画蛇添足
Huàshé-tiānzú    

        楚国有个贵族赏给他的仆人们一壶酒。仆人们商量说："这壶酒如果大家都喝的话不够，一个人喝正好。咱们比赛画蛇，谁先画好，这壶酒就归谁。"
        有一个人最先把蛇画好了。他看别人还没画完，于是左手拿着酒壶，右手持笔，说："我还能再给它添上几只脚呢！"可是没等他把脚画完，另一个人已经把蛇画好了。那人把酒壶抢过去，说："蛇本来是没有脚的，你怎么能给它添上脚呢?"说完就把壶中的酒喝了下去。那个给蛇画脚的人最终没有喝到酒。

Draw a Snake and Add Feet to It

There was a nobleman in Chu state. One day, he awarded his servants a bottle of wine. The servants discussed together about who should drink the wine. Since the wine was not enough for all but just right for one person, they decided to make it as a prize to the one who was the first to finish a drawing of a snake.

A servant was the first had his drawing done. When he found the others were still busy with drawing, he took the wine in hand and thought there was still enough time for him to add a pair of feet to the snake. However, right before he finished the feet, another man had completed his painting and snatched the wine from his hand. He said:' A snake does not have feet. Why do you add feet to it?' After these words, he drank down the wine. The man who added feet to the snake did not share a little in the end.

词语注释：

贵族 ：(guìzú)n.: aristocrat

仆人：(púrén)n.: servant

商量：(shāngliang)v.: discuss

比赛：(bǐ sài)v.: compete

本来：(běnlái)adv.: originally

添：(tiān)v.: add

最终：(zuìzhōng)adv.: finally

意义：

画蛇添足："添"是"增加某物于某物上"。"画蛇添足"原意为画一条蛇，却给它加上了两只脚。这个成语比喻因为做了多余的事情，反而弄巧成拙、让事情变糟。

"添(tiān)" is "adding sth. to sth.". "画蛇添足" literally means drawing a snake and adding feet to it. The idiom refers to spoiling things by doing something unnecessary.

例句：

• painting [´peintiŋ]   n.绘画；(油)画；着色   (初中英语单词)
• decided [di´saidid]   a.明显的；决定的   (高中英语单词)
• literally [´litərəli]   ad.逐字地；实际上   (高中英语单词)
• nobleman [´nəublmən]   n.贵族   (英语四级单词)
• drawing [´drɔ:iŋ]   n.画图；制图；图样   (英语四级单词)