5.英語(yǔ)成語(yǔ)故事
In the reign of Emperor the Second of the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.), the prime minister Zhao Gao, obsessed with ambitions, was planning to usurp the throne day and night. But he did not know how many of the ministers in the court were allowed to be ordered about by him and how many of them were his opponents. So he thought out a way to test how high his prestige among the ministers was and also to find out who dared to oppose him.
One day when court was held, Zhao Gao let someone bring a stag to the court and, with a broad smile on his face, he said to Emperor the Second of the Qin Dynasty:"Your Majesty, here is a fine horse Im presenting to you." Looking at the animal, Emperor the Second thought that it was obviously a stag and that it couldnt be a horse. So he said smilingly to Zhao Gao:"Mister Prime Minister, you are wrong. This is a stay. Why do you say it is a horse?" Remaining calm, Zhao Gao said:"Will your Majesty please see more clearly? This really is a horse that covers a thousand li a day." Filled with suspicion, Emperor the Second looked at the stag again and said:"How can the antlers be grown on the head of a horse?" Turning around and pointing his finger at the ministers, Zhao Gao said in a loud voice:"if our Majesty do not believe me, you can ask the ministers."
The nonsense of Zhao Gao made the ministers totally at a lose, and they whispered to themselves: What tricks was Zhao Gao playing? Was it not obvious whether it was a stag or a horse? But when they saw the sinister smile on Zhao Gaos face and his two rolling eyes which were gazing at each of them, they suddenly understood his evil intentions.
Some of the ministers who were timid and yet had a sense of right eousness did not dare to say anything, because to tell lies would make their conscience uneasy and to tell the truth would mean that they would be persecuted by Zhao Gao later. Some ministers with a sense of justice persisted that it was a stag and not a horse. There were still some crafty and fawning ministers who followed Zhao Gao closely in ordinary times. They immediately voiced their support to Zhao Gao, saying to the emperor:"This really in a horse that covers a thousand li a day."
After the event, Zhao Gao punished by various means those ministers with a sense of justice who were not obedient to him, even with whole families of some of those ministers executed.
This story appears in "The Life of the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty" in The Historical Records written by Sima Qian. From this story people have derived the set phrase "calling a stag a horse" to mean deliberately misrepresenting some thing and misleading the public.
秦二世時(shí)，丞相趙高野心勃勃，日夜盤算著要篡奪皇位?？沙写蟪加卸嗌偃四苈犓麛[布，有多少人反對(duì)他，他心中沒(méi)底。于是，他想了一個(gè)辦法，準(zhǔn)備試一試自己的威信，同時(shí)也可以摸清敢于反對(duì)他的人。
一天上朝時(shí)，趙高讓人牽來(lái)一只鹿，滿臉堆笑地對(duì)秦二世說(shuō)：“陛下，我獻(xiàn)給您一匹好馬?！鼻囟酪豢?，心想：這哪里是馬，這分明是一只鹿嘛！便笑著對(duì)趙高說(shuō)：“丞相搞錯(cuò)了，這里一只鹿，你怎么說(shuō)是馬呢？”趙高面不改色心不跳地說(shuō)：“請(qǐng)陛下看清楚，這的確是一匹千里馬?！鼻囟烙挚戳丝茨侵宦梗瑢⑿艑⒁傻卣f(shuō)：“馬的頭上怎么會(huì)長(zhǎng)角呢？”趙高一轉(zhuǎn)身，用手指著眾大臣，大聲說(shuō)：“陛下如果不信我的話，可以問(wèn)問(wèn)眾位大臣。”
大臣們都被趙高的一派胡言搞得不知所措，私下里嘀咕：這個(gè)趙高搞什么名堂？是鹿是馬這不是明擺著嗎！當(dāng)看到趙高臉上露出陰險(xiǎn)的笑容，兩只眼睛骨碌碌輪流地盯著趙高臉上露出陰險(xiǎn)的笑容，兩只眼睛骨碌碌輪流地盯著每個(gè)人的時(shí)候，大臣們忽然明白了他的用意。
一些膽小又有正義感的人都低下頭，不敢說(shuō)話，因?yàn)檎f(shuō)假話，對(duì)不起自己的良心，說(shuō)真話又怕日后被趙高所害。有些正直的人，堅(jiān)持認(rèn)為是說(shuō)明書而不是馬。還有一些平時(shí)就緊跟趙高的*佞之人立刻表示擁護(hù)趙高的說(shuō)法，對(duì)皇上說(shuō)，“這確是一匹千里馬！”
事后，趙高通過(guò)各種手段把那些不順從自己的正直大臣紛紛治罪，甚至滿門抄斬。
故事出自《史記秦始皇本紀(jì)》。成語(yǔ)“指鹿為馬”比喻故意顛倒是非，混淆黑白。