鹬蚌相争

鹬蚌相争

一只河蚌张开蚌壳，在河滩上晒太阳。有只鹬(yù)鸟，从河蚌身边走过，就伸嘴去啄河蚌的肉。河蚌急忙把两片壳合上，把鹬嘴紧紧地钳住。鹬鸟用尽力气，怎么也拔不出嘴来。蚌也脱不了身，不能回河里去了。河蚌和鹬鸟就争吵起来。鹬鸟说：“一天、两天不下雨，没有了水，回不了河，你总是要死的!”河蚌也说：“假如我不放你，一天、两天之后，你的嘴拔不出去，你也别想活，总要饿死!”河蚌和鹬鸟吵个不停，谁也不让谁。这时，恰好有个打鱼的人从那里走过，就把它们两个一起捉去了。现在用来比喻双方相持不下，结果两败俱伤，让第三者得利。

A Snipe and a Clam Locked in Combat

One day a clam opened its shell to sunbathe on a beach. Suddenly a snipe stuck its beak in the clam. The latter closed its shell immediately, and trapped the snipe’s beak. The clam refused to open its shell, and the snipe refused to remove its beak. Neither of them would concede defeat. Finally, a fisherman came along and caught both of them.This idiom means that if two sides contend, it is a third party that benefits.