周恩来在记者招待会上,对记者提出的问题,特别是一些可能会令一般人因难以回答而显尴尬的问题,回答得都很机智、巧妙、风趣。周恩来和国民党打了多年交道。一次举行记者招待会,国民党中央日报社的一个记者在向周恩来提问时攻击我党,说:“政府与你党谈判久无进展,原因在于政府方面的代表是对牛弹琴!”这个记者出言不逊,全场气氛陡然紧张起来。周恩来接过话题,大声说:“对,牛弹琴。”所有的记者都笑了起来,那个中央日报社的记者羞得满脸通红,低下了头。在这里,周恩来变被动为主动的奥妙在于他给成语巧加标点,使成语的意思发生了质的变化。 At the press conference, Zhou Enlai answered the questions raised by reporters, especially those questions that might make ordinary people more difficult to answer. They were all witty, clever, and funny. Zhou Enlai and the KMT have dealt with for many years. At a press conference, a reporter from the Kuomintang Central Daily News attacked our party when questioning Zhou Enlai and said: “The government has had no progress in negotiations with your party. The reason is that the government’s representatives are playing on the cow!” The reporter made a bad speech. The atmosphere suddenly became tense. Zhou Enlai took over the topic and shouted: “Yes, Niu plays the piano.” All the reporters laughed, and the reporter of the Central Daily News blushed flushed and lowered his head. Here, the secret of Zhou Enlai’s change to being passive is that he punctuated the idioms and made a qualitative change in the meaning of idioms.