run in opposite directions

南辕北辙

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

一次一个人想往南走，但是他的马车却是朝北走的。

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

一个过路人问他：“如果你想往南走，为什么你的马车却朝北走呢?”

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

这个人说：“我的马很能跑，我的车夫善于赶车，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.

这个人根本没有考虑到行进的方向也许错了;他的条件越好，反而会离目的地越远。

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

这个成语比喻行动和目的正好相反。

英文中若要表达“南辕北辙”的意思，可以用短语“run in opposite directions”，也就是“朝着相反的方向跑”，翻译美化一下就是“南辕北辙”或者“背道而驰”的意思了。

我们来一起看一个例句：

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

因为他们早已南辕北辙了，所以根本不可能赢。