介绍成语的来源与汉译

介绍成语的来源与汉译(2)

时间：2021-08-31

七、源于某些作品。

　　英语中有较好的成语出自某些作品，有的是原封未动的摘引，有的是节缩而成。如wash one's hands of a thing，可译为"洗手不干……；与……断绝关系"。出自《马太福音》，犹太巡抚彼拉多主持审判耶稣，由于他判定耶稣无罪，一些犹太人不服，因此他当众宣布洗耳恭听手辞职并交出了耶稣，以示自己与此案无关。又如as significant as the shake of Lord Burleigh's head，其汉译为"象拍利勋爵晃脑袋般意味深长"。出自爱尔兰剧作家及政治家谢尼丹在《评论家》中的一幕模拟悲剧《西班牙无敌舰队》。伯利勋爵埋头于国事，日理万机，忙得边说话的时间都没有，靠晃脑袋表达思想。普夫则根据这个晃动解释他所表示的意思。

八、源于动物、植物、生活用品、人名、地名等。

　　如：⑴shed crocodile tears，据西方古代传说，鳄鱼吃人畜，一边吃，一边掉眼泪，比喻坏人假装同情被害者。类似于汉语"猫哭老鼠，假慈悲"，且人们常采用此语的前一部分作为其汉译。例如All your piteous words for the tenants are no more than crocodile tears.其汉译为"你这些怜惜佃户的话，都是猫哭老鼠"。

　　⑵the apple of discord，其汉译为"争斗的原因或根源"。传说厄里斯女神未被邀请参加Thetis和Peleus的婚礼，她就把苹果扔有参加婚礼的神与神中间。特洛伊王子帕里斯把它给了三个女神中最漂亮的维纳斯。这就间接地引起了古希腊人和特洛伊人之间的特洛伊战争。

　　⑶Simon Legree，此人是美国女作家斯陀夫人所著《汤姆大伯的小屋》一书中管黑奴的工头，此人既尖酸刻薄，又好吹毛求疵。其汉译为"尖酸刻薄、好吹毛求疵的人"。

　　⑷being Burke，其汉译为"出身名门，贵族门第"。源于编纂《贵族人名录》作者爱尔兰人约翰o伯克（John Burke）之名，该《人名录》自1826年以来一直被公认是研究英国贵族阶级及其家谱的权威著作。故列入伯克氏贵族人名录即为贵族出身。

　　⑸all Dutch/Greek to me，其汉译为"一窍不通"，其中Dutch与Greek原为"荷兰语"和"希腊语"。

　　⑹have the free-simple of May Fair，其汉译为"不受出身等限制无条件继承取得的不动产"，其中May Fair乃"伦敦西区贵族住宅区"，十八世纪时该地区每年五月均有集市，因而得名。

　　⑺Life is but an empty dream，其汉译为"人生如梦"。源于美国诗人Longfellow的诗文。

　　⑻lose face汉译为"面部"或"脸"之意。

　　⑼Jack of all trades汉译为"杂而不精的人"，出自Jack of all trades and master of none.其中Jack原为"杰克"，trades指"多种行业"。

　　⑽spill the beans，汉译为"泄漏消息（秘密）"，bean原为"豆类；豆科植物"等。

　　⑾be fond of the cup/the bottle，汉译为"贪杯中之物；好酒"，cup与bottle原为"茶杯"和"瓶子"。

　　⑿Roman holiday，汉译为"欣赏别人受苦的娱乐"，而非"罗马的假日"。

　　⒀as cool as cucumber，汉译为"十分冷静"，其中cucumber原指"黄瓜"。

　　⒁like a brick，汉译为"拼命的"，brick原指"砖"。

　　⒂have a ball at one's foot，汉译为"有成功的机会"，源于足球运动。

　　⒃be off the track汉译为"走入歧途，迷失方向"等，源于狩猎，原指猎狗失去嗅迹。

　　以上简要地谈了英语中典故性成语的来源与汉译。其实英语中还有许多这样的成语，而且掌握它们也并不那么容易，加上汉语中此类成语也不少，且它们具有类似的特点与作用，尤其是象"破釜沉舟"等一类成语，英汉两种语言的彼此巧合，会使人误以为这两种语言是彼此相通且文化背景一致。这样就错了。汉语中的"破釜沉舟"出自《史记·项羽本纪》："项羽乃悉引兵流河，皆沉船，破釜甑，烧庐舍，持三日粮，以示士卒必死，无一还心"。双如"杀鹅取卵"，汉语中则说"杀鸡取蛋（卵）"。因此，只要透析两种语言的渊源，就不难发现其不同所在。而要使学习者克服因这些不同所带来的困难，就必须引导他们从所语言的角度去认识、去掌握与运用，切忌把两种典故性成语混为一谈，如汉语中的"猫哭老鼠"译为英语就须用crocodile's tears，否则很可能会叫人不知所云，反之亦然。有人常犯诸如生搬硬套的错误，主要原因是平时学习中不注意积累有关典故性成语来源的知识与汉译的技巧，不了解英语受世界文化影响的程度，故不能灵活运用。对于学习汉语多年的外国人，如不了解中国古代光辉灿烂的文化，不留心典故性成语之出处，肯定会弄不清像"请君不瓮"等一类典故性成语的来历。因此，要在英语教学中适当改进教学内容，利用课常讲授或已有的园地刊载典故性成语来源的文章，从而更好地促进英语教学。

　　Chapter 24： Writing a Paragraph： Focus on Coherence and Unity

　　The last chapter discussed the importance of using good grammar and good word choice in your writing. However, the most grammatically perfect paragraph will not receive a good grade if it is poorly organized and not focused on a central idea. The paragraph must have unity and coherence. These ideas were discussed briefly in chapter 22, but in this chapter we will explore unity and coherence more fully so that you can learn how these elements impact your writing.

