英汉文化组成成分对比

4.3　英汉文化组成成分对比

英汉文化之间的差异非只言片语或短短篇章可以全面叙述。但是，我们可以从英汉的语言中提取到它们文化的组成成分。文化成分与一个民族的生产方式、生活习俗、文化现象等是分不开的。比如，中国千百年来的生产方式以农业为主，发达的农耕文明创造出“根不正，秧子歪”、“种田有谷，养猪有肉”、“到什么山上唱什么歌”、“种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆”、“拔苗助长”、“瓜熟蒂落”等谚语。同样，我们可以从百老汇（Broadway）窥探到美国戏剧音乐剧的文化成分；从后殖民主义（post-colonialism）中了解英美文学的组成成分；也可以从社会保障（social security）中了解英语国家的社会保障体系。本节从英语文化组成成分的角度出发，解读英汉文化的差异。

4.3.1　英汉生活习俗的对比

前面提到传统中国以农业生产方式为主，很多词语同耕种相关。而传统的英语国家的人生活在大西洋岸边，因此很大一部分词语与航海有关。比如：

when one’s ship comes home 当变成富翁

to keep one’s head above water 奋力图存

to know the ropes 懂得秘诀，内行

to keep one’s weather eye open 仔细查看，提防

in the same boat with 与……境遇相同

Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. 生活无目的就像航海无罗盘。

以下例子反映了英语国家的生活方式

例43.He has taken the bread out of my mouth.

译文　他抢了我的饭碗。

西方人以面包为主食，没有“饭”的概念，“抢饭碗”自然不会说成He has taken my rice bowl.

例44.He thought small potatoes of our complaint.

译文　他并不重视我们的投诉。

例45.Our business is really small potatoes compared with theirs.

译文　我们的业务和他们相比，真是小巫见大巫。

土豆作为西方人的主食之一，产生了不少与之相关的比喻。Small potatoes往往用来比喻不重要的人或物。与small potatoes相反的是big cheese（重要人物）。无论potato也好，cheese也好，都反映了英汉生活方式的不同。

例46.I’ll be with you from the egg to apple.

译文　我将永远和你在一起。

西方人早餐总是吃鸡蛋、面包，而晚餐最后一道是包含苹果在内的甜点。所以，egg指事情的开始，apple指终结。此处要了解英语国家饮食文化才能领悟此特殊意味。

此外，汉语中喜欢把一些物件和人体部位组合成词，如“书目”、“页眉”、“把手”、“墙面”、“河口”等；相应地，英语中也有这样的表达，如：

the eye of a needle　针眼　the centre of a flower　花心

the teeth of a comb　梳齿　the head of a hammer　榔头

the legs of a table　桌脚　the hand of a clock　钟的指针

4.3.2　英汉文化现象对比

文化现象对语言的丰富和发展有着不可忽视的推动作用。汉语中的状元、解放、大字报、旗袍等都凝聚着厚重的文化内涵。英语中的嬉皮士、百老汇、硅谷、珍妮纺纱机、工业革命等也能让我们寻觅到英语历史文化发展的足迹。但是英语中很多承载了文化现象的词语往往被错误翻译。本节通过介绍分析英语词语在汉语中的错误翻译来说明语言背后的文化问题对翻译的重要性，这对增加对英语文化的了解和提高翻译能力是有好处的。首先，文化现象举例如下。

例47.I invite heads of companies， editors of magazines， politicians， Broadway producers， artists， writers， economists， photographers， scientists， historians—a mixed bag of achievers.

译文　我邀请的人有各界的成功人士：公司老板、杂志编辑、政治家、百老汇制片人、艺术家、作家、经济学家、摄影家、科学家、历史学家等。

Broadway（百老汇）是纽约戏剧和娱乐中心，是美国戏剧和娱乐业的代名词。

例48.The American Dream is still very much alive. Dreaming great dreams is what keeps American society going—from the waitress who wants to become a car dealer to the street kid who wants to become a basketball star. Europeans dream dreams too， but they don’t seem to believe in them so much.

