In the Warring States Period, Lord Meng Changjun of the state of Qi liked to summon followers for himself. Whether talented or not, anyone could be a follower of Meng as long as he was willing. It was said that his followers amounted to three thousand at one time.
Once, Meng Changjun led his followers to the state of Qin. Emperor Zhao of Qin wanted him to be his official. But the ministers of Qin believed Meng Changjun would not work for their state wholeheartedly and that they should kill him because he would be harmful to Qin. As a result, Emperor Zhao imprisoned Meng Changjun, buying time to come up with an excuse to kill him.
At that time, there was an imperial concubine who was highly favored by Emperor Zhao . He listened to whatever she said. Meng Changjun wanted to seek her help and she agreed under the condition that she received the fur clothing Meng had already sent to Emperor Zhao. Meng was very troubled. It so happened that one of his followers was good at pilfering, so Meng sent him to steal the clothing for the imperial concubine. The concubine persuaded the emperor not to kill Meng and he decided to give him a farewell dinner in two days. But Meng dared not to wait and led his followers to run away that night. It was still midnight when they got to the gate. According to the rule, the gate was not to be opened until the cocks crowed. What would they do? Another follower of Meng happened to be able to imitate a cock's crow. The cocks outside the gate began to crow when they heard the follower's noise. The soldiers guarding the city opened the gate and they successfully escaped back to Qi.
词语注释:
战国时期:(Zhànguó Shíqī) n. the Warring States Period (475-221 BC)
召集:(zhàojí) v. to convene
门客:(ménkè) n. idea man, hanger-on of an aristocrat
The literal meaning of "鸡鸣狗盗"is "to crow like a cock and steal like a dog." It is used as a figure of speech to describe trivial skills or tricks. It also refers to the behavior of a sneak in a derogatory way.
例句:
1、不知道他现在是怎么回事,总爱关心一些鸡鸣狗盗的人和事。 I don't know what's going on with him; he's always into shady people and things.
2、你不想想自己怎么努力,一心想窃听其他公司的内部信息。做这种鸡鸣狗盗的事,只会丢咱们公司的脸。 Instead of thinking about what efforts you should be making, you poured your heart into eavesdropping on private information of other companies. This kind of sneaky behavior puts our company to shame.