xiā zi diǎn dēng – bái fèi là
瞎子點燈 – 白費蠟
Lighting a candle for a blind man – a waste of effort or time
lóng zi de ?r duo – b?i shè
聾子的耳朵 – 擺設
A deaf man's ears - they are merely ornamental; something done just for show
l? yú chī shu? – tūn tūn t? t?
鯉魚吃水 – 吞吞吐吐
A carp is drinking water – speaking hesitantly
huáng sh? láng gěi jī bài nián – méi ān hǎo xīn
黃鼠狼給雞拜年 – 沒安好心
A weasel makes a courtesy call to a chicken – to harbor evil intentions; to have ulterior motives
cái feng de ch? zi – liáng rén bù liáng j?
裁縫的尺子 – 量人不量己
The tailor's ruler always measures others but never the tailor himself; being critical of others but lenient on oneself
cái feng zuò yī – jiǎng jiū fēn cùn
裁縫做衣 – 講究分寸
When a tailor makes clothes he pays great attention to measurement; taking care, being careful in doing things
hé shang dǎ sǎn – wú fǎ wú tiān
和尚打傘 – 無法無天
A Buddhist monk holding an umbrella – there is neither law nor heaven. This idiom means to be completely lawless. To understand why, you need to know that 法fa which means law is pronounced the same way as 發(fā)fa which means hair, and that 天tian means both sky and heaven.
xiǎo hé shang niàn jīng – yǒu kǒu wú xīn
小和尚念經(jīng) – 有口無心
A young monk mumbles prayers. – Doing something without putting your heart into it