【成語來源】?

a false alarm
杯弓蛇影

In Jin Dynasty there was a man named Yue Guang who was fond of drinking alcohol.
晉朝有個叫樂(yuè)廣的人，愛喝酒。

One day, he invited a friend to his house to drink together.
一天，他邀請朋友到家里來對斟對飲。

Suddenly, his friend saw the reflection of a snack swimming in the goblet.
忽然，朋友看見酒杯里有條蛇影在游動。

He got so much frightened that he took ill on bed after getting home.
他受了驚嚇，回去便一病不起。

And neither any doctor or any medicine could cure his illness.
請醫(yī)服藥，都無起色。

Yue Guang came to see him and asked about the cause of his disease.
樂廣跑來看他，問明起病的緣由。

When he got to know the cause, he pulled his friend from the bed immediately and took him to his house.
樂廣聽后一把拉起朋友往家走。

Yue Guang made his friend sit where he used to, pouring a goblet of alcohol for him, and asked him," Is there any snake reflection in the goblet?"
他讓朋友坐在原處，斟滿酒問：“有蛇影嗎？”

There was still a "snake reflection" in the goblet! Yue casually took away the bow hanging on the wall.
杯子里還有“蛇影”！樂廣隨手取下墻上的弓。

This time, the "snake reflection" disappeared.
這次，“蛇影”不見了！

"So it was the bow reflection that was in the goblet!" His friend at once got well from his illness.
“杯子里原來是弓影呀！”朋友的病情頓時好了！

【文化鏈接】

其實“杯弓蛇影”的意思有點偏向于以前已經(jīng)講解過的“草木皆兵”，也有點“虛驚一場”的意思，英語中就可以用“a false alarm”，也就是“一個錯誤的訊號”的意思。我們來一起通過下面一個小漫畫來更加了解這個成語吧~

Subway False Alarm
地鐵“杯弓蛇影”事件

On the subway yesterday morning and this guy I saw sleeping at the beginning of the subway (and then forgot about) fell totally on his face and completely on the floor.
昨天早晨在地鐵里我看到一個人睡著，然后俯身摔倒在地。

He kind of shook it off and got back into his seat.
結(jié)果他震醒了，又回到了自己的座位上。

Though for a moment I was thinking if he was really unconscious who would be the one to check him?
其實我原來還以為他真的已經(jīng)不省人事了，還在想有誰能幫他檢查一下呢……