欲蓋彌彰

The more one tries to cover up, the better-known it will become.

欲蓋彌彰

During the Spring and Autumn Period (春秋時(shí)期,770-476 BC), there lived a man named Hei Gung, who worked for the government of the kingdom of Ju. Hei Gung once secretly gave apiece of Ju's territory to the kingdom of Lu, in the hopes that Lu would take him in.

春秋時(shí)代，邾國(guó)有一個(gè)人，名字叫黑肱，為國(guó)家做事，他偷偷地把邾國(guó)一塊土地送給魯國(guó)，希望魯國(guó)收留他。

Thinking that no one knew what he had done, he very quietly moved to Lu, never dreaming that Lu would record this incident in great detail.

他以為自己做這件事沒(méi)人知道，就悄悄地搬到魯國(guó)去了，沒(méi)想到魯國(guó)卻把這件事清清楚楚地記錄下來(lái)。

Later, when the people of Ju realized that Hei Gung had moved, they began to ask about that, and only then they learnt of the great dishonor he had brought to his country.

后來(lái)，邾國(guó)人發(fā)覺(jué)黑肱搬走了，紛紛打聽(tīng)，才知道黑肱做了對(duì)不起國(guó)家的事。

Hei Gung never imagined that so many people would find out about this thing which he didn't want anyone to know.

黑肱本來(lái)想不讓別人知道的事，沒(méi)想到很多人都知道了。

Today, this idiom is often used in situations in which a person tries to cover up a thing which he has done, but in doing so only makes his wrongdoing more obvious.

今天我們用這個(gè)成語(yǔ)來(lái)表示越是想掩蓋的錯(cuò)誤最終卻越是會(huì)明顯的顯現(xiàn)出來(lái)。

【文化鏈接】

英文中若要表達(dá)“欲蓋彌彰”的意思，可以用短語(yǔ)“The more one tries to cover up, the better-known it will become.”。

意思也就是“越是想掩蓋的事實(shí)，越是會(huì)顯露無(wú)遺