Chinese language vocabulary 汉语词汇 鹬蚌相争渔翁得利 Yùbàngxiāngzhēngyúwēndělì

Yǒu yì tiān, tiānqì hěn hǎo. Yì zhī hébàng jiù zhāng kāi liǎng piàn yìngké, zài hétān shàng shūfú de shài tàiyáng. Yì zhī yù niǎo kàn jiàn hébàng, jiù xiǎng měicān yídùn. Yú shì tā fēikuài de bǎ zuǐ shēn jìn bàngké lǐ, hěn hěn de zhuó bàngròu. Hébàng wèi le bǎo mìng, gǎn jǐn jiāng yìngké hé shàng, jǐn jǐn jiá zhù le yù de zuǐ.
有一天，天气很好。一只河蚌就张开两片硬壳，在河滩上舒服地晒太阳。一只鹬鸟看见河蚌，就想美餐一顿。，于是它飞快地把嘴伸进蚌壳里，狠狠地啄蚌肉。河蚌为了保命，赶紧将硬壳合上，紧紧夹住了鹬的嘴。

One day, the weather was fine. A clam opened his two shells, basking in the beach. A snipe saw the clam and wanted to enjoy it. So he quickly put his beak into the shell. The clam immediately closed his shells and tightly clamped the snipe’s beak.

Yù méi chī dào ròu ，fǎndào bèi jiá zhù le zuǐ, zěnme yě bá bú chūlái. Hébàng yě bù néng huí dào hé lǐ. Tāmen jiù zhēngchǎo qǐlái, yù shuō:” yì tiān, liǎng tiān bú xià yǔ, nǐ huí bú dào hé lǐ, chízǎo huì gān sǐ de.” Hébàng bù fúqì, shuō dào:” yì tiān, liǎng tiān bá bú chū zuǐ, nǐ bù néng chī dōngxī, zǎowǎn yě dé è sǐ.”
鹬没吃到肉，反倒被夹住了嘴，怎么也拔不出来。河蚌也不能回到河里。它们就争吵起来，鹬说：“一天、两天不下雨，你回不到河里，迟早会干死的。”河蚌不服气，说道：“一天、两天拔不出嘴，你不能吃东西，早晚也得饿死。”

The snipe did not have the clam meat, but to be clamped. And the clam could not go back to the river. They began to quarrel. The snipe said, “Today does not rain and tomorrow won’t either. You’ll be dry to death if you do not return to the river”. The clam said, “You will starve to death if you do not pull out your mouth and eat”.

Yù hé hébàng zài shātān shàng jiāngchí le hěn cháng shíjiān, tāmen dōu hěn lèi le, kě shuí yě bù kěn ràngbù. Zhè shí yǒu gè yúwēng zhèng hǎo lùguò zhèlǐ, kànjiàn tāmen jiá zài yìqǐ bù néng dòng, jiù hāhā dàxiào qǐlái, bǎ tāmen yìqǐ zhuō huí jiā le.
鹬和河蚌在沙滩上僵持了很长时间，它们都很累了，可谁也不肯让步。这时有个渔翁正好路过这里，看见它们夹在一起不能动，就哈哈大笑起来，把它们一起捉回家了。

The snipe and clam refused to budge in the beach for a long time. They both were tired, but neither of them wanted to give in. There was a fisherman walking by at the same time. When he saw the snip and clam could not move, he laughed and caught them back home.

Words：
河蚌hébàng： mussel（n.）
（硬）壳ké： (hard) shell（n.）
啄zhuó： to peck（v.）
夹jiā： to clip（v.）
争吵zhēngchǎo： quarrel（v.）
服气fúqì： convinced（adj.）
僵持jiāngchí： to refuse to budge（v.）
渔翁yúwēng： fishman（n.）

Meanings:

“鹬蚌相争，渔翁得利”是说鹬和河蚌僵持不下，让渔翁很轻易地捉了它们。比喻双方争执不下，两败俱伤，却让第三方从中得到了利益。

“鹬 蚌相争，渔翁得利”literally means the snipe and clam ended in a deadlock which are easily caught by the fisherman. It is used as a metaphor that the third party benefits from the tussle.

Sentences:

1. Zhè liǎng jiā shāngdiàn dōu shuō duìfāng de shāngpǐn bù hǎo, xīwàng gùkè dào zìjǐ de shāngdiàn lái mǎi dōngxī. Kěshì Yù bàng xiāngzhēng, yúwēng dě lì, gùkè men liǎng jiā dōu méi mǎi, quán dào lìng yì jiā shāngdiàn mǎi dōngxī qù le.
这两家商店都说对方的商品不好，希望顾客到自己的商店来买东西。可是鹬蚌相争，渔翁得利，顾客们两家都没买，全到另一家商店买东西去了。

The two shops accused each other, in the hope that customers buy things in its own shop. But, the customers do not go the two shops and a third shop benefits in the dispute.

2. Ràng tāmen liǎng jiā gōngsī jìngzhēng ba, dào shíhòu wǒmen lái gè Yù bàng xiāngzhēng, yúwēng dě lì.
让他们两家公司竞争吧，到时候我们来个鹬蚌相争渔翁得利。

Let the two companies compete. We can get the benefit in the competition.