1.英语成语故事
Once a man wanted to go to the south, but his carriage was heading north. A passer-by asked him:"If you are going to south, why is your chariot heading north?" The ma answered, "My horse is good at running, My driver is highly skilled at driving a carriage, ad I have enough money."The man didint consider that the direction might be wrong; the better his conditions were, ther further he was away from his destination.
The idiom derived froim this story indicates that ones action was the opposite effect to ones intention.
从前有一个人，从魏国到楚国去。他带上很多的盘缠，雇了上好的车，驾上骏马，请了驾车技术精湛的车夫，就上路了。楚国在魏国的南面，可这个人不问青红皂白让驾车人赶着马车一直向北走去。
路上有人问他的车是要往哪儿去，他大声回答说：“去楚国!”路人告诉他说：“到楚国去应往南方走，你这是在往北走，方向不对。”那人满不在乎地说：“没关系，我的马快着呢!”路人替他着急，拉住他的马，阻止他说：“方向错了，你的马再快，也到不了楚国呀!”那人依然毫不醒悟地说：“不要紧，我带的路费多着呢!”路人极力劝阻他说：“虽说你路费多，可是你走的不是那个方向，你路费多也只能白花呀!”那个一心只想着要到楚国去的人有些不耐烦地说：“这有什么难的，我的车夫赶车的本领高着呢!”路人无奈，只好松开了拉住车把子的手，眼睁睁看着那个盲目上路的魏人走了。
那个魏国人，不听别人的指点劝告，仗着自己的马快、钱多、车夫好等优越条件，朝着相反方向一意孤行。那么，他条件越好，他就只会离要去的地方越远，因为他的大方向错了。
这个故事告诉我们，无论做什么事，都要首先看准方向，才能充分发挥自己的有利条件;如果方向错了，那么有利条件只会起到相反的作用。
2.英语成语故事
At the end of the Qin Dynasty(221-206 B.C.) the State of Chu and the State of Han fought for control for the country. Xiang Yu, the king of Chu, was besieged（包围） at a place called Gaixia by the Han army led by Liu Bang. Xiang Yu was in a desperate situation, with little food and only a few soliders. At night, the surrounding Han troops started to sing Chu folk songs. Xiang Yu was very surprised at this, and said:"Has Liu Bang occupied the whole of Chu? How can he have drafted so many Chu people into his army?" Then he fled together with the remainder of his forces.
This idiom is used metaphorically to mean to be in a helpless and critical situation, surrounded by the enemy on all sides.
项羽和刘邦原来约定以鸿沟（在今河南荣县境贾鲁河）东西边作为界限，互不侵犯。后来刘邦听从张良和陈平的规劝，觉得应该趁项羽衰弱的时候消灭他，就又和韩信、彭越、刘贾会合兵力追击正在向东开往彭城（即今江苏徐州）的项羽部队。终于布置了几层兵力，把项羽紧紧围在垓下（在今安徽灵璧县东南）。这时，项羽手下的兵士已经很少，粮食又没有了。夜里听见四面围住他的军队都唱起楚地的民歌，不禁非常吃惊地说：“刘邦已经得到了楚地了吗？为什么他的部队里面楚人这么多呢？”说看，心里已丧失了斗志，便从床上爬起来，在营帐里面喝酒，并和他最宠爱的妃子虞姬一同唱歌。唱完，直掉眼泪，在一旁的人也非常难过，都觉得抬不起头来。虞姬自刎于项羽的马前，项羽英雄末路，带了仅剩兵卒至乌江，最终自刎于江边。
以后人们就用“四面楚歌”这个词，形容人们遭受各方面攻击或逼迫，而陷于孤立窘迫的境地。凡是陷于此种境地者，其命运往往是很悲惨的。例如某人因经常与坏人为伍，不事生产，游手好闲，但后来却被那些坏人逼迫得无以为生，而求助于别人时，别人又因他平日行为太坏，绝不同情理睬，这人所处的境地便是“四面楚歌”。
3.英语成语故事
A farmer in the state of Song once got a piece of stone with jade init.宋国人有个农夫得到一块含宝玉的石头后，将它献给了相国子罕。
He presented this stone to Prime Minister Zi Han. But Zi Han refused toaccept it. The farmer explained, “It looks like just a stone, butthere is jade inside. It actually is a piece of treasure and suitable forhonorable men like you, not for us common people.”子罕拒绝接受这块石头，农夫解释说：“表面上它是块石头，但里面含有宝玉，是个宝物，适合您这样的贵人使用，我们普通百姓用它就不合适了。”
“I know there is jade inside,” Zi Han said,” but I disagree with you.I think to have the virtue of declining things that do not belongto oneself is the real treasure. ”子罕说：“我知道里面是宝玉。但我的观点和你不同，我认为具有不接受不应得的东西的品德才是真正的宝玉。”
4.英语成语故事
In the Jin Dynasty (265-420) there was a famous writer whose name was Zuo Si who, however, was very naughty and did not like to study when he was a small kid.His father often got angry, and yet young Zuo Si was as naughty as ever and would not study hard.
