一清如水
yī qīng rú shuǐ
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1 lit. as clear as water (idiom)
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2 fig. (of officials etc) honest and incorruptible
一碗水端平
yī wǎn shuǐ duān píng
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1 lit. to hold a bowl of water level (idiom)
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2 fig. to be impartial
一点水一个泡
yī diǎn shuǐ yī gè pào
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1 honest and trustworthy (idiom)
三个和尚没水喝
sān gè hé shang méi shuǐ hē
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1 lit. three monks have no water to drink (idiom)
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2 fig. everybody's business is nobody's business
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3 (If there is one monk, he will fetch water for himself. If there are two, they will fetch water together. But if there are three or more, none will take it upon himself to fetch water.)
不敢自专
bù gǎn zì zhuān
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1 not daring to act for oneself (idiom)
不由自主
bù yóu zì zhǔ
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1 can't help; involuntarily (idiom)
不言自明
bù yán zì míng
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1 self-evident; needing no explanation (idiom)
不说自明
bù shuō zì míng
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1 self-explanatory
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2 self-evident (idiom)
不显山不露水
bù xiǎn shān bù lù shuǐ
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1 lit. to not show the mountain and to not reveal the water (idiom); fig. to hide the key facts
互别苗头
hù bié miáo tou
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1 to compete with (idiom) (Tw)
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2 to pit oneself against
人不可貌相,海水不可斗量
rén bù kě mào xiàng , hǎi shuǐ bù kě dǒu liáng
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1 you can't judge a person by appearance, just as you can't measure the sea with a pint pot (idiom)
人往高处走,水往低处流
rén wǎng gāo chù zǒu , shuǐ wǎng dī chù liú
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1 man seeks his way up just as water seeks its way down (idiom)
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2 one should constantly strive to make progress
以其人之道,还治其人之身
yǐ qí rén zhī dào , huán zhì qí rén zhī shēn
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1 to use an opponent's own methods to obtain retribution (idiom, from Song dynasty neo-Confucianist Zhu Xi 朱熹); to get revenge by playing sb back at his own game
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2 to give sb a taste of his own medicine
任其自然
rèn qí zì rán
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1 to let things take their course (idiom)
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2 to leave it to nature
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3 laissez-faire
作茧自缚
zuò jiǎn zì fù
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1 to spin a cocoon around oneself (idiom); enmeshed in a trap of one's own devising
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2 hoist by his own petard
优游自得
yōu yóu zì dé
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1 free and at leisure (idiom); unfettered
儿孙自有儿孙福
ér sūn zì yǒu ér sūn fú
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1 younger generations will do all right on their own (idiom)
兵来将挡,水来土掩
bīng lái jiàng dǎng , shuǐ lái tǔ yǎn
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1 counter soldiers with arms, water with an earth weir (idiom); different situations call for different action
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2 to adopt measures appropriate to the actual situation
兵来将敌,水来土堰
bīng lái jiàng dí , shuǐ lái tǔ yàn
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1 counter soldiers with arms, water with an earth weir (idiom); different situations call for different action
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2 to adopt measures appropriate to the actual situation