成语四字格翻译

第五讲成语、俗语、典故的翻译

何为成语

成语既是一种结构固定而凝练、内涵丰富而深刻的语言现象，也是人类的历史和文化在人们所使用语言中的体现和反映。汉语和英语中都含有丰富的成语，在汉语中，成语指人们长期以来习用的，简洁精辟定型的词组或短语,常为四字短语，而在英语中，成语是词组，其含义不同于其中单词的含义，（idiom is phrase which means something different from meanings of the separate words）是不能明显地从构成其成分的单词的含义中找到其含义的词组和句子，必须从整体上进行理解。（phrase or sentence whose meaning not obvious through knowledge of the individual meanings of the consituent words but must be learnt as a whole）

英汉成语的相似性

两个基本特征：

一、语义的统一性或整体性：一条成语所表达的是一个整体的意思。

二、结构的固定性或定型性：成语的词序结构一般不能随意更改或颠倒，也不能随意增

减词，或者任意使用其它的词来替代某个词。

按照汉语成语和英语成语的语法功能和结构成分来分析，汉语成语可以分成动词性、名词性、形容词性和副词性成语等四大类。英语成语也包括这四大类。

Eg: 弃恶从善（动词性）

turn over a new leaf （动词性）

富丽堂皇（形容词性）

（as）jolly as a sand boy （形容词性）

千方百计（副词性）

tooth and nail （副词性）

英汉成语中所反映的文化差异

1、生存环境的差异

成语的产生与人们的劳动和生活密切相关。英国是一个岛国，历史上航海业曾一度领先世界；而汉民族在亚洲大陆生活繁衍，人们的生活离不开土地。比喻花钱浪费，大手大脚，英语是spend money like water，而汉语是“挥金如土”。英语中有许多关于船和水的成语，在汉语中没有完全相同的对应成语，如to rest on one's oars（暂时歇一歇）, to keep one's head above water（奋力图存）, all at sea（不知所措）等等。

在汉语的文化氛围中，“东风”即是“春天的风”，夏天常与酷署炎热联系在一起，“赤日炎炎似火烧”、“骄阳似火”是常被用来描述夏天的词语。而英国地处西半球，北温带，海洋性气候，报告春天消息的却是西风，英国著名诗人雪莱的《西风颂》正是对春的讴歌。英国的夏季正是温馨宜人的季节，常与“可爱”、“温和”、“美好”相连。莎士比亚在他的一首十四行诗中把爱人比作夏天，Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?/Thou art more lovely and more temperate。

2、习俗差异

英汉习俗差异是多方面的，最典型的莫过于在对狗这种动物的态度上。狗在汉语中是一种卑微的动物。汉语中与狗有关的成语大都含有贬意：“狐朋狗党”、“狗急跳墙”、“狼心狗肺”、“狗腿子”等，尽管近些年来养庞物狗的人数大大增加，狗的“地位”似乎有所改变，但狗的贬义形象却深深地留在汉语言文化中。而在西方英语国家，狗被认为是人类

最忠诚的朋友。英语中有关狗的成语除了一部分因受其他语言的影响而含有贬义外，大部分都没有贬义。在英语成语中，常以狗的形象来比喻人的行为。如You are a lucky dog （你是一个幸运儿）, Every dog has his day（凡人皆有得意日）, Old dog will mot learn mew tricks（老人学不了新东西）等等。形容人“病得厉害”用sick as a dog，“累极了”是dog-tired。

与此相反，中国人十分喜爱猫，用“馋猫”比喻人贪嘴，常有亲呢的成份，而在西方文化中，“猫”被用来比喻“包藏祸心的女人”。

3、宗教信仰方面

与宗教信仰有关的成语也大量地出在在英汉语言中。佛教传入中国已有一千多年的历史，人们相信有“佛主”在左右着人世间的一切，与此有关的习语很多，如“借花献佛”、“闲时不烧香，临时抱佛脚”等。在西方许多国家，特别是在英美，人们信奉基督教，相关的习语如Good helps those who help themselves（上帝帮助自助的人），也有Go to hell （下地狱去）这样的诅咒。

4、历史典故

英汉两种语言中还有大量由历史典故形成的成语，这些成语结构简单，意义深远，往往是不能单从字面意义去理解和翻译的。如“东施效颦”、“名落孙山”、“叶公好龙”等等。英语典故成语多来自《圣经》和希腊罗马神话，如meet one's waterloo（一败涂地）、Penelope's web（永远完不成的工作）、a Pandora's box（潘多拉之盒棗灾难、麻烦、祸害的根源）等。

翻译方法

直译

相同的成语：

来得容易，去得快Easy come,easy go

趁热打铁strike while the iron is hot.

