草木皆兵

◎濟南五中 龍 菲

“草木皆兵”出自《晉書·苻堅載記》，比喻軍隊退敗時心虛，把草木看成士兵。與“草木皆兵”意思相近的詞還有“風聲鶴唳”“杯弓蛇影”等。

Durinɡ the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Fu Jian,kinɡ of Former Qin, ruled northern China. In the year 383, knowinɡ that the Eastern Jin’s army was short of soldiers, Fu Jian wanted to seize the opportunity to stage a quick attack to the Eastern Jin. Xie Shi and Xie Xuan, senior ɡenerals of the Eastern Jin, led troops to1)resist [r??z?st] v. 對抗；應戰resist.

Unexpectedly, Fu Jian’s army was beaten and suffered heavy losses in the first round of fiɡhtinɡ. After that, Fu Jian looked down from the city wall and was2)terrified [?ter?fa?d] adj. 害怕的；恐懼的terrified when he saw the well-trained army of the Eastern Jin. It was cloudy and windy. So it was hard for him to see clearly. When he looked around, he mistook the bushes and trees for enemies. As a result,when the nervous Fu Jian led his army into3)battle [?b?tl] n. 戰斗battle, he was defeated aɡain.The Eastern Jin’s army won a great victory with fewer soldiers.

東晉時期，前秦的國主苻堅統治中國北方。公元383 年，苻堅得知東晉士兵短缺，于是他想抓住這個機會，帶領部隊突襲東晉。東晉大將謝石、謝玄帶領部隊應戰。

不料，苻堅在第一回合戰敗，傷亡慘重。第一回合戰敗之后，苻堅從城墻俯視遠方，當他看到東晉訓練有素的部隊時，感到非常害怕。那天恰逢陰天，又有風，他很難看清楚遠方事物。所以當他環視四周的時候，他錯把草叢和樹木當成了東晉士兵。結果就是，當緊張的苻堅帶領自己的軍隊投入戰斗，他再一次被東晉打敗。東晉用自己人數有限的軍隊打敗了人數眾多的前秦軍隊，取得了勝利。

Answer the questions:

1. Why did Fu Jian mistake the bushes and trees for enemies?

2. How many times was Fu Jian’ s army beaten in the fiɡhtinɡ?

Background Knowledge

Fu Jian was a famous statesman and reformer in ancient China and the third kinɡ of the Former Qin. Fu Jian admired the Han culture, contributed to the continuation of the Han culture.

苻堅是中國古代著名政治家、改革家，前秦第三位君王。苻堅崇尚漢文化,對漢文化的延續有所貢獻。

Know More

There is an element of psychological illusion in this story. People are paranoid in a state of extreme panic. They will have a distorted perception of external events.This distortion has a fixed tendency. It will happen in the proper conditions. This story is an illusion produced in the context of failure and panic.

“草木皆兵”這個典故含有心理學錯覺的元素。人們在極度驚慌狀態下易產生多疑心理，對外界事物產生歪曲的知覺。這種歪曲帶有固定的傾向。只要具備條件，它必然會產生。“草木皆兵”就是在失敗而慌張的情境下產生的錯覺。