不过是走水罢了
“It's just a fire,”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
宫里的风波 从来就没有平息过
“and the palace intrigues have never ceased.”
不过是 走水 罢了
“It's just a fire,”
它还吓不倒我
“it won't frighten me.”
“Do not panic; this petty incident is not enough to rattle me.”
In imperial palace tradition, shouting 'fire' (火) was considered ominous, so the water-associated euphemism '走水' was strictly used instead to avoid ill omens.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
merely; nothing more than
Used to belittle or minimize the scale, importance, or danger of an event.
to catch fire (euphemism)
A traditional Chinese euphemism for a fire outbreak, used to avoid invoking bad luck associated with the word 'fire'.
Softens the assertion while underscoring that the matter is negligible and unworthy of fuss.
VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS
Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)
“when an accidental fire broke out.”
“mysteriously caught fire,”
“Fire! Attention! Fire!”
“Hurry. Hurry. - What happened? - There's a fire.”
“Go check it out! Is there a fire?”
“How did he let a fire start in his shop?”