Snake-like Reflection of a Bow in the Cup
Nearly 2,000 years ago, during the Han Dynasty, there was a county magistrate called Ying Chen.One summer day, he invited his secretary Du Xuan to his house and treated him with wine.On the north wall of the room hung a red bow.It was reflected in Du Xuan\'s cup.Du Xuan took the reflection for a squirming snake.He was very frightened but he dared not turn down Ying Chen\'s offer because Ying was his superior.He had to swallow the wine with his eyes closed.
When he was back at home he felt so painful in his chest and stomach that he could hardly eat and drink any more.He sent for the doctor and took some medicine, but nothing could cure him.When Ying Chen asked Du Xuan how he got so seriously ill, Du told him he drank the wine with a snake in his cup the other day.Ying Chen found something strange about that.He returned home , thought hard, but he could not find an answer.Suddenly the shadow thrown by the bow on the wall caught his eye.\"That\'s it!\" he shouted.He immediately sent his man to fetch Du Xuan.He seated him where he sat before and offered him a cup of wine.Du Xuan saw the snake-like shadow again.Before Du was scared out of his wits again, Ying Chen said , pointing at the shadow, \"The \'snake\' in the cup is nothing but a reflection of the bow on the wall!\" Now that Do Xuan knew what it was, he felt much easier.And strange enough, his illne disappeared the next moment.This story was later contracted into the idiom \"Bei Gong She Ying\'.It is used to describe someone who is very suspicious.It is like saying someone is afraid of his own shadow.
杯弓蛇影
“杯弓蛇影”这则成语的意思是误把映入酒杯中的弓影当成蛇。比喻因错觉而疑神疑鬼，自已惊扰自已。
这个成语来源于东汉.应劭《风俗通义》，时北壁上有悬赤弩，照于杯，形如蛇。宣畏恶之，然不敢不饮。
有一年夏天，县令应郴请主簿（办理文书事务的官员）杜宣来饮酒。酒席设在厅堂里，北墙上悬挂着一张红色的弓。由于光线折射，酒杯中映入了弓的影子。杜宣看了，以为是一条蛇在酒杯中蠕动，顿时冷汗涔涔。但县令是他的上司，又是特地请他来饮酒的，不敢不饮，所以硬着头皮喝了几口。仆人再斟时，他借故推却，起身告辞走了。
- 1emperor and was transferred to be the commander of the armed forces in the Henei Prefecture.As soon as he took office ,he had all the members of a wealthy and influential family that had brought calamities to the people there executed.For a while , the public order and the general mood of society in the Henei Prefectures were greatly improved.If someone should lose something on the road through carelene,nobody would pick it up and take it as his own.When YiZong was transferred to be the prefect of the Nanyang Prefecture,NingCheng,a despotic landlord who stopped at nothing in doing evil,wsa living there,In order to ingratiate himself with YiZong,Ning Cheng pretended to be very modest and courteous every time he met Yi Zong and saw him off.But Yi Zong had heard of the evil conducts of Ning Zong and saw him off.But Yi Zong had heard of the evil conducts of Ning Cheng already and ,soon after he took office in Nanyang,he made investigations.It did not take much time for him to find out Ning cheng\'s crimes and had him put in prison.Later ,Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty appointed YiZong the prefect of the Dingxiang Prefecture .At that time, the publica order in Dingxiang was very chaotic.When he took office there, there were 200 convicts in prison who had committed felonies had no implements of punishment on them.There were also more than 200 persons who offered bribes in order to absolve those serious offenders trom guilt.YiZong treated the matter severely.He arrested all those bribers and punished the bribers and those serious offenders already in prison severely.More than 400 convicts were executed in a bay .From that day on ,whenever the name of YiZong was mentioned.people in Dingxinang would tremble with fear --they would shiver all over though not cold.This story appears in the \"Lives of the Mercile Judges and Prison Wardens \"in The Historical Records written by Sima Pian.The set phrase \"shivering all over though not cold \"is used to refer to the state of being extremely afraid.
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