【成語來源】?

a drop in the bucket
九牛一毛

Li Ling was a great general during the time of emperor Han Wu-di (hàn wǔ dì漢武帝). He was a very good fighter, and he won every battle.
西漢時代有個很有名的大將軍名叫李陵，他驍勇善戰(zhàn)，百戰(zhàn)百贏。

One time, however, Li Ling's troops were so hopelessly outnumbered by the Huns that although they fought bravely, the whole army was soon taken captive.
有一次，雖然李陵的軍隊奮勇殺敵，因為兵力不足而戰(zhàn)敗投降。

Li Ling shamefully surrendered for the moment, planning to wait for an opportunity to strike back.
李陵打算暫時先忍辱投降，以便伺機等待機會反擊。

But when news of the surrender reached the capital, the emperor's jealous ministers began to degrade Li Ling in front of the emperor.
但當李陵投降的消息傳到首都，皇上身邊嫉妒的大臣們都開始指責(zé)李陵。

What he heard made the emperor so angry that he had Li Ling's wife and mother put to death.
皇上十分氣憤，他將李陵的妻子與母親都賜死了。

Ze-ma Chian, who had always respected Li Ling, believed that he wouldn't surrender without a reason, and urged the emperor not to believe rumors.
司馬遷一直很敬重李陵，他不信李陵會無緣無故投降，便諫言皇上不要聽信謠言。

This time, the emperor grew angry at Sz-ma Chian, and locking him up, punished him severely.
但就因為這樣，皇上便遷怒司馬遷，并將他囚禁，進行嚴懲。

Sz-ma Chian then wrote a long letter to a friend, saying, "I am now in the middle of writing a history book. If I die, it will be as if one ox in a group on nine were to lose a single hair. I am willing to withstand punishment in order to complete this book." Sz-ma Chian finally did finish his book - the very famous Shr-Ji.
司馬遷隨后寫了一封長信給他的朋友，說道：“我現(xiàn)在在寫一部歷史長篇，如果我死了，就如同九牛一毛般微不足道，但我愿意承受住這般的懲罰，來完成這部書。”最終，司馬遷完成了這部名流千古的史學(xué)著作——《史記》。

【文化鏈接】

英文中對應(yīng)的“九牛一毛”的表達方式是“a drop in the bucket”，意思就是“一個水桶里的一滴水”，一個大水桶里的一滴水那就是九牛一毛，少之又少啦~同時也可以翻譯成“滄海一粟”或者是“微不足道”~

下面我們一起來看幾個例句：

（1）"I'm sorry I scratched your car."
“很抱歉，刮花了你的車?！?/div>

"Don't worry about it. It's just a drop in the bucket. That car has more scratches on it than I can count."
別擔(dān)心，小事一樁~這車本來就被刮了很多次了。

（2）When I think how many people there are in the world, I realize that my own problems are just a drop in the bucket.
當我意識到這個世界上的人是何其多，我的個人問題簡直是微不足道。

下面我們來看一句特蕾莎修女的名句：

“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.”?
“我們自己總是會覺得我們的所作所為猶如滄海一粟，但是這一整片大海卻少不了這一粟。”

就因為這一句話，曾有一次公益活動的名字就叫做“We need your drop.”(我們需要你的幫助）

大家可以感受到這其中語言的妙用了吧~