当务之急
- Literal
- the urgent part of the task at hand
- Figurative
- The most pressing thing right now, the one item that has to be dealt with before anything else on the list.
Where does 当务之急 come from?
It comes from a passage in the 《孟子》 about the order of priorities. Mencius says that the wise man, who understands everything, still puts first whatever falls to him right now, and that the benevolent man, who cares for everyone, begins with the worthy. In the original the wording is 当务之为急, "to treat as urgent what the moment calls for"; today's idiom is that idea condensed into four characters. It has shed the moral framing of the original and simply flags the priority of the moment.
Source (出处): 《孟子》
How is 当务之急 used? Two examples
- 现在的当务之急是先把漏水修好。
The urgent thing right now is to get the leak fixed first.
- 别管那些小事了，当务之急是把方案交上去。
Forget those small details; the priority right now is turning in the proposal.
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