English Original
During the Warring States Period, a man in the State of Chu held a sacrifice to honor his ancestors. After the ceremony, he gave a beaker of wine to his servants. The servants, thinking the wine insufficient for all, decided to hold a contest: whoever finished drawing a snake first would win the wine. One servant finished his drawing very quickly. Seeing the others still busy, he confidently added feet to his snake. At that moment, another man finished, snatched the beaker, and drank the wine, declaring, "A snake has no feet. How can you add feet to a snake?"
This idiom means to spoil something by adding unnecessary and superfluous details.
中文翻译
战国时期，楚国有一人祭祀祖先。仪式结束后，他将一壶酒赏给了仆人们。仆人们觉得酒不够所有人分，于是决定比赛画蛇，谁先画完，谁就能得到这壶酒。其中一个仆人画得很快。他看到其他人还在忙着画，便得意地给自己的蛇添上了脚。就在这时，另一个人画完了，他一把夺过酒壶喝掉了酒，说道：“蛇本来就没有脚，你怎么能给它添上脚呢？”
这个成语比喻做了多余的事，非但无益，反而坏了事。