come out of nowhere

一鸣惊人

In the Warring States Period (战国), Duke Wei of Qi neglected state affairs, for the first three years of his reign, giving himself over to dissipation.

战国时期，齐威王继承王位已有三年了，可是他整天饮酒作乐，不理朝政。

One of his minister, Chun Yukun (chún yú kūn)who had a good sense of humor, said to him:”There is a big bird which has never taken wing nor sung for three years.Your Highness, may you guess what kind of bird is it?”

有一个大臣叫淳于髡，很有幽默感，对齐威王说：“臣听说齐国有一只大鸟，三年来不飞也不叫，大王知道这是一只什么鸟?”

The duke answered, “Once that bird starts to fly and sing, it will astonish the world.”

(其实淳于髡是暗喻齐威王)齐威王答道：“一旦这只鸟开始飞翔高歌，必然震惊世界。”

The duke then devoted himself to his duties and built his state up into a powerful one.

从此齐威王勤于朝政，励精图治，国威大振。

This idiom is used to indicate that a person may rise from obscurity and achieve greatness.

成语“一鸣惊人”比喻平时默默无闻或是无所作为，但一旦认真起来，便一下子干出一番惊人的事来。

【文化链接】

英文中“一鸣惊人”可以用“come out of nowhere”来表达，直译也就是“不知道从哪里就突然出现”的意思，这样一想也就容易理解了~

网上曾有一个帖子名叫“9 Sports Stars Who Came Out Of Nowhere”(9个“一鸣惊人”的体育明星)，帖子中就细数了体坛九位“一鸣惊人”体坛黑马，其中自然会有我们的骄傲“林书豪”啦~