Chinese Allegories (11) y? ba chī ji?o zi – xīn l? y?u shù 啞巴吃餃子 – 心里有數 A dumb person eats dumplings. – (literally) He knows the number in his mind, although he cannot say it. Figuratively, it means somebody has a clear idea of the situation.máng rén qí xiā m? – luàn chu?ng luàn pèng 盲人騎瞎馬 – 亂闖亂碰 A blind man on a blind horse – rushing headlong into disastertiào dào huáng hé x? bu qīng – yuān wang 跳到黃河洗不清 – 冤枉 Even if one jumped into the Yellow River, one could not wash oneself clean. – One is unjustly or unfairly treated.guān gōng miàn qián shu? dà dāo – zì bù liàng lì 關公面前耍大刀 – 自不量力 To perform swordplay before an expert like Guan Yu, a general in the period of the Three Kingdoms – overestimate one's abilities; overestimate oneselfzh? l?o hǔ – wài qiáng zhōng gān 紙老虎 – 外強中干 Paper tiger – something or someone is outwardly strong but inwardly weak.hǔ tóu shé w?i – y?u sh? wú zhōng 虎頭蛇尾 – 有始無終 With a tiger's head but a snake's tail – fine start and poor finish; to start something but fail to carry it through to the end.qí lǘ zh?o lǘ – hūn tóu hūn n?o 騎驢找驢 – 昏頭昏腦 To look for the donkey while riding it – be muddle-headedshēng m? zhǔ chéng shú fàn – g?i bù guò lái le 生米煮成熟飯 – 改不過來了 The rice is cooked. – What is done cannot be undone; it can't be helped.
