文章转载自 21英语微商城 21世纪英文报

我们为啥说别人“红得发紫”

而不是“红的发黄”呢？

（虽然这个问题有点奇怪）

老实说，你想过这个问题吗？

The red and purple colors originally referred to the colors of ancient officials’ clothes. Clothing color could show social status in ancient China. Officials of different ranks needed to wear clothes with certain colors.

红色和紫色原来指的是古代官员的服饰颜色。在古代中国，服饰颜色是社会地位的象征，不同级别的官员需要穿特定颜色的服饰。

During the Tang Dynasty, for example, only officials of the top three ranks were allowed to wear purple clothes, while those of the fourth and fifth ranks wore red clothes. Therefore, purple and red could stand for success in one’s career. They later were used to refer to popularity.

例如，唐朝时期，只有三品以上的官员才允许穿紫色服饰，四品、五品的官员则穿红色。因此，紫色和红色可以代表一个人官运亨通。后来，它们被用来表示一个人很受欢迎。

By contrast, officials who ranked sixth and seventh wore green clothes. Blue was for those in the two lowest ranks. The poet Bai Juyi once wrote, “Of all the company at table who wept most? It was none other than the exiled blue-robed host”. He used “blue-robed host” to refer to himself, as he had been demoted to a lower rank.

相比之下，六品、七品的官员穿绿色的服饰，最低两个级别的官员穿青色。诗人白居易曾写道:“座中泣下谁最多？江州司马青衫湿”。他用“青衫”来称呼自己，是因为他被贬职了。

Yellow was even more respected than red and purple. Only the royal family could use it. For example, the emperor’s robe was yellow.

黄色实际上比红色和紫色更受人尊重，只有皇家穿这种颜色服饰。就比如说，皇帝的服饰是黄色的。

长知识了吧！说“红得发紫”原来是有原因的！