双语典故|问鼎

三脚架

Asking about the tripods

夏朝周铸造了9个青铜锅，在朝廷上列为王权的象征。

夏亡后九鼎先后归商朝、周朝所有。

公元前606 年，楚国军队在一次战争中进入周王治理的国土。周王派了一位官员去慰问楚王。楚王向这位官员打听九鼎的大小和重量。这位官员回答说：“周王朝虽然已经衰弱，但是上天给的治理国家的权力并未更改，所以关于鼎的情况是不能问的。”

后世用“问鼎”来比喻图谋夺取政权或力争某一领域的最高荣誉或地位。

Nine huge bronze tripods were cast during the Xia Dynasty, and exhibited in the royal court as symbols of supreme authority. When the dynasty fell, the cauldrons passed into the possession successively of the kings in Shang and Zhou dynasties.

In 606 BC the ruler of the State of Chu entered the territory of the King of Zhou, who was nominally the sovereign of all the states. When the king sent an official to greet the Chu ruler, the latter asked him about the size and weight of the nine tripods kept in the king’s court. The official’s reply was: “Though the Zhou Dynasty is declining, its mandate from Heaven to rule has not been removed. Therefore, no one may inquire about the condition of the tripods.”

Later the phrase came to denote a plot to obtain state power or to strive for the greatest honour or highest position in a certain field.

内容选自《典故101》，华语教学出版社出版