English Original
In the Warring States Period, a man in the state of Chu offered a sacrifice to his ancestors. After the ceremony, he gave a beaker of wine to his servants. The servants thought there was not enough wine for all of them, so they decided that each would draw a picture of a snake; the one who finished first would get the wine.
One servant drew very rapidly. Seeing the others were still busy, he added feet to his snake. At that moment, another man finished, snatched the beaker, and drank the wine, saying, "A snake doesn't have feet. How can you add feet to a snake?"
This idiom refers to ruining something by doing unnecessary and surplus things.
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，于是决定每人画一条蛇；谁先画完，谁就能得到这壶酒。
一个仆人画得很快。看到其他人还在忙着画，他便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：“蛇是没有脚的。你怎么能给蛇画上脚呢？”
这个成语比喻做了多余而不必要的事，反而把事情弄糟。