thief

梁上君子

In the Eastern Han Dynasty (东汉)， there was a man named Chen Shi (陈寔) .

在东汉初年，有个人叫陈寔。

One day， a thief slipped into his living-room. Hiding behind the beam， the thief waited for Chen Shi to fall asleep.

有一天，一个小贼溜进了他的房间，躲在房梁上等着陈寔去睡觉再下手。

Chen Shi， finding the thief， called his family together， saying， “To be a upright man one must have aspirations. Men are not born evil. But if one gets used to doing evil things， it will be hard to reform. The gentleman above the beam is such a man.”

陈寔发现了小偷，把他的家人都召集在一起，说：“人不可以不自强。人不是天生就坏的，坏习惯往往是由不注意自身品性修养所致的。咱家房梁上这个人就是这样。”

The thief， hearing this， hurriedly jumped down and knelt on the ground to beg forgiveness.

小偷听到这话，从房梁上跳到地上，跪在陈寔面前，请求原谅，决心做个有用的人。

This idiom is used to refer to a thief.

这个成语用来比喻小偷。

英文中“梁上君子(小偷)”的说法有很多，我们一起来看一看吧~

thief / stealer：a criminal who takes property belonging to someone else with the intention of keeping it or selling(“小偷”最普遍的说法)

shoplifter：a thief who steals goods that are in a store(也就是“商店扒手”的意思，特定指一些装成顾客在商店里行窃的小偷)

pilferer / sneak thief / snitcher：a thief who steals without using violence (这三个是指“小偷小摸、顺手牵羊、不使用暴力”的行窃者，比如“偷报纸的人”就可说成“the paper pilferer”)

pickpocket：a thief who steals from the pockets or purses of others in public places(这个单词很好记，就是“专门看准别人的钱包进行行窃的小偷”)

prowler：someone who prowls or sneaks about; usually with unlawful intentions(多指那种有一点贼头贼脑，徘徊不定的可疑人物)

burglar：a thief who enters a building with intent to steal(主要指“入室行窃的夜贼”，也就是夜间入屋行窃的小偷)

cat-burglar：这个单词很有意思，是专门用来形容“飞贼、动作迅速的小偷”的。