sit back and watch without going to the rescue; sit by without trying to help; sit idly by without lending a helping hand; turnone’s back on a man in distress
? 吳主看罷，與群臣計(jì)議曰：“既蜀中危急，孤豈可～。……”(《三國(guó)演義》1011)The king assembled his officers and said to them，“The land of Shu being in danger,I cannot sit andlook on unconcerned.”/咱們?nèi)齻€(gè)情逾骨肉，共患難，同生死，現(xiàn)在老三一個(gè)人受罪，咱們能～嗎？(高云覽《小城春秋》223)We three are as close as flesh and bones—we’ve sworn to suffer adversity together. Wu Jian is having a hard time. Can we sit by without trying to help?
坐視不救zuò shì bù jiù
看見別人有困難時(shí)不去幫助，反而坐在旁邊觀看。sit back and watch without going to the rescue, look on with folden arms sit there and make no effort to save, sit and look on unconcerned, sit by idly and remain indifferent, look on idly