call black white (and white black)

指鹿为马

In Qin dynasty， there was a powerful and evil counselor named Zhao Gao.

在秦朝，有个很得势的奸臣叫赵高。

Zhao Gao wanted to rebel， but he didn‘t know how many people in the court would stand by his side.

赵高想造反，但是又不知道群臣中有多少人会支持他。

So he worked out a way to test the people.

于是他想了个办法来测试。

He presented a deer as a tribute to the emperor in front of the court， and said that it was a swift horse.

他在群臣面前送了一头鹿给皇上，并说这是一匹千里马。

The emperor not accepting his statement said， “This is obviously a deer.”

皇上不信，说“这明明是鹿啊。”

Then， Zhao Gao took this opportunity to ask the court， “Is this a deer or a horse?”

然后赵高借机问各位大臣，“这是鹿还是马?”

In the court， those who didn’t dare to go against Zhao Gao agreed with him and said that it was a horse， those who dared to go against Zhao Gao said that it was a deer.

在大臣中，不敢反抗赵高的都赞同说是马，敢于反对赵高的说是鹿。

Later， Zhao Gao remembered the counselors who didn‘t agree with him and persecuted them to solidify his power.

后来，赵高记住了这些反对他的人并加以迫害，以巩固自己的势力。

This story is still popular even today. People use this idiom to describe someone who calls white black.

这个故事流传至今，人们用这个成语来形容一个人颠倒黑白。

英语中表达“指鹿为马”意思的短语可以用“call black white (and white black)”，意思也就是“把黑的当白的，把白的当作黑的”，这样也就是颠倒是非啦~