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胸有成竹
北宋时候，有一个著名的画家，名叫文同，字与可，他是当时画竹子的高手。文与可为了画好竹子，不管是春夏秋冬，也不管是刮风下雨，或是天晴天阴，他都常年不断地在竹林子里头钻来钻去。由于文同长年累月地对竹子作了细微的观察和研究，竹子在春夏秋冬四季的形状有什么变化；在阴晴雨雪天，竹子的颜色、姿势又有什么两样；在强烈的阳光照耀下和在明净的月光映照下，竹子又有什么不同；不同的竹子，又有哪些不同的样子，他都摸得一清二楚。所以画起竹子来，根本用不着画草图。
有个名叫晁补之的人，称赞文同说：文同画竹，早已胸有成竹了。后来，“胸有成竹”就成了一句成语，用来比喻人们在办什么事情以前，早就打好了主意，心里有个准谱儿了。“胸有成竹”，比喻做事之前已作好充分准备，对事情的成功已有了十分的把握；又比喻遇事不慌，十分沉着。
Having a ready-formed plan
There was once an artist whose name was Wen Tong. He was famous for his bamboo drawings. A lot of people asked him for one of his bamboo drawings.
People wondered why Wen Tong could draw so well. Actually, Wen Tong loved bamboo so much he had grown various bamboo around his house. No matter what season it was and no matter whether it was sunny or rainy, he used to go to the bamboo forest to observe how they were growing.
He carefully observed the length and breadth of the bamboo poles as well as the shapes and colors of the leaves. Whenever he found something new, he went back to his study and drew what was in his mind on paper. After a long time, the images of the bamboo in different seasons, under different weather conditions and at different moments were deeply imprinted in his mind. Whenever he stood before the paper and picked up a painting brush, various forms of bamboo came into his mind at once. So, every time he was drawing bamboo he appeared confident and at ease. All the bamboo he drew looked like real.
When people spoke highly of his paintings, he always said modestly that he had just put the images of the bamboo imprinted in his mind in the paper.
The phrase "having the images of bamboo ready in one's bosom" means having plans or designs ready in one's mind before doing a certain job so that its success is guaranteed. It also means being calm and sober-minded in dealing with things.
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