"gild the lily" in Chinese (Traditional)

• 畫蛇添足
• 畫龍點睛（貶義）

Definition

對已經很美好的事物做不必要的裝飾或改進，反而讓它變得多餘或適得其反。

Usage Notes (Chinese (Traditional))

這個表達比較正式，常出現在建議或批評中，含有不需要過分修飾的意思，類似於“畫蛇添足”。日常會更常說‘don’t gild the lily’。

Examples

Don't gild the lily—the cake looks perfect already.

不要**畫蛇添足**——蛋糕已經很完美了。

Adding more colors to the design would gild the lily.

設計再加顏色就成了**畫蛇添足**。

She tried to gild the lily by putting extra bows on the gift.

她想**畫蛇添足**，又多繫了幾個蝴蝶結在禮物上。

If you keep editing your essay, you'll just gild the lily and risk ruining it.

你再繼續改作文，就是**畫蛇添足**，可能反而搞砸。

Their wedding was beautiful as it was—they really didn't need to gild the lily with more decorations.

他們的婚禮已經很美了，真的不需要用更多裝飾**畫蛇添足**。

Sometimes less is more—there's no reason to gild the lily when the original is already great.

有時候少即是多，原本就很好就沒必要**畫蛇添足**。