與虎謀皮yǔ hǔ móu píask a tiger for its skin—request sb [usu an evil person] to act against his own interests; reason with the wolf
? 過去與蔣介石談判，正如陳嘉庚先生在一九四六年打給我的電報中所說，是“無異～”。(《周恩來選集》上—314) In our previous talks with Chiang Kai-shek,it was like “asking the tiger for its skin”，as Mr Tan Kah Kee aptly put it in a telegram to me in 1946. 與虎謀皮yu hu mou piask a tiger for its skin—expect sb. to act against his own interests 與虎謀皮ask a tiger for its skin—expect sb to act against his or her own interests;attempt the impossible 與虎謀皮yǔ hǔ móu pí同老虎商量，要剝下它的皮。比喻與所謀求的對象利害相對立，事情肯定不成功。request sb. to act against his own interests, expect sb. to act against his own interests |