Meaning of the Idiom
jing gong zhi niao（a bird which has been hurt by an arrow — a badly frightened person）
In the Warring States Period, there was a man in the State of Wei called Geng Lei.
One day he said to the king: ‘I can shoot down birds by simply plucking my bowstring.’ When the king expressed doubt, geng Lei pointed his bow at a wild goose flying in the sky, twanged the bowstring, and the goose fell to the ground.
Geng Lei said, ‘This goose has been hurt in the past. Hearing the twang of the bowstring, it assumed that it was doomed. So it simply gave up trying to live.
This idiom means that if one has been frightened in the past one’s will may become paralysed in a similar situation.
惊弓之鸟
jīng gōng zhī niǎo，原义是指被弓箭吓怕了的鸟不容易安定，后比喻经过惊吓的人碰到一点动静就非常害怕。
出自《战国策·楚策四》。
例句
经过上次惊吓，一有风吹草动，他就如惊弓之鸟，忙不迭的逃跑。
一个做了亏心事的人一听到议论他的话，都如同惊弓之鸟。
自从被警察问话了之后，他就如同惊弓之鸟，夜不能寐、寝食难安。
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