To draw a cake to satisfy hunger

畫餅充饑

Lu Yu lived in the Kingdom of Wei during the Three Kingdoms periods. He was orphaned at the age of ten.

三國時代，魏國有個叫盧毓(Lú Yù )的人，很小的時候就失去了父母和兩個哥哥。

So he undertook the task of supporting his sister-in-law and nephew through a period of extreme hardship.Meanwhile， he also studied hard. He was praised all around for his noble deeds and depth of knowledge.

盧毓從此辛苦工作，除了照顧哥哥們的家人外，自己還努力讀書，受到大家的贊許。

Later he became an official and still worked hard and put forth valuable advice to the emperor， so the emperor placed great trust in him.

后來，盧毓做了官，仍然勤懇工作，經(jīng)常給皇帝提出好建議，得到皇帝的信任。

At that time， the selection process of government officials depended on the recommendation of powerful and influential men.

那時候，朝廷選拔官吏，一般都是由有名望的人推薦，而推薦的人，一般又只在有名望的人里考慮。

These men would always recommend famous persons who were all mouth and no action which displeased the emperor.

其實，好多有名望的人只是嘴上能說，并不會干實際的事，因此，皇帝很不滿。

One time， the emperor asked Lu Yu to recommend an official and said to him： “the selection of government officials should not rely solely on one‘s fame which is just like a cake drawn on the ground， while it may be good to look at it does not satisfy one’s hunger.”

有一天，皇帝準備選拔一個有才能的人，并要盧毓推薦，還說選擇人才不能光找有名聲的人，名聲只不過是畫出來的一張餅，只能看，不能吃的。

This story gave rise to the idiom “draw a cake to satisfy hunger. “ Now it is used to describe someone who uses fantasy to satisfy oneself and means that empty reputation is of no practical value.

后來，人們就用這個成語比喻自己安慰自己，不能解決實際問題的方法。

Your action is just like drawing a cake to satisfy hunger， which has no practical effect.

你這種做法只是畫餅充饑，沒有任何實際作用。