There is absolutely nothing to praise.(一無是處)
At the end of the Ming dynasty in China,
there was a renowned historian. His family were politicians. He was wealthy and
had good taste. His name was Zhang Dai.
He had a good friend named Hu Jiwang. Hu
Jiwang knew how to grow and roast tea. He was an expert in tea-making.
Zhang Dai once wrote a letter to him.
The general content of the first half of
the letter is as follows:
'After the death of the tea-making and
brewing master Min Wenshui in Nanjing, I think the highest technology of
tea-making and brewing has been lost.
I have a good friend named Lu Yungu who
lives in Shaoxing City. Although his tea-making and brewing skills are
expert-level, they have not yet reached mastery.
Perhaps it was too costly and
labour-intensive to transport spring water from the mountains to the city, so
Lu Yungu did not use the finest spring water from Yanghe Mountain to brew tea.
He collected rainwater to brew tea, meaning the fragrance did not last long.
There is another reason why Lu Yungu's tea
is not good enough.
Lu Yungu does not roast the tea leaves
himself. He buys tea leaves from farmers in the mountains near Shaoxing City.
Many of these farmers roast their own tea,
but I think they are not professional enough and their roasting process is too
sloppy.
It's a pity.
Seeing the tea roasted by these farmers is
like asking someone with no cooking skills to prepare a gourmet meal. They
can't find anything worthy of praise in the whole process of cutting vegetables
and cooking.
Every time I see these high-quality tea
leaves being roasted into inferior tea by growers with poor roasting skills, I
can't help but sigh.
This idiom means that there is absolutely
nothing worthy of praise.
It can also be used to describe a person or
thing that has no merits whatsoever.
Dear friends, what thoughts or inspiration
have you gained from listening to this story?
Have you ever drunk the best Chinese tea? What
is the most popular drink in your hometown?
I hope this story brings you new insights.
一無是處(There is absolutely nothing to
praise.)
中國的明王朝末年，有一個著名的史學家，他的家族是政治世家，他很有錢也很有品味。他的名字叫做(張岱)。
他有一個名字叫做(胡季望)的好朋友，胡季望種茶也會烘培茶，胡季望是一個製茶的專家。
張岱曾經寫過一封信給胡季望。
這封信的上半段的大概內容如下。
南京那一位名字叫做(閔汶水)的製茶與泡茶大師逝世後，我認為關於製茶與泡茶的真正最高技術已經失傳了。
我有一個好朋友名字叫做(魯雲谷)，他住在紹興市，他的製茶與泡茶技術雖然已經是專家的境界，但是還不到大師的程度。
可能是因為把山上的泉水運到他所住的城市需要花費太多的金錢與心力，所以魯雲谷泡茶的時候沒有用最高級的陽和山的泉水，他蒐集雨水來泡茶，所以他泡的茶所散發出來的香氣不能持久。
另外還有一個原因導致魯雲谷泡的茶不夠好。
魯雲谷不會自己烘培茶葉，他的茶都是跟紹興市附近的山上的茶農買的。
很多住在紹興市附近的山上種茶的茶農們，他們自已烘培自己所種的茶，但我認為這些農夫們中，大部分都不夠專業，他們烘培茶的過程太過草率。
我覺得好可惜啊。
看到這些茶農們烘培出來的茶，總會讓我有一種感覺，這種感覺就好像是讓一個完全不懂廚藝的人去料理極其高級的食材，這個完全不懂廚藝的人不管是切菜與烹調的所有過程中，完全找不到任何一點值得稱讚之處。
我每次看到這些上等的茶葉被這些烘培技術很差的茶農們烘培成很差的茶，我就會忍不住嘆氣。
這句成語直接翻譯的意思是完全找不到任何一點值得稱讚之處。
這句成語也可以用來形容一個人或一件事情完全沒有任何的優點。
親愛的朋友，你聽完這個故事有怎樣的啟發或有怎樣的想法呢。
你喝過上好的中國茶嗎?你的家鄉中最風行的飲料是什麼呢?
我期待這故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為明-張岱-與胡季望