巧夺天工
夺：胜过。人工的精巧胜过天然。形容技艺十分巧妙。
东汉末年，上蔡县令甄逸有个小女儿，长得非常漂亮，受到全家宠爱。一天，有个相面先生来到甄家，说是能未卜先知，算出一生凶吉。甄夫人非常相信，请他逐一为自己儿女看相算命。
相面先生见到漂亮的甄姑娘后，大吃一惊，说她的面相贵不可言，将来必定是一位贵夫人。甄夫人听了高兴极了，从此留心给甄姑娘找一个权势的夫家。
当时，出身于四世三公的大官僚家庭的袁绍，担任冀州牧。他第二个儿子袁熙还未成亲。
于是甄家托人去说亲。袁熙听说甄姑娘美丽无比，而且是官宦人家出身，请求父亲派人去提亲。这样，甄姑娘便嫁到了袁家。
后来，袁绍在与各地方势力的混战中取胜，握有四州之地，他三个儿子也各领一州。但好景不长，公元200年，他在官渡为曹操大败，不久病死；甄姑娘的丈夫袁熙，不久也被杀死。
当时，袁绍的夫人刘氏和甄姑娘一起住在邺城。曹操的儿子曹丕攻破邺城后进入袁府，见到甄姑娘后，被她的美貌惊呆了。他当即要她理一下披散的头发，并递过手巾去让她擦脸。曹丕走时，留下一队卫兵保护袁府，不准外人闯入。
刘氏目睹曹丕的举动，心里暗暗高兴。曹丕走后，她对甄姑娘说，这一下咱们娘儿俩的性命保住了。果然，不久曹丕禀明曹操，派人将甄姑娘接到自己府里，并与她成了亲。
曹丕对甄夫人宠爱无比，百依百顺。后来曹丕代汉称帝，建立了魏国，甄夫人被立为皇后。当时她已40岁，为了使曹丕长久宠幸自己，每天早晨都要花许多时间打扮。
据说在她宫室前的庭院中，有一条长得非常美丽的绿色的蛇，它嘴里时常含一颗红珠。每当甄皇后梳妆打扮的时候，它就在她面前盘成奇巧的形状。甄皇后后来注意到，这蛇每天盘一个形状，从不重复。于是，她就模仿它的形状梳头。
时间久了，甄皇后的头发虽然是用人工梳成的，但它的精致巧妙胜过了天然的。当然，她每天的头发形状也是不同的，后宫的人都称它为“灵蛇髻”。曹丕见了后，觉得她仍然非常年轻漂亮，还是对她十分宠爱。 这便是成语“巧夺天工”的由来。它常用来比喻技艺高超巧妙。
Superb craftsmanship
Today we are going to introduce you a new phrase: qiao duo tian gong, which literally means a piece of work so skillful that it beats nature. There’s a wonderful story behind it.
In the later years of the Eastern Han Dynasty over one thousand and eight hundred years ago, there lived a county magistrate named Zhen Yi. His youngest daughter was very beautiful. Once a fortune-tell came to Zhens When he saw the beautiful girl, he was taken by surprise by her beauty. He told her parents that the girl had a noble fate and a very promising future. Hearing that girl’s parents were careful for choosing her a husband. Eventually, Miss Zhen was married to a very powerful person Yuan Shao’s second son. But chaos occurred during that period of Chinese history. Only a few years later, Yuan Shao died of illness and Miss Zhen’s husband was killed in conflict, leaving Miss Zhen and her mother-in-law staying lonely in the big house.
When the enemy’s army took over Yuan’s house, the two women were brought to Cao Pi, the leader of the battle. As soon as Cao Pi’s eyes fell on Miss Zhen he was enchanted by her breath-taking beauty. He asked her to comb her hair and handed her a towel in person. Before he left, he ordered his soldier to guard Yuan’s house and not to allow anybody to interrupt the family. Seeing this Miss Zhen’s mother-in-law was very happy. She told her daughter-in-law that their lives could be saved. Things turned out really as she expected. Cao Pi soon married Miss Zhen and she became his favorite wife.
Time moved on into the Three Kingdom Period and Cao Pi became the king of the state of Wei. Miss Zhen was crowned the queen. At that time she was already 40 years old. To make sure her status in the eyes of the king, she spent a long time dressing up and making up everyday. The story goes that in the yard of her palace there was a beautiful green snake whose mouth often held a red pearl. Whenever Miss Zhen was dressing up, it curled into various shapes. The queen later noticed that the shapes shown by the snake were different each time. there was no repetition at all. So she started imitating the shape of the snake when she made a bun out of her hair. By and by, she became so skillful in doing her hair that people in the palace called the shapes of her hair a goblin snake coil. The king was also very fond of her hair-style. So for a long time Miss Zhen remained in the favor of the king. But as time went by, Miss Zhen eventually lost the king’s favor and she often complained for that. Finally, the king was irritated and ordered Miss Zhen to kill herself. Miss Zhen died lonely. It’s a very sad ending, isn’t it?
Fortunately, Miss Zhen’s superb way of doing her hair left us a wonderful phrase: qiao duo tian gong, works of surpass nature or working skill beats the work of nature. Now the idiom is often used to describe superb craftsmanship.
(Source:english.cri.cn)
