【成語來源】?

to?contradict?oneself
自相矛盾

A man of the state of Chu (chǔ guó 楚國) had a spear and a shield for sale.?
楚國有個(gè)賣兵器的人，在市場(chǎng)上賣矛和盾。

He was loud in praises of his shield."My shield is so strong that nothing can pierce it through."
為了讓人家愿意買他的貨，他先舉起盾向人們夸口道：“你們看，我的盾是世上最堅(jiān)固的盾，任何鋒利的東西都不能刺穿它?！?/div>

He also sang praises of his spear."My spear is so strong that it can pierce through anything."
接著又舉起他的矛，向人吹噓說：“你們?cè)倏纯次业拿?，它鋒利無比，無堅(jiān)不摧，無論多么堅(jiān)硬的盾，都擋不住它，一刺就穿！”

"What would happen," he was asked, "if your spear is used to pierce your shield?"
人群中有人問道：“如果用你的矛去刺你的盾，結(jié)果怎么樣？”

It is impossible for an impenetrable shield to coexist with a spear that finds nothing impenetrable.
這世界上一樣無堅(jiān)不摧的東西永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)與一樣什么都能摧毀的東西共存。

【文化鏈接】

“自相矛盾”的英文表達(dá)，常用“to contradict oneself”，比如：“你自相矛盾了”就可以說：“You're contradicting yourself.”或者“You've contradicted yourself.”

曾經(jīng)有一個(gè)英文帖子就討論過“Can you contradict yourself in one sentence? ”（你能在一句話里面做到自相矛盾嗎？），答案千奇百怪，這里就給大家看兩個(gè)例子~

1.?In the military it's, "Hurry up and wait."（在軍隊(duì)里，有一種說法叫做“Hurry up and wait. ”，英語解釋是：“The concept of making every effort to arrive at a location ahead of the appointed time, with the expectation of having to wait upon arrival. ”也就是說不惜一切力量在指定時(shí)間之前就到達(dá)了目的地，但自己知道到達(dá)之后也要一直等到指定的時(shí)間?！癶urry up（迅速）” 和“wait（等待）”是含有一定相對(duì)意義的詞，所以就在這么簡(jiǎn)短的一句話中，就做到了自相矛盾~這句話也被廣泛應(yīng)用在各個(gè)場(chǎng)所、各個(gè)領(lǐng)域）

2.Yes, I can't.（這句有很簡(jiǎn)短啊，同時(shí)還達(dá)到效果了~“yes（是的）”和“can't（不能、不會(huì)）”形成了自相矛盾的效果）