Lesson 11 修辞与翻译

1 Simile:
as hard as rock: 坚如磐石 as proud as a peacock 像只骄傲的孔雀 a heart as hard as flint(硬石)：铁石心肠 as cool as a cucumber：泰然自若 as tight as a drum：一毛不拔（不能译成“像鼓一样 紧”） as happy as a cow：快乐得像只小鸟 水是应当安静的！那可以同镜子一样，小鱼同水藻， ater should be quiet like a mirror so that the small fish and algae couldn’t hide in it and people could appreciate their reflection in it. And how natural it would be!
II Analogy(类比)
An individual human existence should be like a river— small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past boulders and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being. 人生应该像一条河——开始是涓涓细流，仅局限于两 岸之间，未免狭窄；然后奔放地冲过巨石，翻越瀑布，慢 慢地河面变得开阔，两岸后移，水面更趋平静，于是最后 毫不犹豫地与大海融为一体，毫无苦楚地丧失自己的存在。
这件事，除了他小儿子和几个经手的人以外，谁 也不知道。他也不对任何人提起。哑巴吃黄连， 有苦说不出。 No one knew of these transactions apart from his youngest son and the few people who had handled them, nor was he going to mention the matter to anyone else. He was like the dumb eating the bitter herb: he had to suffer the bitterness of it in silence.
III Metonymy（转喻）
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? 生命当真如此可贵，和平当真如此甜蜜，竟值得以枷锁和 奴役为代价去换取吗？
John spent many years in chains before he saw his family again. 约翰在监牢里呆了很多年才又见到他的家人。 他们纷纷投笔从戎，奔赴前方。 They threw aside the writing brush and joined the army one after another and hurried to the front.
2. Understatement
She was not a girl without ambition. 她可不是一个胸无大志的女孩。 （她是个很有抱负的女孩子。）
这可不是闹着玩儿的事儿，弄不好会出人命的。 This is no trifling matter and it could cost someone’s life if not dealt properly. （比较：It’s case involving human matter.）
他在回家的路上遭遇到不测。 Something happened to him on his way back home.
VII Irony(反语)
e.g.: You and the girls may go, or you may send them by themselves, which perhaps will be still better, for as you are as handsome as any of them, Mr. Bingley might like you the best of the party. 你带着女儿们去就行啦。要不干脆打发她们自己去，那样没准更好些。要知 道你的模样跟她们一样标致，宾利先生兴许到会看上你呢！
IV Personification
成群的蜻蜓在树梢飞舞，有时竟扑到绿色的铁纱 窗上，那就惊动了爬在那里的苍蝇，嗡的一声， 都飞起来，没有去路似的在窗前飞绕了一会儿， 仍复爬在那纱上。 Dragonflies zigzagged among the trees, bumping from time to time against the grayishgreen wire-screens over the windows and startling the flies which had settled there, so that they flew up with a buzz and circled aimlessly around in front of the windows a while, before settling again to crawl on the screens.
Lesson Eleven（第十一课）
修辞与翻译 Translation of Rhetorical Devices
I Comparison(比喻)
Comparison: simile + metaphor Simile: an obvious indicator of resemblance（喻词） between the subject/tenor (本体)and the reference/vehicle (喻体)： 像，好像，仿佛，如… as, like, as if, as though… metaphor: no obvious indicator of resemblance（喻词） between the subject/tenor (本体)and the reference/vehicle (喻体)： 是，变成，成了… be, become, turn into…




2. Metaphor:
Jane’s uncle is an old fox, up to all kinds of evils.
珍妮的叔叔是个老狐狸，什么坏事都干得出来。 His friends in the audience shout at him to read the plaque. Frozen on the stage, Bill cannot. 观众中比尔的朋友大声叫嚷，叫他把奖牌上的话念 一下。比尔在台上呆若木鸡，他不会念。 It is regrettable that our appeal remained a dead letter. 遗憾的是，我们当时的呼吁石沉大海。
IV Antonomasia(借代)
Poor Charlie! Of all the frills in the world, he should have fallen in love with the daughter of a Judas! 可怜的查理！世界上有那么多女孩，他却爱上了一名犹大的女儿！ （注：圣经中耶稣十二使徒中出卖耶稣的人，常被用来指代叛徒） 或： 可怜的查理！世界上有那么多女孩，他却爱上了一名叛徒的女儿！
VI Euphemism
to be no more :不在了,没了 to be in a delicate condition 有喜,身怀六甲 On the 14th of March, at a quarter to three in the afternoon, the greatest living thinker ceased to think. He had been left alone for scarcely two minutes, and when we came back we found him in his armchair, peacefully gone to sleep—but forever. 三月十四日下午两点三刻，当代最伟大的思想家停止思想 了。让他一个人留在房间里总共不过两分钟，我们再进去 的时候，发现他在安乐椅上安详地睡着了——永远地睡着 了。
V Hyperbole（夸张）and Understatement（含蓄陈述）
1. Hyperbole
行在江上望两岸，只见千嶂屏翠，峰峰岭岭尽都浓浓淡淡 地绿进去……喔，一到富春江，眼瞳都是绿的！ Floating along the river and watching its two banks, your only feeling is that the thousand mountains are dyed green, and every peak and ridge is growing in different shades of green… “Aha, once in the Fuchun River even our eyes become green, too.” She is a girl in a million. 她是个百里挑一的姑娘。 妈妈对小明说：“下次你再不及格，看我不拧断你的脖 子！” Mother said to Xiao Ming, “If you should fail again, I would surely teach you a lesson.”