Chinese language vocabulary 汉语词汇 画蛇添足(Huàshé-tiānzú)

Chǔguó yǒu gè guìzú shǎng gěi tā de púrén men yì hú jiǔ. Púrén men shāngliàng shuō: ” zhè hú jiǔ rúguǒ dàjiā dōu hē de huà bú gòu, yí gè rén hē zhèng hǎo. Zán men bǐsài-huàshé, shuí xiān huà hǎo, zhè hú jiǔ jiù guī shuí.”
楚国有个贵族赏给他的仆人们一壶酒。仆人们商量说：“这壶酒如果大家都喝的话不够，一个人喝正好。咱们比赛画蛇，谁先画好，这壶酒就归谁。”

There was a nobleman in Chu state. One day, he awarded his servants a bottle of wine. The servants discussed together about who should drink the wine. Since the wine was not enough for all but just right for one person, they decided to make it as a prize to the one who was the first to finish a drawing of a snake.

Yǒu yí gè rén zuìxiān bǎ shé huà hǎo le. Tā kàn biérén hái méi huà wán, yúshì zuǒshǒu ná zhe jiǔhú, yòushǒu chí bǐ, shuō:” wǒ hái néng zài gěi tā tiān shàng jǐ zhī jiǎo ne!” Kěshì méi děng tā bǎ jiǎo huà wán, lìng yī gè rén yǐjīng bǎ shé huà hǎo le. Nà rén bǎ jiǔhú qiǎng guòqù, shuō:” shé běnlái shì méiyǒu jiǎo de, nǐ zěnme néng gěi tā tiān shàng jiǎo ne?” Shuō wán jiù bǎ hú zhōng de jiǔ hē le xià qù. Nà gè gěi shé huà jiǎo de rén zuìzhōng méi yǒu hē dào jiǔ.
有一个人最先把蛇画好了。他看别人还没画完，于是左手拿着酒壶，右手持笔，说：“我还能再给它添上几只脚呢！”可是没等他把脚画完，另一个人已经把蛇画好 了。那人把酒壶抢过去，说：“蛇本来是没有脚的，你怎么能给它添上脚呢?”说完就把壶中的酒喝了下去。那个给蛇画脚的人最终没有喝到酒。

A servant was the first had his drawing done. When he found the others were still busy with drawing, he took the wine in hand and thought there was still enough time for him to add a pair of feet to the snake. However, right before he finished the feet, another man had completed his painting and snatched the wine from his hand. He said:' A snake does not have feet. Why do you add feet to it?' After these words, he drank down the wine. The man who added feet to the snake did not share a little in the end.

Words：
贵族(guìzú) ：aristocrat(n.)
仆人(púrén)：servant(n.)
商量(shāngliang)：discuss(v.)
比赛(bǐ sài) ：compete(v.)
本来(běnlái)：originally(adv.)
添(tiān) ：add (v.)
最终(zuìzhōng) ：finally(adv.)

Meanings：

画蛇添足：“添”是“增加某物于某物上”。“画蛇添足”原意为画一条蛇，却给它加上了两只脚。这个成语比喻因为做了多余的事情，反而弄巧成拙、让事情变糟。

" 添(tiān)" is "adding sth. to sth.". "画蛇添足" literally means drawing a snake and adding feet to it. The idiom refers to spoiling things by doing something unnecessary.

Sentences：

1.Zhè piān wénzhāng yǐjīng xiě dé hěn wánzhěng le, zài xiě yí duàn jiù huàshé-tiānzú le.
这篇文章已经写得很完整了，再写一段就画蛇添足了。

The article is well done. Another paragraph would be 画蛇添足.

2. Tā jīntiān chuān dé hěn piāoliàng, zhī shì tóu shàng dài de huā yǒudiǎn huàshé-tiānzú.
她今天穿得很漂亮，只是头上戴的花有点画蛇添足。

She is dressed gorgeously, except for the flower on the head, which is really 画蛇添足.