Submitted by cisibiu on
画龙点睛 huàlóngdiǎnjīng
英译
add the touch that brings a work of art to life; add a word or two to clinch the point; put life into sth. like dotting the eyeball in painting a drago
释义
原形容梁代画家张僧繇（yáo）作画的神妙；后多比喻写文章或讲话时，在关键处用几句话点明实质，使内容更加生动有力。
出处
唐·张彦远《历代名画记·张僧繇》：“金陵安乐寺四白龙不点眼睛，每云：‘点睛即飞去。’人以为妄诞，固请点之。须臾，雷电破壁，两龙乘云腾去上天，二龙未点眼者见在。”
近反义词
近义词：点石成金，锦上添花
反义词：画蛇添足，弄巧成拙
例句
一个好题目，常常对作品有画龙点睛之妙。
典故
传说梁朝有个画家叫张僧繇，他的画技十分高超。有一次，他在金陵安乐寺的墙壁上画了四条巨龙，看起来非常逼真，唯一不足的是四条龙都没有眼睛。
人们问他：“为什么不画眼睛？”
他说：“眼睛可不能轻易画呀！一旦画了，龙就会飞走的！”
大家听了，都不相信他。后来，经不起人们的一再请求，他只好答应给龙画上眼睛。
奇怪的事情果然发生了，第二条龙的眼睛刚刚画好，突然就刮起了大风，顷刻间电闪雷鸣，两条巨龙冲破墙壁，腾空飞去。
围观的人们都看呆了，等回过头来再看看墙上，只剩下了没有画上眼睛的两条龙。
It is said that there was a painter named Zhang Sengyou who’s good at painting in Liang Dynasty. Once, he drew four dragons on the wall of Anle Temple in Jinling. Lifelike, but they had no eyes.
People asked him, "Why don't you add eyes?"
He said, "As soon as the eyes are added, the dragons will fly away! "
Everyone didn't believe him. Later, unable to withstand people's repeated requests, Zhang had to agree to add eyes to the dragons.
Finally something strange happened. As soon as the eyes of the second dragon were painted, strong wind came, and in an instant there was lightning and thunder. The two dragons broke through the wall and flew away.
The onlookers were stunned. They looked back at the wall, finding only two dragons left without eyes.