call black white (and white black)

指鹿為馬

In Qin dynasty， there was a powerful and evil counselor named Zhao Gao.

在秦朝，有個很得勢的奸臣叫趙高。

Zhao Gao wanted to rebel， but he didn‘t know how many people in the court would stand by his side.

趙高想造反，但是又不知道群臣中有多少人會支持他。

So he worked out a way to test the people.

于是他想了個辦法來測試。

He presented a deer as a tribute to the emperor in front of the court， and said that it was a swift horse.

他在群臣面前送了一頭鹿給皇上，并說這是一匹千里馬。

The emperor not accepting his statement said， “This is obviously a deer.”

皇上不信，說“這明明是鹿啊。”

Then， Zhao Gao took this opportunity to ask the court， “Is this a deer or a horse?”

然后趙高借機問各位大臣，“這是鹿還是馬?”

In the court， those who didn’t dare to go against Zhao Gao agreed with him and said that it was a horse， those who dared to go against Zhao Gao said that it was a deer.

在大臣中，不敢反抗趙高的都贊同說是馬，敢于反對趙高的說是鹿。

Later， Zhao Gao remembered the counselors who didn‘t agree with him and persecuted them to solidify his power.

后來，趙高記住了這些反對他的人并加以迫害，以鞏固自己的勢力。

This story is still popular even today. People use this idiom to describe someone who calls white black.

這個故事流傳至今，人們用這個成語來形容一個人顛倒黑白。

英語中表達“指鹿為馬”意思的短語可以用“call black white (and white black)”，意思也就是“把黑的當白的，把白的當作黑的”，這樣也就是顛倒是非啦~