【成語來源】

　　The well of inspiration has dried up.Creative well has dried up.江郎才盡

　　Jiang Yan lived during the Liang dynasty of the Northern and Southern Dynasties Period, in the area now known as Henan province. 南北朝時，有一位名叫江淹的人，居住在現在的河南省。

　　Although he came from a poor family, he as extremely hard working, and so became a high-level civil official. 江淹出身貧寒，但他十分刻苦，所以后來便當上了一位本地的高官。

　　Jiang Yan was very talented in the area of literature. Both his poems and his essays were outstanding, and he was known by nearly all the scholars of his time. 江淹十分有文采，在詩詞歌賦都十分優秀，在當時的學者中都極富盛名。

　　Jiang Yan once had a dream that a man came to him and said, "My name is Guo Pu. One of my pens has been here with your for several years. Please give it back to me now." 有一天，江淹在涼亭里睡覺，做了一個夢，夢中有一個叫郭璞的人對他說：“我有一支筆放在你那里已經很多年了，現在應該是還給我的時候了。”

　　In his pocket, Jiang Yan found a multi-colored pen, which he returned to Guo Po.江淹摸了摸懷里，果然掏出一支五色筆來，于是他就把筆還給郭璞。

　　As Jiang Yan grew older,the poems and essays that he wrote were not as good as those he had written when he was younger.從此以后，江淹就再也寫不出如同年少時寫的美妙的文章了。

　　Everyone said that when Jiang Yan gave away his multi-colored pen, he used up the last of his talent.因此，人們都說江郎自從放棄了他的五色筆之后，他的才華已經用盡了。

　　【文化鏈接】

　　英文中與“江郎才盡”意義相近的表達是“The well of inspiration has dried up.”這是一個很有趣的表達方式，也很形象，就是說“靈感的源泉干涸了”（“well”有“井”的意思），也可以說“Creative well has dried up.”兩個表達方式是一樣的，所以當你想說自己沒有才思了，有點江郎才盡的感覺的時候，就可以說“My well of inspiration has dried up.”或者“My creative well has dried up.”

　　我們在一起來看一些例句：

　　（1）What to do when your inspiration has dried up?（當你江郎才盡的時候，該怎么辦呢？）

　　（2）We may feel that we have nothing fresh or original to contribute, as though the well of inspiration has dried up.（我們可能會覺得沒有任何新鮮的創意才思，就像是江郎才盡了。）

　　（3）Quickly we jump to fear or worry, afraid that our creative will surely dry up.（很快的我們就會變得害怕擔憂，擔心自己會江郎才盡。）