mere copycat

東施效顰

In the Spring and Autumn Period (春秋時期，770-476 BC)， there was a beauty in the State of Yue called Xishi (西施).

傳說春秋時期，越國有一美女，名喚西施。

She often suffered from pains in her chest， and so she would often walk around doubled over and with her brows knitted.

但是西施有心口疼的毛病，所以她經常手捂胸口，皺著眉頭走著。

There was an ugly girl in the village called Dongshi who envied Xishi.

村子里還住著一位丑姑娘，叫做東施，她十分嫉妒西施。

Striving to emulate Xishi， she imitated her stoop， knitting her brows at the same time.

于是東施時常效仿西施，手捂胸口，緊皺眉頭。

She thought that this made her elegant， but in fact， it only made her more ugly.

東施覺得她效仿西施就會變得很美麗，但是實際上，只會使她變得更難看而已。

Later， this idiom came to be used to indicate improper imitation that produces the reverse effect.

這個典故比喻不恰當的模仿，帶來相反的效果。

英文中“東施效顰”可以說成“mere copycat”，“mere”有“僅僅”的意思，而“copycat”則可以表示我們常說的“山寨”，也就是“模仿的產品”，所以合在一起就是“僅僅只是山寨而已”，也就是“東施效顰”所表達的含義啦~

比如說，大家都知道美國由好萊塢Hollywood，而印度有一個寶萊塢Bollywood，所以曾有人說“寶萊塢是不是東施效顰好萊塢呢?”，英文表達就是“Bollywood a mere copycat?”，但事實其實不是哈，寶萊塢已經越來越有自己的特色，也有很多廣為人知的好電影了。