Chinese Idiom：欲盖弥彰 (yù gài mí zhāng)

During the Spring and Autumn Period (chūn qiū 春秋时期,770-476 BC), there lived a man named Hei Gung, Who worked for the government of the kingdom of Ju. Hei Gung once secretly gave a piece of Ju's territory to the kingdom of Lu, in the hopes that Lu would take him in. Thinking that no one knew what he had done, he very quietly moved to Lu, never dreaming that Lu would record this incident in great detail.

 

Later, when the people of Ju realized that Hei Gung had moved, they began to ask questions, and only then did they learn of the great dishonor he had brought to his country.
Hei Gung never imagined that so many people would find out about this thing which he didn't want anyone to know.

Today, this idiom is often used in situations in which a person tries to cover up a thing which he has done, but in going so only makes his wrongdoing more obvious.


“欲”是希望的意思；“盖”是掩饰的意思；“弥”是更加的意思；“彰”是明显的意思。“欲盖弥彰”就是一个人做错了事，越想掩饰，结果过错越明显。

春秋时代﹝公元前七二二年至四八一年﹞，邾国有一个人，名字叫黑肱，为国家做事，他偷偷地把邾国一块土地送给鲁国，希望鲁国收留他。他以为自己做这件事没人知道，就悄悄地搬到鲁国去了，没想到鲁国却把这件事清清楚楚地记录下来。

后来，邾国人发觉黑肱搬走了，纷纷打听，才知道黑肱做了对不起国家的事。黑肱本来想不让别人知道的事，没想到很多人都知道了。

欲盖弥彰 (yù gài mí zhāng)
【翻译】The More One Tries to Hide a Mistake, The More It Is Exposed.
【释义】盖：遮掩；弥：更加；彰：明显。想掩盖坏事的真相，结果反而更明显地暴露出来。
【例句】做了错事就要用于承认，不要试图去掩饰它，这样只有欲盖弥彰。
【反义词】相得益彰
【近义词】不打自招