唐朝时皇宫设有“凌烟阁”，
此阁着实不简单。
唐太宗开国功臣二十多，
画像都挂在“凌烟阁”里面。
转眼过了上百年，
到玄宗时，肖像的颜色已暗淡，
有的面目已模糊，
辨认是谁很困难。
有个画家叫曹霸，
绘画的技巧很精湛，
擅长画战马和人像，
幅幅活灵又活现。
有人说他是曹操的后代，
玄宗封他将军衔。
为了重画功臣像，
玄宗勉励曹霸重任担，
经过曹霸努力后，
功臣像原貌又重现，
甚至比原画还要好，
体现在配色描摹多方面。
大诗人杜甫见后很佩服，
专门赋诗把曹霸赞：
“凌烟功臣少颜色，
将军笔下开生面”。
到后来，“别开生面”作成语，
常形容创造了新的形势与局面。
Better Than the Original
In the Royal Palace of Tang Dynasty（618—907A。D。）there was a building named“Over-Smoke Pavilion”，which was very famous at that time。In the reign of Taizong，there had hung more than 20 portraits of the founders of the Dynasty。Months ran into years and years into decades。When it came to Xuanzong's reign，the color of the portraits had already faded。Some had even lost the complexions in their faces，and it was very hard to tell who was who。
There was an artist by the name of Cao Ba，who was very accomplished at his skills。He was so good at drawing warring horses and people，that he could make them vivid and lifelike。
Xuanzong was told that Cao Ba was the descendant of Cao Cao，so he made him a general。Having wanted to refresh the portraits of the heroes，Xuanzong encouraged Cao Ba to take up the task。After much painstaking effort，the portraits were new and lifelike again，and to some extent they were better than before，in their coloring and line-drawing etc。
The then great poet Du Fu，admired him when seeing the painting，and wrote a poem to praise him：“The heroes in the Over-Smoke Pavilion were losing their colors，but beneath the general's brush they became better than the original。”The phrase“better than the original”became an idiom，denoting a new situation is created or a new phase has been turned。
