Welcome to read a high-intermediate level story of the Chinese idiom about the magical painting of dragons. This reading includes the full story text, followed by a breakdown of the text with Pinyin by paragraph, including audio and vocabulary.
Chinese idioms “成语 (chéng yǔ)” are mostly four character sayings supported by a story. The story behind the 成语 is called “典故 (diǎn gù).” It offers a deeper and clearer meaning to the 成语.
There are thousands of 成语, mostly derived from classical stories or famous historical situations. Their usage suggests a high-level of language proficiency — frequently to elaborate and clarify meaning or stress a point to be made.
In this story, you will see other 成语, which will give you a sense of how they support storytelling and how colorful and expressive they are.
Story breakdown by paragraph with vocabulary and audio
画龙= to paint a dragon
点睛 = to dot the eyes
唐 = Tang Dynasty
张彦远 = Author’s name
张僧繇 = a name
南北朝 = The North South Dynasty
时期 = period (of time)
擅长 = to be skilled at
宗教画 = religious paintings
佛像 = images of the Buddha
自成 = to achieve on one’s own
一套样式 = a style
被称为 = to be called
以。。。为范样 = to use … as a model or standard
善于 = 擅长;to be good at
花卉 = 花草;flowers and vegetation
山水 = traditional Chinese nature scenery paintings
活灵活现 (成语)= true to life
逼真 = like real
甚至 = even, so far as
活物 = living things
金陵 = 南京古称;the ancient name of Nanjing.
安乐寺 = An Le Temple
游玩 = to tour, sightsee
兴致 = an urge
张牙舞爪 (成语) = wielding fangs and claws, acting threateningly
栩栩如生 (成语) = lifelike, just like real
遗憾的是 = 可惜; unfortunately
完美 = 美好; perfect
精髓 = 精华;quintessence, essense
说大话 = 夸张;to stretch the truth
怂恿 = 鼓励; to urge
运足气 = to gain grounding by taking a deep breath
顷刻间 = 片刻; immediately
乌云滚滚 = dark clouds churning
电闪雷鸣 (成语) = lightning flashed and thunder sounded (infers fast and powerful)
蛟龙 = dragons that control floods and rain
腾空 = to rise or fly up into the air
一跃 = one leap
目瞪口呆 (成语) = dumbstruck
这才 = only because of this
信服 = to believe
Let’s take a closer look.
在场的人都哈哈大笑,(Everyone 人都 at the site 在场的 laughed out loud 哈哈大笑)
认为他在说大话。(thinking 认为 he 他 was bragging 在说大话)
许多人怂恿他把龙眼睛画上去,(Many people 许多人 urged him 怂恿他 to paint in the dragons’ eyes 把龙的眼睛画上去)
于是张僧繇提起画笔,运足气,(then 于是, Zhang Sengyao 张僧繇, picked up 提起 the paintbrush 画笔, took a deep breath 运足气)
给其中两条龙点上了眼睛。(painted in the eyes 点上了眼睛 for two of the dragons 给其中两条龙)
没想到顷刻间乌云滚滚,电闪雷鸣,(unexpectedly 没想到, in an instant 顷刻间 dark clouds 乌云 churned 滚滚 lightning struck and thunder sounded 电闪雷鸣)
两条蛟龙腾空而起,一跃飞上了天。(two Rain Dragons 两条蛟龙 flew up 腾空而起 with one leap flew up into the sky 一跃飞上了天)
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