to contradict oneself

自相矛盾

A man of the state of Chu (chǔ guó 楚國(guó)) had a spear and a shield for sale.

楚國(guó)有個(gè)賣(mài)兵器的人，在市場(chǎng)上賣(mài)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(mǎi)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(jiān)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(shuō)：“你們?cè)倏纯次业拿?，它鋒利無(wú)比，無(wú)堅(jiān)不摧，無(wú)論多么堅(jiān)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(wèn)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(wú)堅(jiān)不摧的東西永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)與一樣什么都能摧毀的東西共存。

“自相矛盾”的英文表達(dá)，常用“to contradict oneself”，比如：“你自相矛盾了”就可以說(shuō)：“You‘re contradicting yourself.”或者“You’ve contradicted yourself.”

曾經(jīng)有一個(gè)英文帖子就討論過(guò)“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(gè)例子~

1. In the military it‘s， “Hurry up and wait.”(在軍隊(duì)里，有一種說(shuō)法叫做“Hurry up and wait. ”，英語(yǔ)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(shuō)不惜一切力量在指定時(shí)間之前就到達(dá)了目的地，但自己知道到達(dá)之后也要一直等到指定的時(shí)間。“hurry up(迅速)” 和“wait(等待)”是含有一定相對(duì)意義的詞，所以就在這么簡(jiǎn)短的一句話中，就做到了自相矛盾~這句話也被廣泛應(yīng)用在各個(gè)場(chǎng)所、各個(gè)領(lǐng)域)

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