No sound, no problem! （掩耳盜鈴） Groundless worries （杞人憂天） There are hundreds more of these Chinese idioms (chengyu) that pack a lot of meaning into four characters. Many of these Chinese idioms originate from historical events, classics, and folklore; they give us valuable insights into Chinese culture, history, and literature. Aimed at English learners, The Magic Four groups together some of these well-known stories with attitude and behaviour as its theme. Each story is accompanied with extra learning elements:
• The literal and figurative meanings;
• A similar idiom/phrase in the English language;
• Definitions of useful vocabularies in the story;
• Meanings of different idioms/phrases used in the stories and examples. Not only will you gain insight into Chinese wisdom accumulated for centuries but also learn fun aspects of the English language too!