三国：魏、蜀、吴三国并立德时期（魏，公元220-265；蜀，公元221-263；吴，公元222-280）

Three Kingdoms (220-280) – Wei (222-265), Shu (221-263) and Wu (222-280)

三顾茅庐：东汉末年，刘备请隐居在隆中（湖北襄阳附近）草舍的诸葛亮出来运筹划策，去了三次才见到。后用来泛指诚心诚意一再邀请。Make three calls at the thatched cottage – repeatedly request sb. to take up a responsible post. Towards the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Bei paid three consecutive visits to Zhuge Liang, a master strategist who lived in a thatched cottage near Xiangyang in present-day Hubei Province, to show his sincerity for Zhuge Liang to end a life seclusion and become his strategic advisor.

司马昭之心，路人皆知：《三国志·魏书·高贵乡公传》注引《汉晋春秋》，魏帝曹髦在位时，大将军司马昭专权，图谋夺取帝位。一次曹髦气愤地对大臣说：‘司马昭之心，路人皆知也。’后来用‘司马昭之心，路人皆知’指野心非常明显，人所共知。An annotated quotation from Annals of Han and Jin in Annals of the Three Kingdoms·Kingdom of Wei·Biography of Duke Gao Guixiang: During the reign of Cao Mao, emperor of the Kingdom of Wei, known by his title as Duke Gao Guixiang before he ascended the throne, General Sima Zhao monopolized power and conspired to usurp the throne. The angry emperor said to his other ministers, ‘Sima Zhao’s evil intent is known to all.’ The phrase has come to imply that a villain’s plot or ambition is so obvious that everybody knows about it.

诸葛亮：三国时蜀汉政治家，字孔明，辅佐刘备建立蜀汉。《三国演义》对他的智谋多所渲染，一般用来称足智多谋的人。Zhuge Liang (181-234), style name Kongming, a statesman and strategist during the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280) who helped Liu Bei establish the kingdom of Shu; His wisdom is described in Romance of Three Kingdoms, and in Chinese folklore he is regarded as the personification of resourcefulness and wisdom; person of great wisdom and resourcefulness; mastermind.