Simone成语故事——呆若木鸡 中英文互译
的有关信息介绍如下：
呆若木鸡
战国时，斗鸡是贵族们寻欢作乐的一项活动，齐王便是当时的一位斗鸡迷。为了能在斗鸡场上取胜，齐王特地请专家纪(shěng)子帮他训鸡。
齐王求胜心切，没过几天，便派人来催问，纪子说：“鸡没训好，它一见对手，就跃跃欲试，沉不住气。”过了几天，齐王又派人来问，纪子说：“还不到火候，看样子鸡虽不乱动了，但还不够沉稳。”又过了几天，纪子终于对来人说：“请你告诉齐王，我花工夫把鸡训好了。”待到斗鸡时，对手的鸡又叫又跳，而纪子训好的鸡却像只木鸡，一点反应也没有，别的鸡看到它那副呆样竟然都被吓跑了。因此，齐王用这只鸡和别人斗，自然场场获胜。他那高兴的样子就甭(béng)提了。
后来人们又把“呆若木鸡”这个成语引申表示十分愚笨，也形容因为害怕或惊奇发呆的样子。
As Dull as a Wooden Chicken
During the Warring States period, cockfighting was an activity for the nobles to have fun, and the king of Qi was a cockfighting fan at that time. In order to win in the cockfighting arena, the king of Qi specially asked expert Ji (shěng) to help him train chickens.
The king of Qi was eager to win. Within a few days, he sent someone to urge him. Ji Zi said, "The chicken didn't train well. As soon as it saw its opponent, it was eager to try and couldn't calm down." A few days later, the king of Qi sent someone to ask again. Ji Zi said, "It's not ready yet. It seems that the chicken is not moving around, but it is not calm enough." After a few more days, Ji Zi finally said to the visitor, "Please tell the king of Qi that I've taken the time to train the chicken well." When it came to the cockfight, the opponent's chicken barked and jumped, while the chicken that Ji Zi trained was like a wooden chicken and did not react at all. Other chickens were scared away when they saw its dull appearance. Therefore, the king of Qi used this chicken to fight others and naturally won every time. His happy look went without saying.
Later, people extended the idiom "as dull as a wooden chicken" to mean being very stupid, and also described it as being in a daze due to fear or surprise.
