成语：不三不四
发音：bù sān bù sì
解释：指不正派，也指不象样子。

This is a funny chengyu that I like a lot, too. 不三不四 literally means “neither three nor four”. It is used to describe a very weird dubious person. For example someone that doesn’t have a job but also isn’t a beggar, but rather something between. Or someone in school who does neither socialize nor study, and nobody really knows what he is up to. It can also imply that the person has a dubious appearance or clothing. There is a similar English idiom called “neither fish nor fowl”, although this one doesn’t emphasize the negative meaning that much. Often parents like to use this chengyu to criticize the friends of their children.

• 你别整天和那些不三不四的人混，成不成阿？
  Stop hanging around with those dubious people, ok?

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成语：行尸走肉
发音：xíng shī zǒu ròu
解释：行尸：可以走动的尸体；走肉：会走动而没有灵魂的躯壳。
比喻不动脑筋，不起作用，糊里糊涂过日子的人。

A quite figurative chengyu if you tend to watch horror films. 尸 like in 尸体 is a dead body/ corpse. 肉 is flesh and means that there is no soul and no feelings in this context. 行 and 走 both mean walk. So literally it means “walking corpse and flesh”. Basically it means that the person walks around and behaves like a death man, because he feels so numb. This can be after a huge shock, or because he is depressed or sick or heart-broken. If it’s over a longer period, it describes a very confused unsocial and passive person who is just sick and tired of life.
For example:

• 他女朋友刚和他分手，你瞧他现在那副行尸走肉的样子，真可怜。
  His girlfriend just broke up with hum, now look at him, he is like a walking corpse. So pitiful!
• 自从没有考上理想的大学以后，他整天就如同行尸走肉。
  Since he has failed to enter the university he wanted to, he behaves like a walking corpse.

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成语：明知故问
拼音：míng zhī gù wèn
解释：明明知道，还故意问人
翻译：to ask even though one already knows the answer

A common proverb, 明知故问 means “to ask someone on purpose, even though one already knows the answer”. 明知 means that it is clear and obvious that one knows. 故 means on purpose (故意) and does not mean story (故事) in this context! The chengyu can be used to describe people who like to ask many obvious and obnoxious questions.
For example:

• 他刚刚还看了自己的手表，现在又问我己点钟，这不是明知故问吗？
  He just looked at his watch and now he is asking me what time it is. I mean, doesn’t he already know?

I always forget to mention, if you have another example sentence, you can put it in a comment, and I will add it to the post!

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成语：三心二意
拼音：sān xīn èr yì
解释：又想这样又想那样，犹豫不定。常指不安心，不专一。
翻译：half-hearted, half-heartedly

Literally translated this chengyu means “three hearts and two wills”. It means that you cannot decide between several options and only do your thing half-heartedly. Thus you cannot focus and won’t get things done.
Here I am reminded of a story I read ages ago in my Chinese book called 小猫钓鱼 where mother cat and kitty cat go fishing. The mother is very patient and catches several big fishes, while little kitty cannot sit still and always runs around to catch butterflies, birds, dragonflies, etc. Later however she gets depressed, because she didn’t catch any fish, so her mother tells her:

• 钓鱼就钓鱼，不要三心二意。否则怎么能钓到鱼呢？
  Fishing is fishing, don’t do it half-hearted. Otherwise you won’t catch any fish, will you?

Other example:

• 学习不要三心二意，那样学习效率很低，只浪费你自己的时间。
  Don’t study half-heartedly. That is very inefficient and only wastes your time.

Antonym: 一心一意 (yī xīn yī yì)

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成语：目中无人
拼音：mù zhōng wú rén
解释：眼里没有别人。形容骄傲自大，看不起人。
翻译：arrogant, supercilious

It’s been a while since my last chengyu post. Obviously regular posting frequency is not my strength (yet), but I will work on that. Thanks to Chris’ rediscovery of me I was reminded of why I originally started this site…

This chengyu is also straightforward with easy characters. The first two characters 目中 mean “in one’s eyes”. 无人 means “no person”. Put together it means the person is so arrogant that no one is important in his/her eyes. It’s like the Chinese expression 看不起别人 (looking down on others).
Example:

• 曾经的好友，怎么现在变得那么自以为是，目中无人?
  How come my former friend became so conceited and arrogant?

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成语：井底之蛙
拼音：jǐng dǐ zhī wā
解释：井底的蛙只能看到井口那么大的一块天。比喻见识狭窄的人。

The story behind this chengyu is also known to almost any child in China: There lives a frog at the bottom of a well. He has never been outside of it, so he lives very happy and is naturally very proud of his living environment - the well. One day a turtle visits him. He invites the turtle down to his well and tells him how nice everything is at his home. The turtle is very surprised and irritated and asks him whether he has ever visited the ocean. Since the frog hasn’t, the turtle describes him how vast and beautiful the ocean is and how small and laughable his well is in comparison. Thus, the frog is left stunned and speechless.
Literally translated this chengyu means “the frog at the bottom of the well”. 之 means in present Chinese 的. It is a metaphorical chengyu, so it compares to people who are like the frog in the well. They don’t have a wide horizon and like to think they have the best situation possible, just because they don’t know any other.
Example:

• 你应该主动出去和人家交流交流下，别整天在家里做井底之蛙。
  You should go out and socialize more. Don’t just sit at home the whole day and play an isolated antisocial.

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成语：不知好歹
发音：bù zhī hǎo dǎi
解释：不知道好坏。多指不能领会别人的好意。

This chengyu is fairly intuitive to understand. The only difficulty is to remember that 歹 is a synonym to 坏 (huai4), bad. Then it is all easy: “Not knowing the difference between good and bad”. Ah, it fascinates me how compact Chinese can be. You use this expression especially when criticizing people who don’t appreciate your good will. I suppose parents like to say this to their children a lot, at least that’s my experience. Here’s an example:

• 这孩子怎么那么不知好歹的呢？
  Why does this child not know right from wrong?

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成语：拔苗助长
拼音：bá miáo zhù zhǎng
解释：比喻违反事物发展的客观规律，急于求成，反而坏事。

It is time to learn some new chengyu! I know it’s Friday night (at least right now), but I can’t go out tonight, so I will donate some hopefully valuable resources to the internet community of Chinese students. So you can give yourself a kick now too, and start to do the things you were always procrastinating,but… ok sorry, I’m seriously digressing…
拔苗助长 is also a widely known chengyu. 拔 (ba2) means ‘to pull’. 苗 (miao2) is the ’seedling’. 助长 (zhu4 zhang3) means to help it grow. So its whole translation is literally “to pull the seedling in order to help it grow”. In order to understand what this chengyu expresses, I will tell you the story behind it, followed by its video clip. *yay*
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