雙語解字: 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.

為方便對漢字感興趣的中國朋友和外國朋友，我們新開設了《雙語解字》欄目。每周一推送一個漢字的來歷和相關文化，其中有不恰當的地方歡迎中外朋友指正。

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

中國的高考就要到了，我們就說說胸有成竹的“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”，像兩根細枝上垂下的六片葉子。後來字形變成了竹子的莖和葉子，看起來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.

[此段英文翻譯：韓暉]

北宋時候，有一個著名的畫家，名叫文同，他是當時畫竹子的高手。

文同在自己家的房前屋后種上各種各樣的竹子，無論春夏秋冬，陰睛風雨，他經常去竹林觀察竹子的生長變化情況，琢磨竹枝的長短粗細，葉子的形態、顏色，有新的感受就回到書房，把心中的印象畫在紙上。竹子的各種形象都深深地印在他的心中。所以每次畫竹，他都顯得非常從容，畫出的竹子，無不逼真傳神。

當人們誇獎他的畫時，他總是謙虛地說：“我只是把心中琢磨成熟的竹子畫下來罷了。”