三國演義雙語故事(6):草船借箭
To Borrow Arrows with Thatched Boats
This is an episode from the Three Kingdoms. Zhou Yu ordered Zhuge Liang to manufacture 100，000 arrows within ten days. Zhuge said， “Give me three days.” He also signed a pledge placing himself liable for punishment should he fail to complete the order. Zhou Yu ridiculed that Zhuge Liang was looking for self-destruction. On the one hand， Zhou Yu ordered his troops not to provide Zhuge Liang with materials to make the arrows. He also sent Lu Su to spy on him to find out what was going on. In fact， Zhuge Liang had already realized that this was a plot by room， Zhuge said to Lu Su， “Save me please.” He asked Lu Su to lend him 20boats， each lined with straw-made scarecrows and manned by 30 soldiers. He requested that Lu Su not tell Zhou Yu what was happening.
When Lu Su came again to see Zhuge Liang， he did not find anything unusual. Nothing happened on the second day either. In the small hours of the third day， Zhuge Liang invited Lu Su for a boat ride. The 20 boats were tied together with strong ropes. Zhuge's fleet sailed toward the camp of Cao Cao. A thick mist had spread over the surface of the river. People could hardly see each other on the river. When Zhuge's fleet got close to the Cao camp before dawn， Zhuge Liang ordered his soldiers to shout and beat drums to fake an attack. Zhuge and Lu Su simply sat inside one of the boats and drank wines to enjoy themselves.
As soon as the Cao camp heard the shouting and drum beating， they mistook it for a surprise attack by the Zhou Yu camp. Since they could see nobody on the river， they gathered 3，000 bow men and ordered them to shoot arrows towards where the shouting and drum beating came. The front of the scarecrows was quickly shot full of arrows. After a while， Zhuge Liang had his fleet turned around to expose the other side of the scarecrows. When this side was also shot full of arrows， the day broke. Zhuge Liang ordered his soldiers to return to their base port. The soldiers shouted， “Thank you， Cao Cao， for your arrows.” After they got back to their camp， they collected more than 100，000 arrows from the scarecrows.
草船借箭
東吳與劉備聯合抗曹，東吳大都督周瑜命諸葛亮十日內製作十萬支箭。諸葛亮說：“ 只擊需三日。”並立下軍令狀。周瑜笑諸葛亮是自取滅亡。周瑜一邊吩咐士兵不給諸葛亮準備製作箭的材料，一面讓謀士魯肅偷偷借給他二十條船，每船三十個軍士，兩邊紮上稻草人，聽候調用。又叮囑魯肅千萬別告訴周瑜。魯肅又來見諸葛亮，第一天不見動靜，第二天也不動。第三天四更時分，諸葛亮密請魯肅到船上。同時，把二十條船用繩索連好，向曹營進發。此時，江上大霧迷漫，對面看不見人。五更時分，船隻接近曹營。諸葛亮讓軍士們在船上擂鼓吶喊，裝作周瑜來偷襲。無奈江上霧大看不清楚，曹操只好調三千弓箭手向船上射箭。待草人身上密密地插滿了箭，天已放亮，諸葛亮下令收船。軍士們高喊着：“謝謝曹丞相的箭。”高高興興地往回走了。回營後，把箭取下，十萬有餘。