熟能生巧Practice makes perfect

身教胜于言传Example is better than precept

得寸进尺，得陇望蜀give him an inch and he will take an ell

杀鸡取卵kill the goose that lays the golden eggs

相近似的成语：

挥金如土spend money like water

破釜沉舟burn one's boats（都源于军事家的策略）

隐含意义很明显的成语：

雪中送炭to offer fuel in snowy weather

一人得道，鸡犬升天even the dog swaggers when its master win favour

“瓜田李下”来自“瓜田不纳履，李下不整冠”，Neither adjust your shoe in a melem patch，nor your hat under a plum tree

意译

望子成龙to expect one's son to become an outstanding personage

不测风云Something unexpected may happen any time

开门见山come straight to the point

藕断丝连have not cut off relations completely

套译法、加注法、增译法

见书P79-81

热锅上的蚂蚁 a cat on hot bricks

成语翻译时应注意的几个问题

一、不可望文生译

“惊天动地”，“翻天覆地” 使人容易联想到To move heaven and earth，其实前者可译为earth-shaking, 后者只表示“千方百计”，“不遗余力”的意思。

To pull one’s leg “取笑”，“愚弄某人”的意思，而不是“拖某人后腿”的意思。

二、要注意保持成语的民族和地方特色

三个臭皮匠，合成一个诸葛亮(顶个诸葛亮）。

Three cobblers with their wits combined equal Zhuge Liang the mastermind.

The combined wits of three blinds equal that of Huge Liang, one of the masterminds.

two heads are better than one “一人不如两人智”

情人眼里出西施Beauty lies in lover’s eyes

Beauty lies in lover’s eyes “情人眼里出美人”

三、具有褒、贬含义的成语的翻译

“物以类聚，人与群分” birds of a feather flock together

（前者看起来并无贬意，但一般只用于消极意义）

To be hand and glove with

1.The two friends are hand and glove with each other.“情同手足”（褒）

2.The two traitors and the enemy were workin g hand in glove with each other.“相互勾结”

（贬）

篇章翻译分析

我的第一个先生就是我母亲。我已经说过使我认识“爱”字的是她。在我幼儿的时候, 她是我的世界的中心。她很完满地体现了一个“爱”字。她使我知道人间的温暖她使我知道爱与被爱的幸福。她常常用温和的口气，对我解释种种的事情。她教我爱一切的人, 不管它们贫与富；她教我帮助那些在困苦中需要扶持的人。她教我同情那些景遇不好的牌仆, 怜恤他们, 不要把自己看得比他们高,动辄将他们打骂。

母亲自己也处过不少的逆境。在大家庭里做媳妇, 这苦处是不难想到的。但是母亲从不曾在我眼前淌过泪, 或者说过什么悲伤的话。她给我看见的永远是温和的, 带着微笑的脸。

我在一篇短文里说过：“我们爱夜晚在花园上面天空中照耀的星群，我们爱春天在桃柳枝上鸣叫的小鸟，我们爱从树梢洒到草地上面的月光，我们爱那使水面现出明亮珠子的太阳。我们爱一只猫，一只小鸟。我们爱一切人。”这个“爱”字就是母亲教给我的。因为受到了爱, 认识了爱, 才知道把爱分给别人, 才想对自己以外的人做一些事情。把我和这个社会联起来的也正是这

个“爱”字, 这是我的全部性格的根底。

——巴金《我的第一个老师》

我的第一个先生就是我母亲。我已经说过使我认识“爱”字的是她。在我幼儿的时候, 她是我的世界的中心。她很完满地体现了一个“爱”字。她使我知道人间的温暖；她使我知道爱与被爱的幸福。

译文一：The first teacher of mine is my mother. I have said that she made me know the word “love”. In my chil dhood, she was the center of my world. She incarnated perfectly the word “love”. She made me know the happiness to love and to be loved.

译文二：Mother is my first teacher who, as I said before, awakened in me a sense of love. She was the center of the world in my early childhood, the very image of love itself. It was to her that I owed my awareness of the fact that there is warmth in the world—that to show love is no less happiness than to be loved. (combination)

她常常用温和的口气，对我解释种种的事情。

译文一：She would speak to me in gentle tone, explaining all kinds of things to me.

