唐朝時皇宮設有“淩煙閣”，
此閣著實不簡單。
唐太宗開國功臣二十多，
畫像都掛在“淩煙閣”裏麵。
轉眼過了上百年，
到玄宗時，肖像的顏色已暗淡，
有的麵目已模糊，
辨認是誰很困難。
有個畫家叫曹霸，
繪畫的技巧很精湛，
擅長畫戰馬和人像，
幅幅活靈又活現。
有人說他是曹操的後代，
玄宗封他將軍銜。
為了重畫功臣像，
玄宗勉勵曹霸重任擔，
經過曹霸努力後，
功臣像原貌又重現，
甚至比原畫還要好，
體現在配色描摹多方麵。
大詩人杜甫見後很佩服，
專門賦詩把曹霸讚：
“淩煙功臣少顏色，
將軍筆下開生麵”。
到後來，“別開生麵”作成語，
常形容創造了新的形勢與局麵。
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 plexions 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 acplished 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。