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.

楚國有個賣兵器的人，在市場上賣矛和盾。

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，我的盾是世上最堅固的盾，任何鋒利的東西都不能刺穿它。”

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：“你們再看看我的矛，它鋒利無比，無堅不摧，無論多么堅硬的盾，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.

這世界上一樣無堅不摧的東西永遠不會與一樣什么都能摧毀的東西共存。

“自相矛盾”的英文表達，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例子~

1. In the military it‘s， “Hurry up and wait.”(在軍隊里，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間之前就到達了目的地，但自己知道到達之后也要一直等到指定的時間。“hurry up(迅速)” 和“wait(等待)”是含有一定相對意義的詞，所以就在這么簡短的一句話中，就做到了自相矛盾~這句話也被廣泛應用在各個場所、各個領域)

2.Yes， I can’t.(這句有很簡短啊，同時還達到效果了~“yes(是的)”和“can‘t(不能、不會)”形成了自相矛盾的效果)