豁然开朗
- Literal
- suddenly opening up and brightening
- Figurative
- Of a space, to open out wide and bright after a narrow passage; of the mind, to have a block lift and suddenly see everything clearly.
Where does 豁然开朗 come from?
It comes from a passage of "Record of the Peach Blossom Spring," by Tao Yuanming, whose full story is told under 世外桃源. The fisherman leaves his boat and slips into an opening in the hillside; at first the way is so narrow that a person barely fits, but after a few dozen paces the space suddenly opens out and fills with light: broad, level fields and neatly ordered houses. From space the idiom moved to the mind. Unlike 恍然大悟, suddenly grasping a fact, 豁然开朗 is the feeling of something closed opening up: a view that appears all at once, or a stuck problem that comes clear.
Source (出处): 陶渊明《桃花源记》
How is 豁然开朗 used? Two examples
- 写论文卡了好几天，跟导师聊了半小时，思路一下子豁然开朗。
I'd been stuck on my thesis for days; half an hour talking it over with my advisor, and suddenly the way forward opened up.
- 车子钻出隧道，眼前豁然开朗，蓝色的大海就在下面。
The car came out of the tunnel and the view suddenly opened up, with the blue sea spread out right below.
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