有道是无功不受禄
“As the saying goes, one should not accept rewards without merit.”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
你们外面等我
“Wait for me outside.”
有道 是 无功不受禄
“As the saying goes, one should not accept rewards without merit.”
沈处长这么晚来
“Director Shen, coming so late...”
“You don't give gifts for nothing, so tell me what favor you are really asking for.”
Accepting a substantial gift in Chinese professional or bureaucratic culture implies incurring a moral debt (renqing), prompting cautious officials to cite proverbs to guard their boundaries.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
no reward without merits; one should not receive gifts without earning them
A classic four-character idiom (chengyu) used to politely decline gifts, favors, or unearned praise.
as the saying goes; it is often said that
A rhetorical phrase used to introduce a well-known proverb or quote to justify one's stance.
VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS
Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)
“No merit, no reward.”
“nothing comes for free.”
“Unearned gifts come with a price.”
“I've done nothing to deserve it.”
“But we've done nothing.”