才高八斗 (Cái gāo bā dǒu)
Explanation: This is a metaphor for [someone] being extremely talented.
Source: Southern Song – Anonymous author, in “釋常談·八斗之才 (Shichang Tan – Ba Dou Zhi Cai)”: A great literati, to the tune of eight-dǒu talent. Xie Lingyun said: “The world has one ‘dàn’, Cao Zijian alone had taken eight dǒu, I myself have one dǒu, and the rest has the remaining dǒu.”
[Note: One dàn (石) is a dry measure of grain equal to ten dǒu’s (斗)]
Story: Southern Song had Xie Lingyun, who was a famous landscape poet in ancient China. His poems largely portrayed Guiji (會稽), Yongjia (永嘉), Lushan (廬山) and other scenic locations. He was talented at depicting the natural scenery and founded a school of landscape poetry in the history of literature.
The artistic nature of his poems was well displayed, with particular attention to formal beauty and well received by the literati. As soon as his poems came out, men were vying to copy them and they were circulated widely. Emperor Wen of Song thought greatly of his literary talents, and specially recalled him back to the capital to assume a new position; he called his poetry and calligraphy the “Two Treasures”, and often sat next to him at banquets while he composed poems and essays.
Xie Lingyun, who had always considered himself to be extraordinary, became even more arrogant after receiving this deferential treatment. Once, while drinking, he boasted: “From the Wei and Jin Dynasties until now, the world’s literary talents together amount to one ‘dàn’ (a measuring unit, where one 石 ‘dàn’ is equivalent to ten 斗 dǒu’s), of which Cao Zijian (that is, Cao Zhi) alone has eight dǒu’s, I myself have one dǒu, and the rest of the world has the remaining dǒu.”
[Note: the original source where I translated this piece ended here. But one can gleam from this that even for someone as talented as Xie Lingyun, he considered Cao Zhi to be far more talented than he was.]
—– VOCABULARY —–
嚐 cháng – to taste; to experience [[thường: nếm]]
謂 wèi – to speak; to say; to name; to designate; meaning; sense [[vị: bảo, báo cho biết, nói với; bình luận, nói về; nói; gọi là, cho rằng; cho là; là; nhẫn chịu; khiến, để cho; với, và]]
占 zhàn – to take possession of; to occupy; to take up [[chiếm: tự tiện lấy của người; truyền miệng; chiêm: bói, nhìn điềm triệu để đoán tốt xấu]]
稽 jī – to inspect; to check [[kê: khảo sát, tra cứu, xem xét; cãi cọ, tranh chấp; trì hoãn, ngưng trệ, kéo dài; bói, bốc vấn; chuẩn tắc, khuôn mẫu]]
廬 lú – hut [[lư: căn nhà đơn sơ, giản lậu]]
盧 lú – (old) rice vessel; black; fussy [[lô: đen; chén đựng cơm; trò chơi đánh bạc, gieo được năm quân màu đen là thắng; chó tốt, chó săn]]
善於 shàn yú – to be good at; to be adept at
劃 huá – to cut; to slash; to scratch (cut into the surface of sth); to strike (a match) [[hoạch: rạch, vạch (bằng dao hoặc vật sắc nhọn); phân chia, quy định, phân giới; mưu tính, thiết kế, trù liệu]]
劃 huà – to plan; to draw (a line); to delimit; to transfer; to assign
藝 yì – skill; art [[nghệ: nghề, tài năng, kĩ thuật; văn chương; hạn độ, giới hạn; trồng]]
尤其 yóu qí – especially; particularly [[nhất là, đặc biệt là]]
形式 xíng shì – outer appearance; form; shape; formality [[hình thức, hình thái, dạng]]
雅士 yǎ shì – elegant scholar
競相 jìng xiāng – competitive; eagerly; to vie
競 jìng – to compete; to contend; to struggle [[cạnh: tranh luận; tranh đua; lòng muốn tranh mạnh cầu thắng; mạnh, cường thịnh]]
特地 tè dì – specially; for a special purpose
侍 shì – to serve; to attend upon [[thị: trông nom, săn sóc, dưỡng; hầu hạ, phục dịch; người hầu]]
一直 yī zhí – straight (in a straight line); continuously; always; from the beginning of … up to …; all along
自命 zì mìng – to consider oneself to be (sth positive)
不凡 bù fán – out of the ordinary; out of the common run [[khác thường, hơn người]]
凡 fán – ordinary; commonplace; mundane; temporal; of the material world (as opposed to supernatural or immortal levels); every; all; whatever; altogether; gist; outline [[phàm: nói chung, đại khái, hễ; gồm, tổng cộng, hết thảy; hèn, tầm thường, bình thường; thuộc về trần gian, thế tục; cõi phàm, khác nơi tiên cảnh]]
禮遇 lǐ yù – courtesy; deferential treatment; polite reception
狂妄 kuáng wàng – egotistical; arrogant; brassy
妄 wàng – absurd; fantastic; presumptuous; rash [[vọng: xằng, càn, tùy tiện; bất chính, không ngay thẳng; sai, không đúng sự thật; tự cao tự đại, ngạo mạn]]
自誇 zì kuā – to boast
誇 kuā – to boast; to exaggerate; to praise [[khoa: khoe khoang; khen ngợi; to, thô]]
共有 gòng yǒu – to have altogether; in all
其中 qí zhōng – among, in, included among these [[ở trong, ở giữa]]