Every Bush and Tree Looks Like an Enemy 草木皆兵

龍菲

“草木皆兵”出自《晉書·苻堅(jiān)載記》，比喻軍隊(duì)退敗時(shí)心虛，把草木看成士兵。與“草木皆兵”意思相近的詞還有“風(fēng)聲鶴唳”“杯弓蛇影”等。

During the Eastern Jin Dynasty， Fu Jian， king of Former Qin， ruled northern China. In the year 383， knowing that the Eastern Jin's army was short of soldiers， Fu Jian wanted to seize the opportunity to stage a quick attack to the Eastern Jin. Xie Shi and Xie Xuan， senior generals of the Eastern Jin， led troops to "resist.

Unexpectedly， Fu Jian's army was beaten and suffered heavy losses in the first round of fighting. After that， Fu Jian looked down from thecity wall and was 2'terrified when he saw the well-trained army of the East- ern Jin. It was cloudy and windy. So it was hard for him to see clearly. When he looked around， he mistook the bushes and trees for enemies. As a result， when the nervous Fu Jian led his army into 3lbattle， he was defeated again. The Eastern Jin's army won a great victory with fewer soldiers.

1） resist [n'zist] v.對(duì)抗;應(yīng)戰(zhàn)

3） battle ['b?tl] n.戰(zhàn)斗 2） terrified['tenfaid] adj.害怕的;恐懼的

東晉時(shí)期，前秦的國主苻堅(jiān)統(tǒng)治中國北方。公元383年，苻堅(jiān)得知東晉士兵短缺，于是他想抓住這個(gè)機(jī)會(huì)，帶領(lǐng)部隊(duì)突襲東晉。東晉大將謝石、謝玄帶領(lǐng)部隊(duì)?wèi)?yīng)戰(zhàn)。

不料，苻堅(jiān)在第一回合戰(zhàn)敗，傷亡慘重。第一回合戰(zhàn)敗之后，苻堅(jiān)從城墻俯視遠(yuǎn)方，當(dāng)他看到東晉訓(xùn)練有素的部隊(duì)時(shí)，感到非常害怕。那天恰逢陰天，又有風(fēng)，他很難看清楚遠(yuǎn)方事物。所以當(dāng)他環(huán)視四周的時(shí)候，他錯(cuò)把草叢和樹木當(dāng)成了東晉士兵。結(jié)果就是，當(dāng)緊張的苻堅(jiān)帶領(lǐng)自己的軍隊(duì)投入戰(zhàn)斗，他再一次被東晉打敗。東晉用自己人數(shù)有限的軍隊(duì)打敗了人數(shù)眾多的前秦軍隊(duì)，取得了勝利。

Answer the questions：

1. Why did Fu Jian mistake the bushes and trees for enemies？

2.How many times was Fu Jian' s army beaten in the fighting？

Background Knowledge

Fu Jian was a famous statesman and reformer in ancient China and the third king of the Former Qin. Fu Jian admired the Han culture， contributed to the continua- tion of the Han culture.

苻堅(jiān)是中國古代著名政治家、改革家，前秦第三位君王。苻堅(jiān)崇尚漢文化，對(duì)漢文化的延續(xù)有所貢獻(xiàn)。

Know More

There is an element of psychological illusion in this story. People are paranoid in a state of extreme panic. They will have a distorted perception of external events. This distortion has a fixed tendency. It will happen in the proper conditions.This story is an illusion produced in the context of failure and panic.

“草木皆兵”這個(gè)典故含有心理學(xué)錯(cuò)覺的元素。人們在極度驚慌狀態(tài)下易產(chǎn)生多疑心理，對(duì)外界事物產(chǎn)生歪曲的知覺。這種歪曲帶有固定的傾向。只要具備條件，它必然會(huì)產(chǎn)生?！安菽窘员本褪窃谑《艔埖那榫诚庐a(chǎn)生的錯(cuò)覺。