Tao Yuanming was a poet of the Eastern Jin Dynasty who was an expert in describing landscape scenes. He once wrote a prose called The Peach Garden which describes a fisherman getting lost while fishing. In the prose, the fisherman rows along a stream. Not realizing how far he rows, he suddenly comes across a beautiful forest of peach trees. Upon reaching the end of the forest, the fisherman sees a hill.
He goes ashore and climbs over the hill. When he comes out from a cave, he finds a village on the other side of the hill. The land is fertile and the houses are tidy . People live happily and freely. His arrival alarms the villagers and they all come out to see him, but they invite him into their homes and treat him to delicious food.
The fisherman learns that the ancestors of these men had taken refuge in this place at the end of the Qin Dynasty (more than 400 years before). The offspring had continued to live in this isolated place, not even knowing what the current dynasty is.
The fisherman stays for a few days and then heads back home, making marks along the way. Later he informs the local officials about the place. They send someone to go with him to find the village, but they never find it again.
"世外桃源"originally referred to a utopia, or an ideal state of living peacefully in isolation from real society. Later it also came to refer to a quiet and peaceful place. It can also refer to a fanciful beautiful world.
例句:
1、这里空气新鲜,山清水秀,还能钓鱼,对于长期居住在繁华城市里的人来说,就像是世外桃源。 The air is fresh, the landscape is picturesque, and people can fish here. This place is like a paradise to people who used to living in bustling cities.
2、大学不是世外桃源,你需要跟很多人打交道,会遇到各种各样的情况。 College is no utopia. You need to deal with many people and will run into all kinds of situations.