Chinese vs English Expressions I
A blessing in disguise | 塞翁失马,焉知非福 |
A hedge between, keep friendship green | 君子之交淡如水 |
A promise is a promise | 一言既出,驷马难追
|
A real man never goes back his words | |
Bad news travel fast | 好事不出们,坏事传千里 |
Be a fence sitter/sit on the fence | 骑墙派 |
Bend over backward to do something | 竭尽全力 |
Bird of same feather flock together | 物以类聚,人以群分 |
Filial piety | 孝顺 |
Food is essential | 民以食为天 |
Grass is greener on the other side of fence/mountain | 这山望那山高 |
Have a foot in either camp | 脚踩两只船 |
Jump the gun | 操之过急 |
Look for fish in the woods
| 缘木求鱼
|
Man proposes, god disposes | 谋事在人,成事在天 |
Nothing can be accomplished without norms and standards | 没有规矩,不成方圆 |
Once on shore, one praises no more | 好了伤疤忘了痛 |
Photographic memory | 过目不忘 |
Rack one’s brain | 绞尽脑汁/搜肠刮肚 |
Seeing is believing | 百闻不如一见 |
Spare a rod, spoil a child | 三天不打,上房揭瓦 |
Speak volume | 不言而明 |
There are spots even on the sun | 金无赤足,人无完人 |
This is no place like home | 金窝银窝,不如自己的狗窝
|
Under the broad light/in the middle of the day | 光天化日之下 |
Walk through fire | 赴汤蹈火 |
We live and learn | 活到老,学到老 |
Where there is a will, there is a way | 有志者,事竟成 |
Where there is hope, there is life | 留得青山在,不愁没柴烧 |
Wishful thinking | 如意算盘/痴心妄想 |