The original meaning of the idiom "looking at the ocean and sighing" is: lamenting one's own insignificance in the face of great things.
Looking at the ocean and sighing: [ wàng yáng xīng tàn ]?
1. Explanation: Wangyang: looking up. Looking up at the sea god and sighing. It often refers to feeling helpless due to incompetence or lack of conditions when doing things.
2. From: "Zhuangzi: Autumn Waters": "Suddenly, Hebo began to turn his face, looking at the ocean and sighing."
Translation: Then Hebo began to turn. Looking at the ocean, he sighed to Poseidon Ruo (Ruo is the name of Poseidon).
3. Example: Human commercial activities have been closely related to water and land transportation since ancient times, but what exactly did the merchant ships used by ancient merchants look like? People have no idea and can only look at the ocean and sigh, and can only learn from the fragments of ancient books. Speculate. Li Erhe's "Seven Thousand Years at Sea"
4. Grammar: more formal; used as predicate, object, attributive; has derogatory connotations.
Application in sentences:
1. People who are in despair will never reach the other side of success.
2. Looking at his opponent's excellent professional level, he could only sigh in despair.
3. The peaches on the tree are too high. I can’t reach them, so I can only look at them and sigh.
Extended information:
Antonym analysis
Synonyms: love without help [ài mò néng zhù]?
1. Explanation: love: Cherish; Mo: No. Although I feel concerned and sympathetic, I have no power to help.
2. From: "The Book of Songs, Daya, and Hao Min": "Weizhongshan just lifts him, but he can't help him." (Meaning: Only Zhongshanfu can lift him, and others love him and find it difficult to help him.) )
3. Example: When I received replies from various places, I just wrote apologetic words such as "I can't help you." "Gain and Loss" by Ye Shengtao
4. Grammar: contraction; used as predicate and attributive; neutral, indicating lack of strength and inability to help.
Antonym: arrogant [ wàng zì zūn dà ]?
1. Explanation: View oneself too highly. Describes arrogance and not taking others seriously.
2. From: "The Book of the Later Han Dynasty·Ma Yuan Biography": "Ziyang is a frog at the bottom of a well, and he is arrogant. It is better to focus on the East." (Meaning: Gongsun Shu is just a frog at the bottom of the well, but he is If you are arrogant, you might as well concentrate on running the East. )
3. Example: Wang Mian took it and looked at it, only to realize that after Wei Su surrendered, he was arrogant and called himself an old minister in front of Taizu. Chapter 1 of "The Scholars" by Wu Jingzi of the Qing Dynasty
4. Grammar: more formal; used as predicate and attributive; has a derogatory meaning and does not look down upon others.