文章轉載自 21英語微商城 21世紀英文報 我們為啥說別人“紅得發紫” 而不是“紅的發黃”呢？ （雖然這個問題有點奇怪） 老實說，你想過這個問題嗎？ 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. 紅色和紫色原來指的是古代官員的服飾顏色。在古代中國，服飾顏色是社會地位的象征，不同級別的官員需要穿特定顏色的服飾。 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，唐朝時期，只有三品以上的官員才允許穿紫色服飾，四品、五品的官員則穿紅色。因此，紫色和紅色可以代表一個人官運亨通。后來，它們被用來表示一個人很受歡迎。
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、七品的官員穿綠色的服飾，最低兩個級別的官員穿青色。詩人白居易曾寫道:“座中泣下誰最多？江州司馬青衫濕”。他用“青衫”來稱呼自己，是因為他被貶職了。 Yellow was even more respected than red and purple. Only the royal family could use it. For example, the emperor’s robe was yellow. 黃色實際上比紅色和紫色更受人尊重，只有皇家穿這種顏色服飾。就比如說，皇帝的服飾是黃色的。 長知識了吧！說“紅得發紫”原來是有原因的！ |
