馬上就是猴年了。在中國(guó),猴子多被視為聰明伶俐的動(dòng)物。因?yàn)橛辛恕段饔斡洝返拈L(zhǎng)久影響,人們看到猴子總是難免會(huì)想起神通廣大的齊天大圣。而在英語(yǔ)中,monkey則多與搞怪、模仿、閑散的形象有關(guān)。本著文化互通的精神,我們今天就為大家介紹中文和英文中與猴子相關(guān)的一些短語(yǔ)表達(dá),個(gè)中的文化內(nèi)涵,留給大家自己體會(huì)吧。

Monkey Idioms in English

英語(yǔ)中與猴子相關(guān)的短語(yǔ)表達(dá)

>Make a monkey out of (someone)

讓某人出丑、難堪

He made a monkey out of me by calling me names in front of my girlfriend.
他當(dāng)著我女朋友的面辱罵我,讓我很難堪。

>Monkey around with somebody or something

瞎搗鼓,閑晃

You must stop monkeying around with that old computer if you want to finish the work on time.
你要是想按時(shí)完成工作就別搗鼓那臺(tái)舊電腦了。

>Monkey business

非法活動(dòng),騙人的把戲

You must stop the monkey business if you don’t want to get into trouble.
你要是不想惹麻煩,就不要干那些非法的事。

>A monkey on one's back

阻止某人成功的嚴(yán)重問(wèn)題,歷史問(wèn)題

He was afraid that his past would always be a monkey on his back.
他擔(dān)心他過(guò)去的問(wèn)題將會(huì)永遠(yuǎn)成為他的包袱。

>Monkey see, monkey do

有樣學(xué)樣

It is a case of monkey see, monkey do. She does everything that her cousin does.
她就是東施效顰,她表姐做什么,她就做什么。

>More fun than a barrel of monkeys

非常有趣

He is quite popular with his friends because he is more fun than a barrel of monkeys.

他在朋友當(dāng)中很有歡迎,因?yàn)樗莻€(gè)特別有趣的人。

>Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle.

表示特別驚訝,不敢相信

Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle. I never thought Bill would remarry.
天??!我從來(lái)都沒(méi)想過(guò)比爾會(huì)再婚。

>Monkey suit

制服,禮服

I hate going to weddings and wearing a monkey suit.
我很討厭參加婚禮,也討厭穿禮服。

中文里有關(guān)猴子的短語(yǔ)表達(dá)英譯

Monkey Idioms in Chinese

>殺雞駭猴

Beat the dog before the lion

殺雞駭猴本意是殺雞給猴子看。比喻用懲罰一個(gè)人的辦法來(lái)警告別的人。

>猴年馬月

Donkey's years

猴年馬月是一個(gè)民間諺語(yǔ),指期盼的某件事情遙遙無(wú)期,要等很長(zhǎng)很長(zhǎng)的時(shí)間。

據(jù)說(shuō),這里的years其實(shí)是來(lái)自ears,因?yàn)轶H的耳朵長(zhǎng),所以dankey's ears就指代很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間,后來(lái)演變成dankey's years意思不變,也是因?yàn)轶H的壽命普遍較長(zhǎng)。

我猴年馬月才能買上房啊!
It will be donkey's years before I can afford a house of my own.

>沐猴而冠

A monkey with a hat on

沐猴,指獼猴。猴子戴帽子,比喻外表裝得像個(gè)人物,卻是人面獸心。也常用以譏諷依附權(quán)貴竊取名位之人。

自從他上任后,他身邊那些小人也一個(gè)個(gè)沐猴而冠,成了主管。
Since he took office, those flunkies were all promoted to head of section, just like monkeys with hats on.

>樹(shù)倒猢猻散

Rats leave a sinking ship

樹(shù)一倒,依附在樹(shù)上的猴子一哄而散。比喻為首的人一下臺(tái),依附他的人也即隨之而散。

>山中無(wú)老虎,猴子稱大王

When the cat is away,the mice will play; Among the blind, the one-eyed man is the king.

食物鏈頂端的大王不在,處于次級(jí)的猴子們就開(kāi)始發(fā)號(hào)施令了。

>五馬六猴

Undisciplined person

形容不守規(guī)矩、不受管束的人。

我們要對(duì)這些五馬六猴嚴(yán)加管理。
We should be very strict with these undisciplined people.

從上面這幾個(gè)中文短語(yǔ)的英語(yǔ)表述中,我們可以看到,雖然兩種語(yǔ)言中使用的動(dòng)物不同,但表達(dá)的意思卻是極其相近的。如果為了文字一一對(duì)應(yīng)而強(qiáng)行把Beat the dog before the lion譯為“獅子面前打狗”,就會(huì)讓中文讀者有些摸不著頭腦了。由此可見(jiàn),在翻譯時(shí)找到雙方語(yǔ)言中對(duì)等的恰當(dāng)表達(dá)非常重要。

本文來(lái)源中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津,由中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)授權(quán)發(fā)布,原文標(biāo)題《迎猴年 學(xué)猴子短語(yǔ)》。中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)雙語(yǔ)新聞微信賬號(hào)@Chinadaily_Mobile