Chinese Allegories Lesson 3xiā zi diǎn dēng – bái fèi là 瞎子点灯 – 白费蜡 Lighting a candle for a blind man – a waste of effort or time lóng zi de ěr duo – bǎi shè聋子的耳朵 – 摆设 A deaf man's ears - they are merely ornamental; something done just for show lǐ yú chī shuǐ – tūn tūn tǔ tǔ鲤鱼吃水 – 吞吞吐吐 A carp is drinking water – speaking hesitantly huáng shǔ láng gěi jī bài nián – méi ān hǎo xīn黄鼠狼给鸡拜年 – 没安好心 A weasel makes a courtesy call to a chicken – to harbor evil intentions; to have ulterior motives cái feng de chǐ zi – liáng rén bù liáng jǐ 裁缝的尺子 – 量人不量己 The tailor's ruler always measures others but never the tailor himself; being critical of others but lenient on oneself cái feng zuò yī – jiǎng jiū fēn cùn 裁缝做衣 – 讲究分寸 When a tailor makes clothes he pays great attention to measurement; taking care, being careful in doing thingshé shang dǎ sǎn – wú fǎ wú tiān 和尚打伞 – 无法无天 A Buddhist monk holding an umbrella – there is neither law nor heaven. This idiom means to be completely lawless. To understand why, you need to know that （法）fa which means law is pronounced the same way as 发fa which means hair, and that（天）tian means both sky and heaven. xiǎo hé shang niàn jīng – yǒu kǒu wú xīn 小和尚念经 – 有口无心 A young monk mumbles prayers. – Doing something without putting your heart into it The source is from internet .
