Chinese language vocabulary 汉语词汇 抱薪救火 （bào xīn jiù huǒ）

Zhànguó mòqī, Qínguó xiàng wèiguó chūbīng. Wèi wáng bǎ dàchén men zhàojí qǐlái, wèn dàjiā yǒu méiyǒu shǐ Qín guó tuìbīng de bànfǎ. Duō shù dàchén dōu quàn wèi wáng, yǐ tǔdì wéi dàijià, gēràng tǔdì gěi Qínguó, xiàng Qín wáng qiúhé.
战国末期，秦国向魏国出兵。魏王把大臣们召集起来，问大家有没有使秦国退兵的办法。多数大臣都劝魏王，以土地为代价，割让土地给秦国，向秦王求和。

In the final years of the Warring States period, the State of Qin attacked the State of Wei. The King of the State of Wei summoned his officials, and asked if anyone could propose a way to defeat the Qin army. Most of the officials wanted the king to cede land to the State of Qin in order to preserve peace.

Dàn qí zhōng yí gè móushì bù tóngyì zhè zhǒng qiúhé de fāngfǎ. Tā duì wèi wáng shuō:”

Dàwáng, zhè xiē rén yīnwèi zìjǐ dǎnxiǎo-pàsǐ, cái ràng nín qù màiguó-qiúhé, gēnběn búshì Wèi guó jiā zhuóxiǎng. Nín xiǎng, bǎ dà piàn tǔdì gē ràng gěi Qín guó suīrán zànshí mǎnzú le Qín wáng de yěxīn, dàn Qín guó de yùwàng shì wú zhǐjìng de, zhīyào Wèi guó de tǔdì méi gē wán, Qín jūn jiù bú huì tíngzhǐ jìngōng wǒmen.”
但其中一个谋士不同意这种求和的方法。他对魏王说：“大王，这些人因为自己胆小怕死，才让您去卖国求和，根本不是为国家着想。您想，把大片土地割让给秦国虽然暂时满足了秦王的野心，但秦国的欲望是无止境的，只要魏国的土地没割完，秦军就不会停止进攻我们。”

However, one advisor did not agree. He rushed to the king’s side and said, “Your Majesty, it is just because they are cowardly and afraid of death that they ask you to cede for peace and betray our country. Of course, you can temporarily satisfy the ambition of the king of the State of Qin, but he is insatiably greedy. He will only stop attacking us when all of our land has been given away.”

Jiēzhe, zhè wèi móushì yòu jiǎng le yí gè gùshì: cóngqián yǒu yí gè rén , tā de fángzǐ qǐhuǒ le, biérén quàn tā kuài yòng shuǐ qù jiāomiè dà huǒ, dàn tā bù tīng, piān bào qǐ yì kǔn cháicǎo qù jiùhuǒ, tā bù dǒng dé cháicǎo bú dàn bùnéng mièhuǒ fǎn’ ér néng zhùzhǎng huǒshì de dàolǐ. Dà wáng ruò tóngyì ná zhe Wèi guó tǔdì qù qiúhé, bù jiù děngyú bào zhe chái cǎo jiù huǒ ma?”
接着，这位谋士又讲了一个故事：从前有一个人，他的房子起火了，别人劝他快用水去浇灭大火，但他不听，偏抱起一捆柴草去救火，他不懂得柴草不但不能灭火反而能助长火势的道理。大王若同意拿着魏国土地去求和，不就等于抱着柴草救火吗？”

The advisor then told a story, "once there was a man whose house was on fire. People told him to put out the fire with water, but he would not listen. Instead, he carried kindling to put out the fire, only to make it worse. That was because he didn't understand that instead of putting out the fire, kindling only makes it burn harder. If you agree to cede to preserve the peace isn’t it the same as using kindling to put out a fire?"

Words:
割让gēràng: cede (v.)
召集zhàojí: summon (v.)
胆小dǎnxiǎo: coward (adj.)
满足mǎnzú: satisfy (v.)
攻击gōngjī: assault (v.)
柴草cháicǎo: faggot (n.)
等同于děngtóngyú： equivalent（adj.）

Meanings:

成语“抱薪救火”比喻用错误的方法去消灭祸害，结果反而使祸害扩大。

“抱薪救火”means adopting a wrong method to solve a problem, only to make it worse in the end.

Sentences:

1. Nǐ yīnggāi zhìzhǐ tāmen de zhēnglùn, ér bú yào zài cānyǔ dào tāmen de zhēnglùn zhōng le, fǒuzé jiù shì bàoxīn-jiùhuǒ, yuè bāng yuè máng.
你应该制止他们的争论，而不要再参与到他们的争论中了，否则就是抱薪救火，越帮越忙。

You should stop their quarrel. Don't make it worse.

2. Wǒ xiǎng bāngmáng, dànshì wǒ pà shì zài bàoxīnjiùhuǒ, bāng dàománg.
我想帮忙，但是我怕是在抱薪救火，帮倒忙。

I want to help, but I’m afraid I’ll get in the way and only make it worse.