In the Warring States Period (zhàn guó 战国), there was a man in the State of Wei (wèi guó 魏国) called Geng Lei. One day he said to the king: 'I can shoot down birds by simply plucking my bowstring.' When the king expressed doubt, Geng Lei pointed his bow at a wild goose flying in the sky, twanged the bowstring, and the goose fell to the ground. Geng Lei said, 'This goose has been hurt in the past. Hearing the twang of the bowstring, it assumed that it was doomed. So it simply gave up trying to live.'This idiom means that if one has been frightened in the past ones will may become paralyzed in a similar situation.
惊弓之鸟 (jīng gōng zhī niǎo)
【翻译】 1.A bird startled by the mere twang of a bow-string.
2.A badly frightened person; a panic-stricken person.
【释义】被弓箭吓怕了的鸟不容易安定。比喻经过惊吓的人碰到一点动静就非常害怕。
【例句】坏人们总害怕警察来抓他们,只要一听到枪声他们就如惊弓之鸟四处逃窜.
【近义词】 伤弓之鸟、漏网之鱼
【反义词】 初生牛犊