Chinese language vocabulary 汉语词汇 此地无银三百两 （Cǐdì wú yín sānbǎi liǎng）

Gǔ shíhòu, yǒu gè jiào Zhāng sān de rén, shì gè níwǎjiàng. Tā hěn qínkuài, shǒu yì yě búcuò. Jǐ nián lái, Zhāng Sān xīnxīnkǔkǔ, zhōngyú cún le sān bǎi liǎng yínzǐ. Tā hěn gāoxìng, kěshì mǎshàng yòu kǔnǎo le qǐlái, gāi bǎ yínzǐ fàng zài nǎ’ ér ne? Zhāng Sān xiǎng lái xiǎng qù, zhōngyú xiǎng chū le yí gè hǎo zhǔyì.
古时候，有个叫张三的人，是个泥瓦匠。他很勤快，手艺也不错。几年来，张三辛辛苦苦，终于存了三百两银子。他很高兴，可是马上又苦恼了起来，该把银子放在哪儿呢？张三想来想去，终于想出了一个好主意。

once upon a time, there was a mason named Zhang San. He was diligent and skillful. After years of hard work, he saved 300 taels of silver in the end. He was very happy but became worried at the same time, for he didn't know wher to store the money in safety. Zhang San thought it over and over and finally hit on a good idea.

Tā chèn zhe hēiyè zài wūhòu qiángjiǎo xià wā le yī gè kēng, qiāoqiāo jiāng yínzǐ mái le jìnqù. cáng hǎo hòu, tā réngrán bú fàngxīn, pà biérén dào zhè’ér lái wā, jiù yòu xiǎng le yī gè shí fèn “qiǎo miào” de bànfǎ. Tā huí dào wūzǐ lǐ, zài yī zhāng zhǐ shàng xiě xià le “cǐ dì wú yín sān bǎi liǎng “ qī gè dàzì, ránhòu tiē zài le qiángjiǎo biān, zhè cái fàngxīn dì zǒu le.
他趁着黑夜在屋后墙脚下挖了一个坑，悄悄将银子埋了进去。藏好后，他仍然不放心，怕别人到这儿来挖，就又想了一个十分“巧妙”的办法。他回到屋子里，在一张纸上写下了“此地无银三百两”七个大字，然后贴在了墙角边，这才放心地走了。

Under the cover of the darkness at night, he dug a pit at the foot of the back wall and quietly buried the silver in it. However he didn't feel relived after doing this, because he was afraid that someone might be there to dig them out. Another "smart" idea suddenly occurred to him. He went back into the room and wrote down "此地无银三百两cǐ dì wú yín sānbǎi liǎng" (meaning no 300 taels of silver is buried here) on a piece of paper, and then put the paper on the corner of the wall. Then he went away, feeling quite relaxed.

Tā de línjū Wáng Er kàn dào le zhè zhāng zhǐ, dà xiào:” zhè bú shì míngbǎi zhe gàosù rén men, zhèlǐ yǒu sān bǎi liǎng yínzǐ ma?” Yúshì, dào le bànyè, děng zhāngsān shuì shú yǐ hòu, Wáng èr qiāoqiāo de bǎ yínzǐ wā chū lái tōu zǒu le. Dàn tā yě bú fàngxīn, pà Zhāng Sān zhīdào shì zìjǐ tōu le yínzǐ, yě zài mái yínzǐ de dìfāng tiē le yì zhāng zhǐ, shàng miàn xiě le qī gè dà zì “gébì Wáng èr bù céng tōu”.
他的邻居王二看到了这张纸，大笑：“这不是明摆着告诉人们，这里有三百两银子吗？”于是，到了半夜，等张三睡熟以后，王二悄悄地把银子挖出来偷走了。但他也不放心，怕张三知道是自己偷了银子，也在埋银子的地方贴了一张纸，上面写了七个大字“隔壁王二不曾偷”。

When his neighbor Wang Er read the notice, he laughed aloud, saying "Isn't it obviously telling people that there is 300 taels of silver buried here?" So, when Zhang Zan fell into a deep sleep, Wang Er quietly dug out the silver and stole it away. Out of the fear that Zhang San might find him out, he put up a piece of paper wher the silver had been buried with the seven big characters on it: "隔壁王二不曾偷gébì wángèr bù cén tōu" (meaning not stolen by your next-door neighbor Wang Er).

Words：
勤快qínkuài： hard-working (adj.)
手艺shǒuyì： workmanship (n.)
趁着chènzhe ： under (the) favor of (v.)
巧妙qiǎomiào： ingenious (adj.)
两liǎng： measure word for silver which was used as currency in China (m.w. )
明摆着míngbǎizhe： obviously (adv. )
隔壁gébì ： next-door neighbor (n.)

Meanings：

此地无银三百两：常用来比喻一些自作聪明的人想要掩饰、隐瞒某些事情，结果反而使事件暴露出来。

The proverb is always used as an analogy to refer to those self-assured wise men give themselves away by concealing or covering up the truth.

Sentences：

1.Tā yuè shì biànjiě，jiù yuè gěirén "cǐdìwúyínsānbǎiliǎng" de gǎnjué.
他越是辩解，就越给人“此地无银三百两”的感觉。

The more he tried to defend himself, the more he exposed himself.

2. Xiǎozhāng zhǔdòng lái jiālǐ shuō zhè shìér hé tā wúguān, shízai shì "cǐdìwúyínsānbǎiliǎng".
小张主动来家里说这事儿和他无关，实在是“此地无银三百两”。

Xiao Zhang took the initiative to come to our home to disentangle himself from the affair. It was nothing but a sheer self-exposure.