　　As you learned in Chapter 22, coherence is whether or not what you write makes sense and whether or not the ideas are arranged in a logical manner. If ideas are out of order in writing, then the reader has a very difficult time trying to understand your point. As a result the reader will lose interest and you will not be able to convey your point.

　　Unity is equally important. Unity means that your writing sticks to one point at a time. When you mix and match ideas in writing jumping from one idea to the next and back again, the reader has a hard time following you. Inevitably, the reader will not understand your point and will eventually lose interest. This chapter explores ways to help you make certain that your writing is both coherent and unified.

　　Chapter 21： Writing a Paragraph： Devising a Plan -- Outline

　　Once you have generated a topic sentence and the details to support that topic sentence, it is time to organize your ideas. By organizing your ideas you will create a clear picture of the structure of your paragraph. The most efficient way to organize ideas is to outline them. With the aid of an outline you will be able to decide if you have enough supporting ideas for your topic sentence and you will be able to eliminate those details that do not support your topic sentence. The outline will also let you test various methods of organization to decide which one suits your topic sentence the best and let you test the placement of your topic sentence within the paragraph to see where it will have the greatest impact on the reader. With the use of an outline you should be able to create organized, coherent, unified, well-supported paragraphs.

　　Chapter 23： Writing a Paragraph： Polishing, Proofreading, and Preparing Final Copy？Final Lines

　　The last step in the writing process is proofreading. After you have finished developing and supporting your ideas and after you have checked the organization, it is time to put the finishing touches on your paragraph. As your last step you need to check the spelling, punctuation, mechanics, and word choice of your paragraph as well as check to be certain you have a concluding statement. You cannot check all of these things in one reading so you should break the task into sections. First, check the punctuation and mechanics of your paragraphs. This means you are making sure you don't have errors like comma splices or fragments. You are also making sure you put question marks at the ends of questions and periods at the ends of statements.

　　The next step is to check your word choice and spelling. You want to be sure that you have used the correct words for your intended meaning, so you want to be sure that you haven't used a two when you need a too. Be sure to double check the spelling of any word you often misspell and look up any word you are unsure of. If you are word processing, use the spell check on your computer to help you with your possible spelling mistakes.

　　Chapter 26： Writing from Reading

　　The first step when you write from what you read is to be sure you understand what you have read. To ensure your understanding, you should be an active reader. This means that you should read more than once with a different purpose each time, you should ask questions before, during, and after you read, and you should make notes as you read.

　　Once you have read actively, you will be prepared to write in a number of different ways. You will be able to summarize what you have read. That means you are accurately re-telling the author's main ideas in your own words. A summary also gives the major supporting details the author has used to support the main ideas. Once again though, summaries are written in YOUR words not the author's words.

　　Another method of writing about what you have read is to respond to the reading. When you respond to a reading, you pick out a particular point or idea that the author has made and then brainstorm to develop your own ideas based on the author's thought. Unlike summarizing, you are generating your own ideas based on the author's original thought.

　　Rather than generating a new idea, you may also choose to respond to an idea in the reading. You may agree or disagree with a point the author has made. In your writing, you will explain why you agree or disagree with that point. Once again, you are coming up with your own reasoning and your own wording in response to something you have read.

　　A particular type of writing you will be required to do is writing answers to essay tests. Essay test questions often ask you to read material and then either summarize the material or respond to it in a particular way. The one thing that makes essay test writing different from other writing situations is the time limit. In a testing situation you will carefully monitor your use of time and you won't put all of the polishing touches in that you would if you had unlimited time to complete the writing.

　　These are some of the ways you can tie the material that you read to the material you write. You will find that if you follow the advice given in this chapter that you will never be at a loss for a topic to write about.

　　Chapter 25： Writing a Paragraph： Focus on Support and Details

　　In this chapter you will study the importance of being specific in the details you use to support an idea. When you write in vague, general terms, you leave the reader to interpret what you mean and often the reader will not have enough information to accurately do that. You must be clear in your meaning so that anyone who reads your work understands exactly what you want him to understand.

　　It is equally important that you provide enough information to support your ideas. Generally you need 3 to 5 examples per idea to be sure you've given sufficient support. The best way to develop support is to ask yourself questions about your ideas. You can evaluate the support at each stage of the writing process. Much of the work that you do in the rough lines editing is evaluating support and asking questions to be sure you have said enough to clearly communicate your ideas to your audience.

　　Once you have gathered together as many details as you think you need, you then organize them with a rough outline. This gives you another opportunity to check for sufficient support. Does each section of the outline seem developed? Is there more than one detail for each section? Have you used specific rather than general words as you've outlined? At this point you double-check the topic sentence to be sure it covers all your details. Always remember that the more details you put in the outline the more details will make it into your paragraph.

　　If you are at a loss for details, try turning to your senses. Asking questions about how something looks, feels, tastes, smells, and sounds can provide you with plenty of details. When you are describing an event ask questions like who, what, when, where, how, and why. Read the lecture below for further information on developing support and details for your writing.

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