Play the Lute to a Cow

Duìniútánqín
对 牛 弹 琴
Playing the Lute to a Cow

Zhànguóshí，yǒu yíwèi jiào Gōngmíng Yí de yīnyuèjiā，Tā tán de qǔzi yōuměi dòngtīng，Hěn duō rén dōu xǐhuān tīng tā tánqín。
战 国 时，有一位 叫公明仪的音乐家，他弹的曲子优美动听，很多人都喜欢听他弹琴。
During the Warring Statesperiod, there was a musician named GongmingYi. The music he played was exquisite and pleasant to listen to. Many people loved to hear him play.
Yǒu yìtiān ，Gōngmíng Yí lái dào jiāowài，kàn dào chūnfēng xúxúde chuīdòng zhe yángliǔ，Yì tóu huángniú zhèngzài cǎodì shàng dītóu chīcǎo，Tā lái le xìngzhì，lìkè bǎishàng qín ，bōdōng qín xián，gěi zhètóu niútán qǐ le yuèqǔ，Kě shì lǎoniú què méi shénme fǎnyìng，Réngrán dītóu chīcǎo。Gōng Míngyí xiǎng ，Zhè qǔzi kěnéng tài gāo yǎ le，Yúshì jiù huàn le jǐ shǒu tōngsú qǔzi，Dànshì lǎohuángniú shǐzhōng háo wú fǎnyìng，Gōng Míngyí hěn shīwàng。
有一天，公明仪来到郊外，看到春风徐徐地吹动着杨柳，一头黄牛正在草地上低头吃草，他来了兴致立刻摆上琴，拨动琴 弦，给这头牛弹起了乐曲，可是老牛却没什么反应，仍然低头吃 草。公明仪想，这曲子可能太高雅了，于是就换了几首通俗曲子，但是老黄牛始终毫无反应，公明仪很失望。
One day, Gongming Yi went out of town and saw the spring breeze gently blowing the willows as a yellow cow was busy eating grass in the field. He was very interested and immediately took up his instrument and began plucking the strings, playing his music for the cow. The cow, however, took no notice, but continued calmly eating the grass. Gongming Yi thought, maybe this music was too refined, so he switched to some more popular tunes, but the cow still paid no attention to him whatsoever. Gongming Yi was very disappointed.
Zhèshí，yǒu rén duì tā shuō：“Nǐ bùyào shēng qì le，bùshì nǐ tán de qǔzi bù hǎotīng, ér shì nǐ tán de qǔzi niúxīnshǎng bù liǎo a！”
这时，有人对他说：“你不要生气了，不是你弹的曲子不好听，而是你弹的曲子牛欣赏不了啊！”
At this time, someone said to him:" Don't be upset. It's not that your music is not beautiful, but just that the cows can't appreciateit!"
Cíyǔ zhùshì
词语注释


优美：(yōuměi) adj.graceful; exquisite
动听：(dòngtīng) adj.interesting or pleasant to the ear
徐徐：(xúxú) adv.slowly and gently
兴致：(xīngzhì) n.interest; gusto
高雅：(gāoyǎ) adj.elegant; refined
始终：(shǐzhōng) adv.from beginning to end

Yìyì
意义

Duì niú tánqín zhōng “duì”shì“duìzhe，xiàng zhe”。“duì niú tán qín”de běn yì shì duìzhe niú tánqín ，dànshì niú bìng wú lǐcǎi。Bǐyù shìtú hé bù jiǎng dàolǐ de rén lùnlǐ。Yě kěyǐ fěngcì nàxiē bù kàn duìxiàng shìshuí jiù dà fā yánlùn de rén.
对牛弹琴中“对”是“对着，向着”。“对牛弹琴”的本意是对着牛弹琴，但牛并无理睬。比喻试图和不讲道理的人理论。也可以讽刺那些不看对象是谁就大发言论的人。
The meaning of "对(duì)" is "to;towards". "对牛弹琴(DuìNiúTánQín)" literally means playing the music towards the cow, but the cow took no notice. This is a metaphor for trying to reason with those who are unreasonable. It is also used ironically to refer to those who talk without noticing who their audienceis.
Lìjù
例句

Tā bùdǒng yīnyuè，dài tā qùtīng yīnyuèhuì，jiǎnzhí shì duìniútánqín。
他不懂音乐，带他去听音乐会，简直就是对牛弹琴。
He doesn't know anything about music, so taking him to ac oncert is like对牛弹琴.（duìniútán qín）

Gēn tā shuō le nàme duō dàolǐ，tā háishì bù míing bái ，zhēnshì duìniútán qín a!
跟他说了那么多道理，他还是不明白，真是对牛弹琴啊！
After explaining it to him so many times, he still couldn't understand. It is really like对牛弹琴! （duìniútán qín）