run in opposite directions

南轅北轍

Once a man went to the south， but his carriage was heading north.

一次一個人想往南走，但是他的馬車卻是朝北走的。

A passer-by asked him： “If you are going to the south， why is your carriage heading north?”

一個過路人問他：“如果你想往南走，為什么你的馬車卻朝北走呢?”

The man said， “My horse is good at running， my driver is highly skilled at driving a carriage， and I am rich.”

這個人說：“我的馬很能跑，我的車夫善于趕車，我又很富有，所以不在乎。”

The man didn‘t care the direction might be wrong; the better his conditions were， the further he was far away from his destination.

這個人根本沒有考慮到行進的方向也許錯了;他的條件越好，反而會離目的地越遠。

This idiom came from this story tells that one’s action was the opposite effect to one‘s intention.

這個成語比喻行動和目的正好相反。

英文中若要表達“南轅北轍”的意思，可以用短語“run in opposite directions”，也就是“朝著相反的方向跑”，翻譯美化一下就是“南轅北轍”或者“背道而馳”的意思了。

我們來一起看一個例句：

They wouldn’t win at the end because they ran in opposite directions.

因為他們早已南轅北轍了，所以根本不可能贏。