Chinese language vocabulary 汉语词汇 草木皆兵 (Căomù jiē bīng)

Qínwáng dài zhe 80 wàn jūnduì qù gōngdǎ Jìn guó. Jìn guó què zhī yǒu 8 wàn rén yìngzhàn, Qín wáng gēnběn jiù méi bǎ tāmen fàng zài yǎn lǐ. Kě shuízhī dì yī zhàng ，Qín guó shìbīng jiù bèi Jìn guó shìbīng dǎ dé hěn cǎn.
秦王带着80万军队去攻打晋国。晋国却只有8万人应战，秦王根本就没把他们放在眼里。可谁知第一仗，秦国士兵就被晋国士兵打得很惨。

Emperor Qin took 800,000 soldiers to attack the state of Jin. In the eyes of Qin, the Jin army with only 80,000 soldiers was simply a trivial matter. However, in the first battle, his army was badly defeated by the Jin soldiers.

Qín wáng xiǎng dēng shàng chénglóu kàn kàn Jìn jūn de qíng kuàng, què kàn dào hěn duō shù qǐlái de zhànqí, bīngqì. Zhè shí gāng hǎo yǒu yī zhèn fēng chuī guò, lián shùmù kàn qǐlái yě xiàng shì qiānqiān wànwàn gè shìbīng yí yang.
秦王想登上城楼看看晋军的情况，却看到很多竖起来的战旗、兵器。这时刚好有一阵风吹过，连树木看起来也像是千千万万个士兵一样。

Emperor Qin desired to view the state of affairs of the Jin army from a gate tower, but what he saw were many raised battle flags and weapons. It just so happened at that time that a gust of wind blew, making even the trees appear to be thousands upon thousands of soldiers.

Tā xià dé liǎn dōu bái le, shuō:” tāmen de bīng zěnme zhè me duō ā!” Biàn shīqù le yì kāishǐ de jiāo’ào hé xìnxīn, dǎzhàng shí yě méiyǒu yuánlái yǒngměng le. Zuìhòu Qín jūn bèi dǎ bài le, shòu le shāng de Qín wáng gǎnjǐn táo huí le Qín guó.
他吓得脸都白了，说：“他们的兵怎么这么多啊!”便失去了一开始的骄傲和信心，打仗时也没有原来勇猛了。最后秦军被打败了，受了伤的秦王赶紧逃回了秦国。

He became pale with fear and said, “How could it be that they have so many soldiers!” His pride and self-confidence he held at the beginning were now lost, His soldiers too were not bold as they were before. In the end, his army was defeated and himself wounded, immediately fled back to Qin.

Words：
攻打gōngdă: to attack ( v.)
应战yìngzhàn: to meet an enemy attack ( v.)
士兵shìbīng: soldier ( n.)
城楼chénglóu: a tower over a city gate ( n.)
竖shù: to stand ( v.)
战旗zhànqí: battle flag (n.)
勇猛yǒngměng： bold and powerful (adj.)
Meanings：

“草木皆兵” 把一草一木都当做敌兵。常形容失败者的恐惧心理。

“草木皆兵”means to take grass and trees as enemy soldiers. It’s often used to describe the fear of losers.

Sentences：

1. Tā jīngcháng yíshén-yíguǐ, cǎomù-jiēbīng, gǎo dé zhōuwéi de rén dōu gēn zhe dānxīn.
他经常疑神疑鬼，草木皆兵，搞得周围的人都跟着担心。

He was always suspicious which made other people anxious.

2. Shībài le bú yàojǐn, dànshì bú yào cǎomù-jiēbīng, yǐ wèi rénrén dōu gēn nǐ zuòduì.
失败了不要紧，但是不要草木皆兵，以为人人都跟你作对。

It doesn’t matter if you fail. But you should not be so nervous and think that everyone is against you.