Adding Feet to a Snake

畫(huà)蛇添足

One day， Mr. Lion holds a party. Many animals come and drink a lot of wine.

一天，獅子先生舉行一場(chǎng)聚會(huì)，許多動(dòng)物都來(lái)了，他們喝很多酒。

At last there is a pot of wine. Who can drink it?

最后只剩一壺酒了。讓誰(shuí)喝呢?

They drink out an idea and decide to have a match-Draw a snake.If you finish first， you can get it.

它們想了想，有了一個(gè)主意。它們比賽畫(huà)蛇，誰(shuí)最快畫(huà)好，誰(shuí)就喝這壺酒。

Soon Mr.Wolf finishes drawing.

不一會(huì)，狼先生畫(huà)好了。

“Yeah， I‘ve finished. I’m No.1，” he says.

“哈，我畫(huà)好了，我是第一個(gè)。”它說(shuō)。

But he draws again and says， “Oh， let me add feet and my snake.”

可是它又畫(huà)了起來(lái)，它還說(shuō)：“再給它加幾只腳吧。”

At the time， Mr. Gorilla also finishes.

這時(shí)猩猩先生也畫(huà)好了。

He takes away the pot of wine and drinks， then he says， “That isn‘t a snake. Snakes have no feet. I get the wine.

“它拿起那酒壺喝起來(lái)。一邊喝一邊說(shuō)：“那不是蛇，蛇是沒(méi)有腳的，我贏了這壺酒。”

In the Warring States Period (zhàn guó 戰(zhàn)國(guó)，475-221BC)， a man in the State of Chu (chǔ guǒ楚國(guó)) was offering a sacrifice to his ancestors.

戰(zhàn)國(guó)時(shí)代有個(gè)楚國(guó)人祭他的祖先。

After the ceremony， the man gave a beaker of wine to his servants.

儀式結(jié)束后，他拿出一壺酒賞給手下的幾個(gè)人。

The servants thought that there was not enough wine for all them， and decided to each draw a picture of a snake; the one who finished the picture first would get the wine. One of them drew very rapidly.Seeing that the others were still busy drawing， he added feet to the snake.

大家商量說(shuō)： “我們都來(lái)畫(huà)蛇，誰(shuí)先畫(huà)好誰(shuí)就喝這壺酒。”其中有一個(gè)人先畫(huà)好 了。但他看到同伴還沒(méi)有畫(huà)完，就又給蛇添上了腳。

At this moment another man finished， snatched the beaker and drank the wine， saying， ’A snake doesn‘t have feet. How can you add feet to a snake?

這時(shí)，另一個(gè)人也畫(huà)好了，奪過(guò)酒壺吧酒喝了，并且說(shuō)：“蛇本來(lái)是沒(méi)有腳的，你怎么能給它添上腳呢?”

This idiom refers to ruining a venture by doing unnecessary and surplus things.

“畫(huà)蛇添足”這個(gè)成語(yǔ)比喻做了多余而不恰當(dāng)?shù)氖?，反而把事情弄糟了?/p>