买椟还珠
Mǎidú-huánzhū  

        春秋时期，有一个楚国的珠宝商人在郑国做珍珠生意。为了让生意红火，他选用名贵的木料，做成小木匣，并用香料、珠宝等把木匣装饰得非常漂亮，然后把珍珠放在里面售卖。
        有一个郑国人，看见这些装珍珠的木匣既精致又美观，就买了一个。他付完钱后，打开木匣，把里面的珍珠拿了出来，退还给珠宝商，只拿着木匣就离开了。

Keeping the glittering casket and giving back the pearls to the seller

In the period of Spring and Autumn, a jewelrydealer from Chu state was trading pearls in Zheng state. To make his pearls more popular, he put them in small caskets made of precious wood and luxuriously decorated these caskets with perfume and gem stones.

A person was very fond of these exquisite and beautiful caskets and bought one. After paying the money, he opened the casket, took the pearl out and gave it back to the dealer. He then left with the casket only.

词语注释：

珠宝：(zhū bǎo)n.: jewelry

做生意：(zuò shēngyi): do business

名贵：(míngguì)adj.: precious

木匣：(mùxiá)n.: wooden casket

装饰：(zhuāngshì)v.: decorate

精致：(jīngzhì)adj.: exquisite

退还：(tuìhái)v.: give back

意义：

买椟还珠：椟dú: casket of wood;珠zhū: pearl. Keeping the casket and giving back the pearl is an analogy meaning a lack of judgment and making the wrong decisions. It also refers to people who attach more importance to the appearance than the inner beauty or the quality.

例句：

• dealer [´di:lə]   n.商人   (初中英语单词)
• perfume [´pə:fju:m, pə´fju:m]   n.香味 vt.使发香   (初中英语单词)
• wooden [´wudn]   a.木制的；呆板的   (初中英语单词)
• attach [ə´tætʃ]   v.附；使隶属；使依恋   (初中英语单词)
• jewelry [´dʒu:əlri]   n.珠宝(饰物)   (高中英语单词)
• exquisite [ik´skwizit]   a.精巧的；敏锐的   (高中英语单词)
• casket [´kɑ:skit]   n.(精美)匣子；首饰盒   (英语四级单词)
• analogy [ə´nælədʒi]   n.类似；类推；比拟   (英语六级单词)