Chinese language vocabulary 汉语词汇 指鹿为马 (Zhǐlù-wéimǎ)

Qín Shǐhuáng sǐ le zhī hòu, tā de érzǐ Hú Hài dāng le huángdì, yě jiù shì Qín èr shì （gōngyuán qián 230 nián ～gōng yuán qián 207 nián ）. Dànshì dāngshí zhǎngwò cháotíng dàquán de shì chéngxiàng Zhào Gāo. Tā xiǎng zìjǐ dāng huángdì, kě yòu pà yǒu rén bù fú. Yúshì, tā xiǎng le yí gè bànfǎ. Tā dāng zhe hěn duō dàchén de miàn bǎ yì zhī lù xiàn gěi Qín èr shì, què shuō:”zhè shì yì pǐ hǎo mǎ.” Qín èr shì tīng le, hěn bù míngbái, wèn tā:”zhè míng míng shì yì zhī lù, nǐ zěnme shuō shì mǎ ne?” Zhào Gāo biàn wèn qítā de dàchén shì lù hái shì mǎ. Yǒu de dàchén pà dézuì chéngxiàng, kě yòu bú xiǎng qīpiàn huángdì, jiù zhàn zài yī páng bú shuōhuà; Yǒu de dàchén shùn zhe Zhào Gāo de yìsī, shuō “zhè jiù shì mǎ “; hái yǒu yì xiē zhèngzhí chéngshí de dàchén shuō “zhè shì lù, bú shì mǎ.” Yúshì, Zhào Gāo zhīdào le shuí gǎn fǎnduì tā, hòulái jiù zhǎo jīhuì bǎ shuō shíhuà de rén dōu shā le.
秦始皇死了之后，他的儿子胡亥当了皇帝，也就是秦二世（公元前230年～公元前207年）。但是当时掌握朝廷大权的是丞相赵高。他想自己当皇帝，可又怕有 人不服。于是，他想了一个办法。他当着很多大臣的面把一只鹿献给秦二世，却说：“这是一匹好马。”秦二世听了，很不明白，问他：“这明明是一只鹿，你怎么 说是马呢？”赵高便问其它的大臣是鹿还是马。有的大臣怕得罪丞相，可又不想欺骗皇帝，就站在一旁不说话；有的大臣顺着赵高的意思，说“这就是马”；还有一 些正直诚实的大臣说“这是鹿，不是马。”于是，赵高知道了谁敢反对他，后来就找机会把说实话的人都杀了。

After the death of Emperor Qin Shi Huang (the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty), his son Hu Hai succeeded him and became emperor, called Qin Er Shi, which literally means the second emperor of the Qin Dynasty (his reign was from 230 to 207 B.C). However, the man who grasped the real power was the Prime Minister Zhao Gao at that time. Zhao wanted to be the emperor himself, but he was afraid that he wouldn't be admitted by someone. Hence, an idea just came into his mind. He offered a deer to Qin Er Shi in the presence of many ministers, and said "This is a wonderful horse." Qin was puzzled at his words and asked, "This is obviously a deer, but why do you call it a horse?" Zhao then asked the other ministers whether it was a deer or a horse. Some ministers said nothing because they did not dare to offend the Prime Minister and they were also unwilling to cheat the Emperor. As for the others, some of them said "This is a horse" for the support of Zhao Gao, but the rest upright and honest ministers stood out and said, "This is a deer not a horse", which helped Zhao Gao finally realized who were on his side and who were not. Later he found excuses and had those who were against him killed.

Words：
朝廷cháotíng： imperial court (n.)
丞相chéngxiàng： prime minister (n.)
大臣dàchén： minister (of a monarchy) ( n. )
鹿lù: deer (n.)
明明míngmíng： obviously (adv. )
得罪dézuì： offend (v.)
机会jī huì： opportunity (n.)

Meaning：

指鹿为马：指着鹿，说是马。比喻故意颠倒黑白，混淆是非。

Meaning: Point to a deer, and call it a horse, which is used to describe someone deliberately distorting the truth.

Sentences：

1.Xiǎo Liú wèi le yǎnshì zìjǐ de guòcuò, zài jīnglǐ miànqián zhǐlù-wéimǎ, yǐn qǐ le tóngshì men de bùmǎn.
小刘为了掩饰自己的过错，在经理面前指鹿为马，引起了同事们的不满。

In order to cover his mistake, Xiao Liu zhilu-weima before the manager, which aroused the dissatisfaction among his colleagues.

2. Zài fǎtíng shàng, wèi le bāng zìjǐ zhàngfū tuōzuì, Zhāng xiǎojiě zhǐlù-wéimǎ, bǎ zérèn dōu tuī dào shòuhài zhě shēn shàng.
在法庭上，为了帮自己丈夫脱罪，张小姐指鹿为马，把责任都推到受害者身上。

In order to exculpate her husband from the guilt, Miss Zhang zhilu-weima at the court and shifted off all the responsibilities to the victim.