English Original
A man from the state of Chu was selling a spear and a shield in the marketplace. To attract buyers, he first held up his shield and boasted loudly, "My shield is so strong that nothing in the world can pierce it!"
Then, he raised his spear and bragged, "And my spear is so sharp that it can pierce through anything!"
A bystander, hearing this, asked him, "If what you say is true, what would happen if you used your spear to strike your own shield?"
The seller was left speechless, unable to answer. He could only gather his weapons and leave.
This story gave rise to the Chinese idiom "zì xiāng máo dùn" (自相矛盾), which means "to contradict oneself" or "to be self-contradictory."
中文翻译
楚国有个在集市上卖矛和盾的人。为了招揽顾客，他先举起自己的盾牌，大声夸耀道：“我的盾坚固无比，世上任何东西都无法刺穿它！”
接着，他又举起自己的长矛，吹嘘说：“而我的矛锋利异常，能刺穿任何东西！”
一位旁观者听后，问他：“如果照你所说，那么用你的矛去刺你的盾，结果会怎样呢？”
卖兵器的人顿时哑口无言，无法回答，只好收拾起他的矛和盾离开了。
这个故事衍生出了成语“自相矛盾”，用来比喻说话、做事前后抵触，不一致。