Chinese language vocabulary 汉语词汇 沉鱼落雁(Chényú luòyàn)

Gǔ shíhòu yǒu sì dà měinǚ, qí zhōng yí gè shì Yuè guó de Xī Shī, tā zhù zài xiǎo xī biān. Xī Shī de yǎnjīng bízǐ dōu hěn měi, shēncái yě fēicháng hǎo. Tā měitiān dōu qù xiǎoxī biān xǐ yīfú, shēnyǐng dǎoyìng zài xī shuǐ lǐ. Shuǐ lǐ de yú ér dōu kàn dāi le, wàngjì le yóuyǒng, jūrán chén dào le shuǐ dǐ.
古时候有四大美女，其中一个是越国的西施，她住在小溪边。西施的眼睛鼻子都很美，身材也非常好。她每天都去小溪边洗衣服，身影倒映在溪水里。水里的鱼儿都看呆了，忘记了游泳，居然沉到了水底。

In Ancient China there were the Four Beauties. One of these beauties was named Xishi. She lived in the state of Yue by a small stream. Xishi was slender and lithe with beautiful eyes and a perfect nose. Every day she would go to the nearby stream to wash her clothes. Upon seeing her reflection in the water, fish often became so lost in her beauty they would forget to swim, and sink down to the stream’s floor.

Lìngwài yí wèi měinǚ shì Hàn dài de Wáng Zhāojūn, tā xiàng xiānnǚ yí yàng měi, hěn huì dànqín. Huángdì bǎ tā jià gěi le Běifāng xiōngnú guó de guówáng. Zài chūjià de lù shàng, Wáng Zhāojūn dàn qǐ le pípá. Zhè shí yǒu yì qún dàyàn fēi guò, yīnwèi tā de qínshēng tài dòngtīng le, dàyàn jìng rán wàngjì dǒudòng chìbǎng ér diào dào le dì shàng.
另外一位美女是汉代的王昭君，她像仙女一样美，很会弹琴。皇帝把她嫁给了北方匈奴国的国王。在出嫁的路上，王昭君弹起了琵琶。这时有一群大雁飞过，因为她的琴声太动听了，大雁竟然忘记抖动翅膀而掉到了地上。

Another one of the “Four Beauties,” Wang Zhaojun, lived during the Han Dynasty. She was as beautiful as an angel and very gifted musically. The Emperor ordered her to marry a king in the Northern Hunnu State. On the way to the wedding, she began to play a four-stringed Chinese lute. At that very moment, a flock of wild geese flew by. The sound of her lute was so beautiful the geese quickly forgot how to flap their wings and fell to earth.

Words：
小溪xiăoxī： creek (n.)
倒映dàoyìng: to reflect (the image) (v.)
仙女xiānnǚ: fairy, angel(n.)
琵琶pípa: a plucked string instrument with a fretted fingerboard(n.)
大雁dàyàn: wild goose(n.)
动听dòngtīng: pleasant to the ears(adj.)
抖动dǒudòn g: to shake(v.)

Meanings：

“沉鱼落雁” 字面意义是说鱼儿见到美丽的女人沉到水底，大雁见到美丽的女人从空中落下。形容女孩子非常美丽。

The literal meaning of “Chényú luòyàn”is that the beauty of a woman can make fish sink to the river floor and wild geese fall out of the sky. It can be used to describe a very beautiful woman.

Sentences：

1.Tā tài piāoliàng le, jiǎnzhí shì chényú luòyàn, bìyuè xiūhuā.
她太漂亮了，简直是沉鱼落雁，闭月羞花。

She’s so pretty, so gorgeous.

2.Tā běnlái jiù yǒu chényú luòyàn de wàimào, gēnběn yòng bù zháo huàzhuāng.
她本来就有沉鱼落雁的外貌，根本用不着化妆。

She’s so beautiful she doesn’t need to use make-up.