"Gild the lily" nghĩa là gì?

Photo courtesy Chris Sorge.

'Gild the lily' có từ gild là mạ vàng hay đánh bóng cho sáng chói và lily là hoa huệ -> mạ vàng một đóa hoa huệ; cụm từ này chỉ một hành động tô điểm hay làm đẹp thêm một cách vô ích những gì đã đẹp sẵn rồi (to add ornament or decoration to something that is pleasing in its original state; to attempt to improve something that is already fine the way it is); vẽ rắn thêm chân (画蛇添足 (huà shé tiān zú) = drawing a snake and adding legs).

Ví dụ
And, to gild the lily, he's an expert on all things etiquette and will be certified by the respected Protocol School of Washington later this fall.

“Platform Revolution” is thorough and often provocative, though the authors sometimes gild the lily, contending that “flexibility provides the crucial competitive edge” because “competition is perpetual motion.”

How does a post-Brexit UK deal with that without tightening control at the land border or English/Scottish ports? There are other unquantified risks around smuggling and cross-border criminality, but let’s not gild the lily too much. The truth is that the Secretary of State must have had briefings on all of these potential scenarios as part of the day job.

Phạm Hạnh

Tags: phrase

Post a Comment

Tin liên quan

    Tài chính

    Trung Quốc