双语解字: Chinese Characters 01- bamboo（竹）

We open a new column——“Analysis of ChineseCharacters by bilingual”，for the convenience of Chinese and foreign friends who are interested in Chinese characters. Every Monday we’ll push a Chinese character，analyze its originand related culture. If there is any impropriety，welcome to correct us.

为方便对汉字感兴趣的中国朋友和外国朋友，我们新开设了《双语解字》栏目。每周一推送一个汉字的来历和相关文化，其中有不恰当的地方欢迎中外朋友指正。

The college entrance examination is coming，Let's talkabout "bamboo"and an idiom related to it——Having a ready-formed plan.

中国的高考就要到了，我们就说说胸有成竹的“竹”。

The character for bamboo is a pictograph of two whorls of bamboo leaves.Unlike a wayward man,the bamboo grows straight and up-right into a useful and decorative plant.

象形字的“竹”，像两根细枝上垂下的六片叶子。后来字形变成了竹子的茎和叶子，看起来就像一簇挺拔的竹子。

Havinga ready-formed plan

In the Song Dynasty,an artist called Wen Tong was especially fond of drawing bamboo.He planted a lot of bamboo in his garden so that he could observe the process of their growth and appearance in different seasons and climates.He knew bamboo so well that whenever he took up the paintbrush he already had a picture in his mind,and thus he could always paint bamboo in a vivid and lively way.

This idiom means to have a well-thought-out plan in place before one sets out to do something so as to ensure its success.

[此段英文翻译：韩晖]

北宋时候，有一个著名的画家，名叫文同，他是当时画竹子的高手。

文同在自己家的房前屋后种上各种各样的竹子，无论春夏秋冬，阴睛风雨，他经常去竹林观察竹子的生长变化情况，琢磨竹枝的长短粗细，叶子的形态、颜色，有新的感受就回到书房，把心中的印象画在纸上。竹子的各种形象都深深地印在他的心中。所以每次画竹，他都显得非常从容，画出的竹子，无不逼真传神。

当人们夸奖他的画时，他总是谦虚地说：“我只是把心中琢磨成熟的竹子画下来罢了。”