惊弓之鸟

There was an archer¹ named Geng Ying in the State of Wei. He went sightseeing with the King of Wei at Jingtai. At that time a bird was circling around in the sky, uttering sad and shrill² cries now and then. The King of Wei looked up at it for a while and said to Geng Ying: "Do you see that bird? Can you shoot it down?"

 

"I can shoot it down without using an arrow," Geng Ying said.

 

After a while, the bird flew near. Geng Ying pulled his bow to the full, plucked the bowstring, and at the sound the bird fell to the ground before their feet.

 

The King of Wei said in surprise:   "You can shoot down a bird without an arrow. Your skill in archery is really wonderful."

 

Geng Ying said: "Your Majesty³, this is not due to my good skill, but because this is a bird of bad luck. You can hear how sadly and shrilly⁴ it wailed⁵, and see how tiredly it flew. It was already wounded, and for a long time could not find its companion. Therefore it couldn't stand the least fright. As soon as I twanged my bow, it thought it had been shot and fell down of its own accord from the sky. What a pitiful bird frightened by the mere⁶ twang of a bowstring!"

 

魏国有位射手名叫更赢。他跟随魏王在京台游玩。这时有一只鸟在空中盘旋，还不时发出凄厉的叫声。魏王抬头看了一会儿，便对更赢说：

 

“你看见那只鸟了吗?你能把它射下来吗？”

 

更赢说：“这只鸟，我不用箭就能把它射下来。”

 

一会儿，那只鸟飞近了，更赢拉满弓，拨动了一下弓弦，鸟就应声落在他们跟前。

 

魏王惊奇地说：“你不用箭就能把飞鸟射下来，你射箭的技术真高明啊！”

 

更赢说：“大王，这不是我的技术高明，而是因为这是一只倒霉的鸟。你听它叫得那样凄厉，飞得那样疲乏。它已经负了伤，很长时间找不到伴侣，所以经不起一点点的惊吓。我的弓弦一响，它就以为是被射中了，自己从空中跌落下来，多么可怜的惊弓之鸟啊！”

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