The Mantis Stalks the Cicada,Unaware of the Oriole Behind 螳蝴捕蝉，黄雀在后

王梓菲

“螳螂捕蝉，黄雀在后”出自《庄子·山木》，比喻目光短浅，只贪图眼前利益而不顾后患。

During the Spring and Autumn Period， theKing of Wu was going to invade the State of Chu，not allowing anyone to give advice.

A young man wanted to 1）dissuade the Kingbut he didn't dare. Then an idea occurred to him.

The young man pointed to a tree and said，“In the garden there is a cicada in the tree. The cicada is high above， 2）chirping 3） leisurely andtaking in the 4）dew freely， but he has no idea that a mantis is right behind him . The mantis， pressing his body in a concealed place， is intent on catching the cicada， but he doesn't know that an oriole is hiding right be- hind him. However， the oriole doesn't know under the tree is a man witha slingshot. Look！ All of them make effort only to get the benefit beforethem， but they ignore the danger behind them at the same time.”

The King of Wu was suddenly enlightened after hearing this and gaveup the plan to invade the State of Chu.

春秋戰国时期，吴王要进攻楚国，不准别人提意见。

有一个年轻人想去劝阻但又不敢。于是，他想到了一个办法。

年轻人指着一棵树说：“这个园子里的一棵树上有一只蝉。蝉爬得高高的，悠闲地叫着，自由自在地吸着露水，却不知道有一只螳螂在它身后。而蝉身后的螳螂把身子紧紧地贴在隐蔽的地方，只想去捕蝉，却不知道有一只黄雀躲在它的身后。而黄雀却不知道树下有人正拿着弹弓。看！它们只是力求得到眼前的利益，却全然不顾身后隐伏着祸患啊！”

吴王听了年轻人的话后恍然大悟，于是放弃了进攻楚国的计划。

Fill in the blanks：

The young man wanted to remind the King should not only see the ________ before them， but ________ the danger behind them at the same time.

Background Knowledge

Fu Chai， King of Wu， was the son of He Lu during the Spring and Autumn Period. He was extremely warlike. As a result of successive years of wars， the State became weak. In 473 BC， the State of Yue invaded and the State of Wu was destroyed. Fu Chai committed suicide at the age of 55.

夫差，春秋时期吴国君主，吴王阖闾之子。他极其好战，由于连年发兵出征，造成吴国国力空虚。公元前473年，越国兴兵入侵，吴国被灭，夫差自刎，时年55岁。