杯弓蛇影 Snake-like Reflection of a Bow in the Cup
Nearly 2,000 years ago, during the Han Dynasty, there was a county magistrate called Ying Chen. One summer day, he invited his secretary Du Xuan to his house and treated him with wine. On the north wall of the room hung a red bow. It was reflected in Du Xuan's cup. Du Xuan took the reflection for a squirming snake. He was very frightened but he dared not turn down Ying Chen's offer because Ying was his superior. He had to swallow the wine with his eyes closed.
When he was back at home he felt so painful in his chest and stomach that he could hardly eat and drink any more. He sent for the doctor and took some medicine, but nothing could cure him. When Ying Chen asked Du Xuan how he got so seriously ill, Du told him he drank the wine with a snake in his cup the other day. Ying Chen found something strange about that. He returned home , thought hard, but he could not find an answer. Suddenly the shadow thrown by the bow on the wall caught his eye. "That's it!" he shouted. He immediately sent his man to fetch Du Xuan. He seated him where he sat before and offered him a cup of wine. Du Xuan saw the snake-like shadow again. Before Du was scared out of his wits again, Ying Chen said , pointing at the shadow, "The 'snake' in the cup is nothing but a reflection of the bow on the wall!" Now that Do Xuan knew what it was, he felt much easier. And strange enough, his illness disappeared the next moment.
This story was later contracted into the idiom "Bei Gong She Ying'. It is used to describe someone who is very suspicious. It is like saying someone is afraid of his own shadow.
在大約2000年前漢朝的時候，有一個郡首叫應成。有一年夏天，他邀請他的部下杜軒到他家，并以酒招待。在屋子的北墻上掛著一張紅色的弓。映入了杜軒的杯中，杜把影子當成了一條游動的蛇。他非常害怕可又不敢拒絕應成的款待因為應是他的領導。他只好閉著眼睛咽了那被酒。 當他回到家時，感覺胸和胃疼的厲害以至于不能吃喝。他去看了大夫還抓了些藥，可病情不見好轉。當應成問杜軒怎會病得如此嚴重時，杜告訴應成他喝了那杯蛇酒。 第二天，應成發現事有蹊蹺，他回到家里，苦思冥想不得其解。突然他看到了掛在墻上的弓的影子，"原來如此"應成大叫。應成立刻派人去請杜軒，讓他坐在自己原來坐的位置，并給他斟了杯酒。杜軒又看見了像蛇一樣的影子。應成在杜快被嚇暈之前，指著影子說："杯子里的蛇不過是掛在墻上的弓的倒影罷了。" 現在杜軒才明白就里，如釋重負了。十分奇怪的是他的病也立刻沒了。 這個故事后來就演變成了成語"杯弓蛇影"了。常用來形容那些因錯覺而疑神疑鬼，自已驚擾自已的人。
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