语言是人类最重要的思维和交流工具,学习和掌握外语逐渐成为国民必备的素质之一。而英语作为全球使用面最广的一门语言,具有更重要的意义。小编精心收集了英语成语故事短文，供大家欣赏学习!

英语成语故事短文：熟能生巧Practice makes perfect

During the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a very skilled archer. One day while he was doing drills on the field, a big crowd drew around him. The onlookers cheered with excitement each time he made an accurate shot. He was very proud of his skill, but his pride was hurt when he saw that an old oil peddler standing in the crowd was only nodding his head indifferently.

"Can you do this?" he asked the old oil peddler.

"No, I can't."

"What do you think of my skill?"

"It's OK, but nothing special. You've gained your accuracy from persistent practice. That's all."

"What can you do, then?"

The old man said nothing. He put a gourd bottle on the ground and covered its mouth with a copper coin. He then scooped out a ladle of oil from his big jar, held it high in the air and began to pour it into the gourd. A thread of oil came down from the ladle into the bottle, just through the hole of the coin. Everyone in the crowd watched with amazement. The old man said, "This is nothing special. I can do this because I have practiced it a lot." With these words, he left.

Later, people used the phrase, "shú néng shēng qiăo" to mean, "practice makes perfect."

北宋时期，有个技艺高超的射手。一天，他在训练场上练习射箭，引来了一大群人观看。大家都称赞他的技艺，他也很得意。但是，人群中有个卖油翁只是淡淡地点点头，这使他很不高兴。

他就问那老头：“你会射箭吗?”

“不会。”

“你认为我的技术如何?”

“一般。没什么特别的，你只不过反复练习，所以手法熟练罢了，仅此而已。”

“你会干什么?”

这个老头没有回答。他把一个葫芦放在地上，在葫芦口上放了一枚铜钱，然后从大油壶里舀起一勺油，从高处往葫芦里倒。只见那油就像线一样从铜钱中间的小洞里滴下去，一滴都没有漏出来。围观者都惊呆了，而这个卖油翁却说：“其实没什么大不了的，只不过是天天练的结果。”说完，他就离开了。

后来，人们用这个成语来表示熟练了就能做得好。

英语成语故事短文：滥竽充数

Be there just to make up the number

During the Warring States Period (475-221BC), the King of the State of Qi was very fond of listening to yu ensembles. He often got together 300 yu players to form a grand music. The king treated his musician very well. A man named Nanguo heard about that and he managed to become a member of the band, even though he wan not good at playing the instrument at all. Whenever the band played for the king, Nanguo just stood in the line and pretended to play. Nobody realized he was making no sound at all. As a result, he enjoyed his treatment just as the other musician did. When the king died, his son became the new ruler who also liked the music played on the yu. However, he preferred solos so that he ordered the musicians to play the yu one by one. Therefore, Nanguo had to run out of the palace.

the idiom "Be there just to make up the number" is used to mock someone who passes for a specialist. You can also hear people saying it about themselves to show their modesty.

滥竽充数

战国时，齐宣王喜欢听竽，通常是三百人的大合奏。因为他给予乐师非常优厚的待遇，所以一个叫南郭的人尽管并不擅长吹竽，也设法混进乐队。当乐队演奏时，他就站在队伍里假装也在吹。没有人注意到其实他连一点声音也没吹出来，所以南郭也享受到和其他乐师一样的待遇。宣王死后，他的儿子继承了王位。他也喜欢听竽，可是他喜欢听独奏，让乐师一个个吹给他听，于是南郭不得不逃跑了。

"滥竽充数"这个成语用来嘲笑那些没有真正才干，混在行家里的人。 人们有时也用"滥竽充数"来表示自谦。

英语成语故事短文：画蛇添足

One day, a man was going to have a drink, He wanted to have a drink with his friends. He took out a bottle of wine, “Let’s draw a snake, the person who finishes first can drink first.” “OK.”

After some time, the man finished drawing his snake. He looked around, everyone was still drawing. He thought he could add some feet to the snake. He began to draw them. Just then, one of his friends finished drawing his snake too,” I finished drawing my snake, so, I can drink first,

He picked up the bottle.

“Excuse me, I think I’m first.”

“What are doing now?” his friend asked him.

“I’m adding feet to my snake.”

“No, you are wrong. Snakes have no feet at all. Look at mine please, my snake is different from something with feet.” The friend asked the other men, “Whose snake is more life-like?”

“Yours.”

“So, I’m first, I can drink first. Ha! Ha! Ha!”

一个人想喝酒。他想和朋友一块儿喝酒。于是，他拿出一瓶酒说：“我们来画蛇，谁先画好，谁就先喝。”“好。”

过了一会儿，这个人就画好了一条蛇。他向四处看看，大家都还在画。他想给蛇添一些脚。于是他开始给蛇画脚。就在这个时候，有一个朋友也画好了。这个朋友说：“我第一个画好，所以，我可以先喝。”他拿起了酒瓶。

“对不起，我认为我是第一。”

“那现在你在做什么?”他的朋友问。

“我在给蛇添上脚呀。”

“不，你错了。蛇是没有脚的。请看看我画的蛇，我画的蛇和带脚的东西不一样。”他问其他朋友，“谁画的蛇最像?”

“你的。”

“所以，我是第一，我可以先喝酒。哈哈哈!”