Chinese Idiom 朝三暮四

从前,在宋国有一个养猴子的人。他非常喜欢猴子，所以养了许多。他很了解猴子， 猴子们也能够懂得他的意思。为了让猴子们吃饱，他减少了家里的粮食。不久，他家的粮食不够吃的了，他就想减少给猴子们的食物。但他怕猴子们不会听他的。于是，他先哄骗它们：“如果早上我给你们三个栗子，晚上给你们四个栗子，够吗？”猴子们都愤怒地表示不同意。过了会儿，他问：“那如果早上我给你们四个栗子，晚上给你们三个栗子，这样够了吗？”于是猴子都乐得躺到地上，很高兴地同意了。

猴子 monkey 了解 understand 食物 food 哄骗 play a trick on 栗子 chestnut 愤怒 in a fury

Three at Dawn and Four at Dusk

Three at Dawn and Four at Dusk In the state of Song there was a man who kept monkeys. He was very fond of monkeys and kept a large number of them. He could understand the monkeys and they could also understand him. He reduced the amount of food for his own family in order to satisfy the monkey's demands. After a while his family did not have enough to eat, so he wanted to limit he food for the monkeys. But he was afraid that the monkeys would not submit to him. Before doing that he first played a trick on them, "If I give you three chestnuts in the morning and four in the evening, would that be enough?" he asked the monkeys. All the monkeys rose up in a fury. After a short time he said, "If I give you four chestnuts in the morning and three in the evening, would that be enough?" All the monkeys lay on the floor, very happy with this proposal.