东窗事发

The affair of the east window is exposed./The cat is out of the bag.

东窗事发

During the final years of the Song dynasty (sòng cháo 宋朝), China was invaded by Jin (jīn金) people from the north.

宋朝末年，北方的金人来侵犯。

General Yue Fei led the army in resistance, and defeated the enemy.

将军岳飞率领军队勇敢抵抗，终于把敌人打败。

Just as he was about to take advantage of his victory and attack the Jin army, he received word that the emperor had ordered him to return.

正想乘胜追击敌人的时候，忽然皇帝下了十二道金牌，命令岳飞和军队立刻回去。

As it turned out, this was actually a plot of Chin Hui, a Sung dynasty official who wasconspiring with the enemy.In order to frame Yue Fei, Chin Hui had tricked him into returning early.

原来这是私通敌人的太师秦桧的诡计，假冒皇帝的意思来陷害岳飞。

Chin Hui had thought this plot up together with his wife, under the east window of their house.

秦桧的这些诡计，都是他和妻子王氏在家里的东窗下秘密商量出来的。

Sometime later, Chin Hui and his son Chin Shi died, one right after the other. Chin Hui's wife hired someone who could communicate with ghosts and spirits to come and find out how her husband and son were doing after death.

后来秦桧和他的儿子秦僖相继死亡，王氏请了几个研究神鬼灵魂的人来，想知道他们父子死后的情形。

After he had finished, the man said to her, "I first went to see your son, who told me that your husband was in the city of Feng-du. So I went there and found him doing hard labor, wearing iron cangue. He asked me to tell you that the thing which you two discussed under the east window has already been exposed."

来的人在做法以后告诉王氏说：“我先见到了公子秦僖，他告 诉我秦太师在酆都城，我到了酆都城，看见太师正戴着铁枷做苦工呢。他让我转告你，你们在东窗下商量的那件事已经被揭发了。”

Now, when a wrong-doing is brought to light, it may be said that "the affair of the east window has been exposed."

现在当一件丑事被曝光之后，就可以说是：“东窗事发”了。

【中外差异】

A secret is like a cat that has been kept in a bag. Once you let the cat out of the bag, it goes wherever it wants.

英语中的与“东窗事发”意义相近的是“the cat is out of the bag”,就是“猫从袋子里走出来了”，可以把猫想象成“秘密”，把不为人知的秘密藏在袋子里，猫一旦从袋子中走出，秘密也就随之公开了，也就是“东窗事发”。