“杞人忧天”，“杞”是“古代地名（the name of an ancient state）”，“忧”的意思是“担忧、焦虑（worry）”。“杞人忧天”字面意思是杞国人担心天会塌下来（The man of Qi was afraid that the heavens were about to fall on him），比喻缺乏根据或不必要的担心和忧虑（unnecessary worry，excessive anxiety），与英文俗语“meet trouble half-way”意思相近，表示“to worry, grow anxious, or distress oneself unnecessarily over something that has yet to happen”。

例句：

你不能杞人忧天的生活，不然会因为优柔寡断和焦虑而崩溃。

You can't go through life meeting trouble halfway, or you'll end up paralyzed with indecision and anxiety.

也许明天会更好，我们现在不应该杞人忧天。

Maybe tomorrow will be better. We shouldn't meet trouble halfway now.