译文　人们依旧在做着美国梦。崇高的梦想正是推动美国社会前进的动力——从梦想成为汽车销售商的女服务员到梦想成为篮球明星的街头小孩儿。欧洲人也在做梦，但是他们似乎并不十分相信梦想可以成真。

American Dream（美国梦）是19世纪美国经济繁荣时的一种理想，即每个美国人都有均等机会，通过自我努力可以获得成功。

例49.Pennsylvania also provided an indication of what America was to be: it was a large community where different races and religious lived under the same government on terms of equality. William Penn’s liberation helped start the great melting-pot in America.

译文　宾夕法尼亚的做法也为美国的未来发展指明了方向：美国是一个庞大的社会，在这里，不同的种族和不同的宗教信仰的人在平等的条件下生活在一起，受一个政府的领导。威廉姆·佩恩的自由主义主张促使了民族大熔炉在美国的形成。

美国人称自己的国家为“大熔炉”，因为它的人口是由来自世界各地的移民组成的，不同的种族和文化在这里融合在一起。

其次，文化翻译错误分述如下。

（1）文化误读

例50.But I hear that your ex-girlfriend had given you a Dear John letter.

原译　可是我听说你前女友已经给你写信称你为Dear John 了。

改译　可是我听说你前女友已经给你写了绝交信。

Dear John意为“女方写的绝交信”，源于美国20世纪40年代的一首流行歌曲：Dear John， oh， how I hate to write! Dear John， I must let you know tonight that my love for you has died away like grass upon the lawn. And tonight I wed another， Dear John…

例51.The couple will go to Reno.

原译　这对夫妇要去雷诺市。

改译　这对夫妇要离婚了。

Reno（雷诺）是美国的一座小城，以办理离婚快速、容易而著称，go to Reno成了美国人离婚的委婉说法。

例52.It’s not easy to become a member of that club—they want people who have plenty of money to spend， not just every Tom， Dick and Harry.

原译　要加入那个俱乐部可不容易——他们只吸收有钱的阔佬，而不是每一个汤姆、迪克和哈里。

改译　要加入那个俱乐部可不容易——他们只吸收有钱的阔佬，而不是普通百姓。

Tom， Dick， Harry是英语中的常见人名，泛指普通百姓。

（2）生硬移植

例53.She looked alive and vibrant in tight white slacks and red turtleneck sweater.

原译　她穿着紧身的白裤子和红色甲鱼领毛衣，显得朝气蓬勃。

改译　她穿着紧身的白裤子和红色高领毛衣，显得朝气蓬勃。

turtleneck sweater指高领毛衣，不能望文生义。

例54.She left home and went to London hoping to find love and adventure， but life in city offered her only Dead Sea fruit.

原译　她抱着寻求爱情和奇遇的希望离开家来到伦敦，可是城市生活给予她的只是死海之果。

改译　她抱着寻求爱情和奇遇的希望离开家来到伦敦，可是城市生活给予她的只是虚有其表的东西。

传说死海附近产一种苹果，外表美丽，但一摘一尝就化为灰烬。Dead Sea fruit指虚有其表、华而不实的东西。

（3）信息含混

例55.The United States has now set up a loneliness industry.

原译　美国现已设置了一种孤独的工业。

改译　美国现已设置了一种为孤独老人服务的社会项目。

美国政府开办了的专为孤独老人服务的社会项目，名为loneliness industry. 译成汉语时要添加必要的解释。

例56.When the children came to the door and cried “trick or treat”， we gave them some cookies and apples.

