成语故事:惊弓之鸟

 In the Warring States Period, there was a man in the State of Wei called Geng Lei. One day he said to the king，“I can shoot down birds by simply plucking my bowstring.' When the king expressed doubt, Geng Lei pointed¹ his bow at a wild goose flying in the sky, twanged the bowstring, and the goose fell to the ground. Geng Lei said, “This goose has been hurt in the past. Hearing the twang of the bowstring, it assumed that it was doomed². So it simply gave up trying to live.”

战国时期魏国有个名叫更羸的人。一天，他对国王说：“我只要拉开弓，空射一下，就能把天上的鸟射下来。”国王不相信。更羸便对准天上飞来的一只雁射去，果真那只雁听到拉弦的声音就掉了下来。国王感到很奇怪。更羸说，“那是一只受过伤的雁。它一听到我拉开弓弦的声响，就惊慌得支持不住，自然要掉下来了。”

寓意：“惊弓之鸟”这个成语比喻受过惊恐之后，有一点动静就特别害怕。

1 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

2 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。