One day, Zuo Sis father was chatting with his friends. his friends envied him his clever and loverly son. Hearing this, Zuo sis father sighed, "Please do not mention him. My son Zuo si does not study as well as I did when I was young, although I did not study well enough myself. It appears that he is actually a good-for-nothing." So saying, he looked disappointed. All this was witnessed by young Zuo Si. He felt very sad, feeling intensely that he would not be able to have a bright future if he did not study hard. So he was determined to study assiduously from then on.
Day after day and year after year, Zuo Si gradually grew up. Because of his unremitting afforts in hard study, he became an erudite scholar and wrote very excellent essays. The "Ode to the Capital of the State of Qi", which took him one year to write, showed his brilliant literary talent and laid the foundation for his becoming an outstanding writer. then he planned to write an "Ode to the Capitals of the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Shu Han and Wu" with the local conditions and customs as well as the produce of the three capitals as its content. In order to achieve the desired effect in content, structure and language, he applied himself to research work with great concentration, and was so absorbed in creative writing as to forget food and sleep. It took him ten whole years to finish the writing of "Ode to the Capitals of the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Shu Han and Wu", a literary masterpiece.
The "Ode to the Capitals of the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Shu Han and Wu" was well received by the broad masses of readers after it made its appearance to the public, and people considered it as superbly written as the "Ode to the Western Capital (Changan) and to the Eastern Capital (Luoyang)" written by Ban Gu (32-92) and the "Ode to the Western Capital and to the Eastern Capital" written by Zhang Heng of the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. to A.D.220). As the art of printing had not been invented at that time, people who were fond of this "Ode" had to make handwritten copies of it themselves. As there were so many people who vied with each other in making handwritten copies, the supply of writing paper fell short of the demand in Luoyang went up greatly.
This story comes from "The life of Zuo Si" in the book "Literary Field" of The History of the Jin Dynasty. Based on this story, people have coined the set phrase "the price of writing paper went up greatly", meaning the overwhelming popularity of a new work causes shortage of printing paper, to show how popular an outstanding piece of literary work is.
晋代文学家左思，小时候是个非常顽皮、不爱读书的孩子。父亲经常为这事发脾气，可是小左思仍然淘气得很，不肯好好学习。
有一天，左思的父亲与朋友们聊天，朋友们羡慕他有个聪明可爱的儿子。左思的父亲叹口气说：“快别提他了，小儿左思的学习，还不如我小时候，看来没有多大的出息了。”说着，脸上流露出失望的神色。这一切都被小左思看到听到了，他非常难过，觉得自己不好好念书确实很没出息。于是，暗暗下定决心，一定要刻苦学习。
日复一日，年复一年，左思渐渐长大了，由于他坚持不懈地发奋读书，终于成为一位学识渊博的人，文章也写得非常好。他用一年的时间写成了《齐都赋》，显示出他在文学方面的才华，为他成为杰出的文学家奠定了基础。这以后他又计划以三国时魏、蜀、吴首都的风土、人情、物产为内容，撰写《三都赋》。为了在内容、结构、语言诸方面都达到一定水平，他潜心研究，精心撰写，废寝忘食，用了整整十年，文学巨著《三都赋》终于写成了。
《三都赋》受到谅也评，人们把它和汉代文学杰作《两都赋》相比。由于当时还没有发明印刷术，喜爱《三都赋》的人只能争相抄阅，因为抄写的人太多，京城洛阳的纸张供不应求，一时间全城纸价大幅度上升。
5.英语成语故事
A peasant in the state of Song led an extremely hard life for he was destitute, depending on worn sackcloth to defense the chill of winter.宋国的一个农民，因家境贫寒，生活极为清苦，全靠一件烂麻 衣抵御冬天的严寒。
After the spring arrived, the peasant ploughed in the field. When he got tired and rested on the ridge of the field he felt the sunshine to be warmer and more comfortable than the worn sackcloth.春天来后，农夫在田里耕地，累了坐在田头休息时，觉得太阳暖融融的，舒服而惬意，远比烂麻 衣温暖。
He knew neither spacious nor comfortable houses to live in, nor silk, cotton and fur clothes to keep warm. He was very excited at his discovery, and he said to his wife, “Sun bath is so pleasant, but people do not know it. I will present this secret to the king, and he is sure to bestow many presents to me to reward my loyalty.”这农民不知道人间宽敞舒适的房子都可居住，也不清楚绵绸和皮衣可以保暖。农民为自己的这一新发现激动不已，兴奋地对妻子说：“晒太阳是如此令人愉快，而人们却还不知道。我要把这一秘密献给国王，国王为了表彰我的忠诚，一定会给我很多赏赐物品。“