水底捞明月 shuǐ dǐ lāo míng yuè Fishing the moon from the bottom of the water

Explanation

比喻去做根本做不到的事情，只能白费力气。

It means to do something that is impossible, only wasting energy.

Origin Story

从前，有个年轻人非常贪婪，总想着不劳而获。一天，他听说村里有个富翁家藏着很多金银财宝，便起了歹心，想要偷走。他潜入富翁家，发现金银财宝都藏在一个巨大的水缸里，水缸被封得严严实实。年轻人想尽办法，最终还是没能打开水缸。他懊恼不已，心想：与其这样费力，还不如去水里捞月亮，或许能找到些意外之财。于是他来到河边，跳进水里去捞月亮，结果可想而知，他什么也没捞到，反而把自己弄得浑身湿透，狼狈不堪。这件事让他明白了一个道理：妄想不劳而获，只会是水底捞月，徒劳无功。

cóng qián, yǒu gè nián qīng rén fēi cháng tānlán, zǒng xiǎng zhe bù láo ér huò. yī tiān, tā tīng shuō cūn lǐ yǒu gè fù wēng jiā cáng zhe hěn duō jīn yín cái bǎo, biàn qǐ le dǎi xīn, xiǎng yào tōu zǒu. tā qián rù fù wēng jiā, fā xiàn jīn yín cái bǎo dōu cáng zài yīgè jù dà de shuǐ gāng lǐ, shuǐ gāng bèi fēng de yán yán shí shí. nián qīng rén xiǎng jǐn bàn fǎ, zuì zhōng hái shì méi néng dǎ kāi shuǐ gāng. tā ào nǎo bù yǐ, xīn xiǎng: yǔ qí zhè yàng fèi lì, hái bù rú qù shuǐ lǐ lāo yuè, huò xǔ néng zhǎo dào xiē yì wài zhī cái. yú shì tā lái dào hé biān, tiào jìn shuǐ lǐ qù lāo yuè, jié guǒ kě xiǎng ér zhī, tā shén me yě méi lāo dào, fǎn ér bǎ zì jǐ nòng de hún shēn shī tòu, láng bèi bù kān. zhè jiàn shì ràng tā míng bái le yīgè dào lǐ: wàng xiǎng bù láo ér huò, zhǐ huì shì shuǐ dǐ lāo yuè, tú láo wú gōng.

Once upon a time, there was a young man who was very greedy and always dreamed of getting rich without working. One day, he heard that a rich man in the village had hidden a lot of treasure, and he planned to steal it. He sneaked into the rich man's house and found that the treasure was hidden in a huge jar, which was tightly sealed. The young man tried everything, but he couldn't open the jar. He was very annoyed and thought: Instead of working so hard, I might as well try to get the moon out of the water, maybe I'll find some unexpected wealth. So he went to the river, jumped into the water and tried to fish for the moon. The result was, as expected, he found nothing, but only got wet and unhappy. This experience taught him a lesson: The desire to get rich without working is like trying to get the moon out of the water, in vain.

Usage

用于比喻徒劳无功的事情。

yòng yú bǐ yù tú láo wú gōng de shì qing

Used to describe futile efforts.

Examples

• 他痴心妄想，想靠运气发财，简直是水底捞月。

  tā chī xīn wàng xiǎng, xiǎng kào yùn qì fā cái, jiǎn zhí shì shuǐ dǐ lāo yuè.

  He foolishly thinks he can get rich by luck; it's like trying to get the moon out of the water.

• 不要做水底捞明月的事，要脚踏实地。

  bú yào zuò shuǐ dǐ lāo míng yuè de shì, yào jiǎo tà shí dì

  Don't do useless things. Be realistic!

Related Idioms

• 水中捞月

• 痴心妄想

Opposite Idioms

• 脚踏实地

• 务实