【覆水難收 】What's done is done.

 

【覆水難收】YT

Jiang Taigong(姜太公), whose real name was Jiang Shang, lived during the Zhou Dynasty.

 

He was a man of great learning and military strategy, but his talents went unrecognized, and he lived in poverty.

 

His wife, Lady Ma, seeing his advanced age and lack of achievement, left him.

One day, Jiang Shang met King Wen of Zhou, who was out hunting, by the Wei River.

 

The two had a pleasant conversation, and King Wen (文王) greatly admired him, wanting him to assist in the great cause of unifying the world.

 

At that time, Jiang Shang was already an eighty-year-old man.

Later, Jiang Shang indeed helped King Wu, the son of King Wen, to overthrow the Shang Dynasty, making great contributions and receiving the land of Qi as his fief (封地/齊國).

 

After Jiang Shang became prominent, his ex-wife, Lady Ma, begged for reconciliation.

 

Jiang Shang refused to forgive her, so he took a pot of water and poured it on the ground,

 

asking Lady Ma to put the water back into the pot, saying, "If you could reconcile with me after leaving like that,

then the water poured on the ground can surely be put back into the pot!"

But the water on the ground could not be put back in, and Lady Ma had no choice but to give up.

Later, this story was condensed into "spilled water cannot be gathered up again," which is used to describe how it is difficult for divorced couples to reconcile, or how a fait accompli is difficult to change.

Q1, poverty 

  

     ➊富有  ➋貧窮  ➌小康

Q2, a pot of water

      ➊壺  ➋罐  ➌以上皆是

Q3, on the ground

 

       ➊天上  ➋海上  ➌地上

Q4, the land of Qi

       ➊吳  ➋楚  ➌齊

Q5, give up 

      ➊努力  ➋放棄  ➌成功

Q6, spilled water 

      ➊覆水  ➋清水  ➌河水

【姜太公】

姜太公本名姜尚，周朝時人，富才學且通兵法，但懷才不遇，生活窮困。妻子馬氏見他年紀大又沒有成就，於是棄他而去。

 

有一天，姜尚在渭水旁巧遇出外狩獵的周文王，兩人相談甚歡，文王極為賞識他，要他協助一統天下的大業，那時姜尚已是八十歲的高齡老翁了。

 

後來，姜尚果然幫助文王之子武王滅了商紂，立下大功，得到齊地作為封邑。

 

姜尚顯貴之後，前妻馬氏請求復合，姜尚不肯原諒她，便取一壺水傾倒在地，要馬氏把水收回壺中，並說：「如果當初妳那樣的離開，今日都還能復合，那麼倒在地上的水，就一定能再收回壺裡！」

 

但地上的水根本無法收回，馬氏也只好死了這條心。

 

後來這個故事被濃縮成「覆水難收」，用來比喻離異的夫妻很難再復合，或既定的事實很難再改變。