原译　孩子们来到门口叫喊“诡计或款待”，我们就给了他们一些饼干和苹果。

改译　万圣节前夕，孩子们来到门口叫喊“不请吃就捣乱啦”，就给了他们一些饼干和苹果。

此处涉及英美国家的一个节日万圣节（Halloween）。trick or treat是小孩的娱乐项目，他们挨家挨户敲门要吃的，被敲门的人家必须请孩子吃东西，否则孩子们会捉弄他们。

本章从文化渊源、文化意象、文化组成成分三方面来探讨英汉文化的差异。文化渊源的异同通过与宗教相关典故、与历史事件、寓言、文学作品等相关的典故来展现英汉文化的差异；文化意象则从具体文化意象、数字、色彩词等方面入手；英汉文化组成成分的差异则由英汉生活习俗和文化现象体现。

练习

一、试译下列各句，注意斜体部分：

1.John can be relied on， he eats no fish and plays the game.

2.His wife held the purse string.

3.You should keep your nose out of here.

4.Mother said， “John， you’re talking through your hat. You’re crazy.”

5.The deceased old man did not leave a will and the distribution of his property was a Gordian knot.

6.Along with its medical benefits， the sequencing of the human genome had lifted the lid on a Pandora Box’s of ethical and legal issues.

7.To these guest workers… it was nothing short of an “Asphalt Jungle”.

8.This is really a requisition from semele， isn’t it?

9.Radio and television warnings had sounded throughout that Sunday， last August 17， as Camille lashed northwestward across the Gulf of Mexico.

10.You look like AL Capone in that suit.

11.All right， I blame myself.　But it’s the last time.　We were cat’s-paws， that’s all.

12.But the die was cast， he could not go back.

13.Large police forces were encamped near the meeting， out of sight but hardly out of mind.

14.The Nazis in Berlin became desperate and tried to make hell while the sun was shining.

15.By comparison， the Great Wall in China is a mammoth presence.

16.He is too yellow to stand up and fight.

17.They felt rather blue after the failure in the football match.

18.You cannot expect Mary to do business with such people.　She is only eighteen and as green as grass.

19.This year the value of our industrial output has increased by twice as compared with that of last year.

20.The plastic container is five times lighter than that glass one.

二、试译下列段落，注意斜体部分的涵义：

1.Television has changed the importance of issues.　It can be argued that since the 1960 presidential debates we have elected people， not platforms.　This is a major departure from earlier years.　Franklin Roosevelt’s radio charisma cannot be denied， but he was swept to power by issue—the Great Depression.

2.The black people in Montgomery were used to such events.　They knew they couldn’t expect anything else so they usually gave way.　But suddenly they were very angry.　Crowds gathered in the streets and in the churches.　When Dr.　King heard about it he said， “We could all stop using the buses.” This was what he meant by “nonviolent direct action”.　It was action that would express the people’s strong feelings without attacking anyone.　He got the idea from Gandhi， whose picture hung over his desks.　He had always admired Gandhi.

3.When an airline failed to award Lillian Simes of Milwaukee all the frequent-flier miles she’d earned on an extended foreign trip because of an obscure provision， she tracked down the supervisor of the frequent-flier program.　“She asked me to send her all the information，”Sims recalls.　“I had everything she needed， and after reviewing it， she awarded me the right number of miles.”

4.Nobody is recommending a diet based on the tops ofmargarita glasses， and some people should restrict their salt very carefully.　For them， blood pressure goes up and down in concert with their salt intake.　Just as blondes and redheads must be more careful about the sun than those who can get tan watching the Travel Channel.

5.From then on John Kennedy， with his serious manner and easy charm， became the golden boy of American politics.　He couldn’t lose.　After six years as Congressman he returned to Washington in the more important job of Senator from Massachusetts.

6.Half of the U.S.　work force is now under 35， up from just over a third at the end of the 1950s.　Whether their collars are blue， white， or pink most of these are non-supervisory workers—47 million， vs.　ten million supervisors， managers， and professionals of the same age whose own careers will turn at least partly on their ability to manage these increasingly well-educated and skilled people.

7.David Brown， one of the most successful movie producers in America， was fired from three corporate jobs before he figured out that corporate life was not for him.　In Hollywood he rose to become No.　2 at Twentieth Century Fox， until he recommended the film Cleopatra， which turned out to be a commercial disaster.　Layoffs followed.　He was fired.