译文二：How tenderly and gently she explained to me all sorts of things!

她教我爱一切的人, 不管它们贫与富；她教我帮助那些在困苦中需要扶持的人。

译文一：She taught me to love everyone, no matter the person is rich or poor. She taught me to help the persons who were in need of support.

译文二：She told me it was good to love people, whether poor or rich, and be always ready to give a helping hand to those in need or in trouble. (amplification)

她教我同情那些景遇不好的婢仆, 怜恤他们, 不要把自己看得比他们高,动辄将他们打骂。

译文一：She taught me to be sympathetic to the slave-girls and servants, kind and gentle to them, who were living in poor condition. Don’t regard yourself as superior to them, beat and scold them at every turn.

译文二：She advised me to give a sympathetic thought to servants and maids, who were not so fortunate as we were in their circumstances, and never look down upon them like a superior. They deserved compassion, rather than maltreat on the slightest pretext. (amplification, conversion)

母亲自己也处过不少的逆境。在大家庭里做媳妇, 这苦处是不难想到的。但是母亲从不曾在我眼前淌过泪, 或者说过什么悲伤的话。

译文一：Mother herself has experienced no lack of adversities. To be a daughter-in-law in a big family, the bitterness was not hard to imagine. But mother had never shed tears or said something sorrowful.

译文二：It was natural for a person like her, with her personal sufferings as an insignificant daughter-in-law in a big feudalistic family. Quite imaginable that she had had bitter experience, yet never once did I see her shed tears nor hear her express grief. (combination, amplification)

她给我看见的永远是温和的, 带着微笑的脸。

译文一：She let me see an always gentle and smiling face.

译文二：In my eyes she was always tender, always smiling.

我在一篇短文里说过：“我们爱夜晚在花园上面天空中照耀的星群，我们爱春天在桃柳枝上鸣叫的小鸟，我们爱从树梢洒到草地上面的月光，我们爱那使水面现出明亮珠子的

太阳。我们爱一只猫，一只小鸟。我们爱一切人。”

译文一：I once said in an article, “We love the shining stars in the sky above the garden at night, we love the chirping birds in the peach and willow trees in the springtime, we love the moonlight shedding onto the meadows through the treetops, we love the sun which brings the shining pearls on the water surface. We love a cat, a bird. We love everyone.”

译文二：As I wrote in a short article, “We love the twinkling stars high above the flower-garden; we love the little birds chirping on the trees in spring; we love the moon shedding light through treetops on the meadows; we love the sun shining brilliantly on a sheet of water. We love a kitten, a bird, everything and everybody.” (Omission, amplification)

这个“爱”字就是母亲教给我的。

译文一：This “love” is what mother taught me.

译文二：Love—that’s wha t I was taught and imbued with by mother. (amplification)

因为受到了爱, 认识了爱, 才知道把爱分给别人, 才想对自己以外的人做一些事情。把我和这个社会联起来的也正是这个“爱”字, 这是我的全部性格的根底。

译文一：Because I have received love, I come to understand love, I come to know I should share love with others, and I should do something for others. What has connected me with the society is just love, this is the root of the whole of my character.

译文二：As I had experienced love and come to know what it meant, I began to share it with others and often tried to do something for ot her people’s sake. Love —that is the root of my character. (Omission)

第一次专六练习参考译文：

参考译文：

我开始偷着喝酒时早就应该意识到我迷上了酒。我开始不得不随时备好酒以接待“可能来访”的客人。当然半瓶酒是不值得留着的。于是我喝个精光。接着自然是又得赶紧再去买酒以备“不速之客”来访。然而我就是那个总是喝干酒瓶的不速之客。我现在再也不能像我过去举办聚会、接待客人、自己正常喝酒那样，走进售酒店理直气壮地面对售酒人去买酒了。我得编一套话，还要一遍又一遍问他同一个问题：“请问这瓶酒能招待多少人？”我想让他确信我并不是那种打算一个人享用一瓶酒的人。我得像其他许多人一样躲躲藏藏，我把酒藏在篮子里盖好，或藏在梳妆台抽屉里。当我们开始这样拿酒东藏西藏，就说明事情不妙了。我需要酒，我也知道我喝得太多，但是我并没有意识到应该停止酗酒了。我仍然不停地喝。当时我家正好是一个供我游荡的地方。我从一个房间走到另一个房间，想想喝喝，喝喝想想。。。。。。