“杞人憂天”，“杞”是“古代地名（the name of an ancient state）”，“憂”的意思是“擔(dān)憂、焦慮（worry）”。“杞人憂天”字面意思是杞國(guó)人擔(dān)心天會(huì)塌下來(lái)（The man of Qi was afraid that the heavens were about to fall on him），比喻缺乏根據(jù)或不必要的擔(dān)心和憂慮（unnecessary worry，excessive anxiety），與英文俗語(yǔ)“meet trouble half-way”意思相近，表示“to worry, grow anxious, or distress oneself unnecessarily over something that has yet to happen”。

例句：

你不能杞人憂天的生活，不然會(huì)因?yàn)閮?yōu)柔寡斷和焦慮而崩潰。
You can't go through life meeting trouble halfway, or you'll end up paralyzed with indecision and anxiety.

也許明天會(huì)更好，我們現(xiàn)在不應(yīng)該杞人憂天。
Maybe tomorrow will be better. We shouldn't meet trouble halfway now.

Editor: Jade