thief

　　梁上君子

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

　　在東漢初年，有個人叫陳寔。

　　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，一個小賊溜進了他的房間，躲在房梁上等著陳寔去睡覺再下手。

　　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."

　　陳寔發現了小偷，把他的家人都召集在一起，說：“人不可以不自強。人不是天生就壞的，壞習慣往往是由不注意自身品性修養所致的。咱家房梁上這個人就是這樣。”

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

　　小偷聽到這話，從房梁上跳到地上，跪在陳寔面前，請求原諒，決心做個有用的人。

　　This idiom is used to refer to a thief.

　　這個成語用來比喻小偷。

　　【文化鏈接】

　　英文中“梁上君子(小偷)”的說法有很多，我們一起來看一看吧~

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

　　shoplifter：a thief who steals goods that are in a store(也就是“商店扒手”的意思，特定指一些裝成顧客在商店里行竊的小偷)

　　pilferer / sneak thief / snitcher：a thief who steals without using violence (這三個是指“小偷小摸、順手牽羊、不使用暴力”的行竊者，比如“偷報紙的人”就可說成“the paper pilferer”)

　　pickpocket：a thief who steals from the pockets or purses of others in public places(這個單詞很好記，就是“專門看準別人的錢包進行行竊的小偷”)

　　prowler：someone who prowls or sneaks about; usually with unlawful intentions(多指那種有一點賊頭賊腦，徘徊不定的可疑人物)

　　burglar：a thief who enters a building with intent to steal(主要指“入室行竊的夜賊”，也就是夜間入屋行竊的小偷)

　　cat-burglar：這個單詞很有意思，是專門用來形容“飛賊、動作迅速的小偷”的。