哀梨蒸食
The Ai Pear Steamed
【Source】 A New Account of the Tales of the World， compiled and edited by Liu Yiqing (403-444) during the Liu Song
Dynasty (420-479)
【出处】南朝宋·刘义庆《世说新语·轻诋》：“桓南郡每见人不快，辄嗔曰：‘君得哀家梨，当复不蒸食不？’”南朝文学家刘孝标为此作注释：“旧语：秣陵有哀仲家梨甚美，大如升，入口消释。言愚人不别味，得好梨蒸食之也。”
【Interpretation】To steam high-quality pears， which means ignorant people don’t know how to properly make good use of
things.
【释意】将好梨蒸着吃，意指愚人不能辨识滋味，引申为不识货，糊里糊涂地糟蹋好东西。
Nearly 2，000 years ago， during the Han Dynasty (202-220)， there was a man called Ai Zhong， who lived in Mo Lin(now Nanjing). He grew pear trees and his pears were known to be sweet， juicy， tender and crispy. People called his delicious pears “the Ai Pears”.
相传汉朝时在秣陵(今江苏南京)有一个叫哀仲的人，他家种出来的梨子个头非常大，而且味道甜美，又脆又嫩，入口即化，得名号“哀家梨”。
The reputation of the Ai Pears spread far and wide， and it even became an honor for the Mo Lin people to eat an Ai Pear. It turned out that some arty persons found ways to get the Ai Pears， just to show off their wealth and capabilities.
“哀家梨”的名气越来越大，当时秣陵的百姓以能吃到“哀家梨”为荣耀，有些附庸风雅的人，为了炫耀自己的家产和能耐，想尽办法要得到“哀家梨”。
The Ai Pears were simply tasty when eaten raw； however， the arty persons steamed the Ai Pears they managed to get. Since then， people started to use the idiom “the Ai Pear Steamed” to describe foolish behaviors caused by not knowing the nature of things but trying to pretend to be elegant and classy.
梨子本来是生吃才能品出脆嫩美味，但是这些富人得到“哀家梨”后，却用蒸笼蒸熟了吃。后来人们就用哀梨蒸食来比喻不懂事物性质，而故弄风雅的愚行。
Huan Xuan(369-404)， also known as Huan Nan Jun， was a famous historical figure in the Dong Jin Dynasty(317-420). He was very talented and confident， yet due to the fact that his father was too ambitious， he failed to be trusted and promoted by the imperial court. Huan Xuan felt very depressed about this and often spoke of himself as an Ai Pear， indicating that the Dong Jin imperial court did not treasure talents.
后来东晋时，才华横溢的桓玄受到朝廷猜忌与排挤，英雄无用武之地，很是苦闷，于是便常常自比为“哀家梨”，讽刺东晋朝廷不懂得珍惜人才。