Chinese Idiom：叶公好龙 (yè gōng hào lóng)

In the Spring and Autumn Period  (chūn qiū 春秋时期,770-476 B), there lived in Chu a person named Shen Zhuliang, who addressed himself as "Lord Ye (叶公)". It's said that this Lord Ye was very fond of dragons. The walls had dragons painted on them. The beams and pillars and the doors and the windows were all carved with them. As a result, his love for dragons was spread out. When the real dragon in heaven heard of this Lord Ye, he was deeply moved. He decided to visit Lord Ye to thank him. You might think Lord Ye would have been very happy to see a real dragon. But, in fact, at the sight of the creature, he was scared out of his wits and ran away as fast as he could. From then on, people knew that Lord Ye only loved pictures or carvings which look like dragons, not the real thing.

子张去拜见鲁哀公，过了七天鲁哀公仍不理他。他就叫仆人去，说：“传说你喜欢人才，因此，冒着风雪尘沙，不敢休息而来拜见你。 结果过了七天你都不理我，我觉得你所谓的喜欢人才倒是跟叶公喜欢龙差不多。据说以前叶子高很喜欢龙，衣服上的带钩刻着龙，酒壶、 酒杯上刻着龙，房檐屋栋上雕刻着龙的花纹图案。他这样爱龙成癖，被天上的真龙知道后，便从天上来到了叶公家里。龙头搭在窗台上探望 ，龙尾伸进了大厅。叶公一看是真龙，吓得转身就跑，好像掉了魂似的，脸色骤变，简直不能控制自己。叶公并非真的喜欢龙呀！他所喜欢的只不过是那些似龙非龙的东西罢了！现在我听说你喜欢英才，所以不远千里跑来拜见你，结果过了七天你都不理我，原来你不是喜欢人才 ，你所喜欢的只不过是那些似人才非人才的人罢了。诗经早说过：‘心中所藏，什么时候可以忘！’，所以很抱歉，我要离开了！”
后来，大家就用“叶公好龙”来形容一个人对外假装自己很爱好某样事物，其实私底下根本就不喜欢。

叶公好龙 (yè gōng hào lóng)
【翻 译】Professed love of what one really fears.
【释 义】比喻表面上爱好某事物，实际上并不真爱好。
【例 句】那人表面上喜欢蔬菜，其实一点也不喜欢，跟叶公好龙一个样。
【近义词】表里不一、言不由衷
【反义词】名副其实、名实相符