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Nos. 21-30
21. 這個教授教得很爛。
[誤] The professor teaches badly.
[正] The professor is so terrible.
註:有人認為第二句的意思是「這個教授很可怕」,其實不然。英語中 terible 意思很靈活,例如:feel terrible 指身體「不舒服」; The food is terrible 則是說食物「難吃極了」。而第一句純屬中文式的表達。
22. 我希望你不要拖我的後腿。
[誤] I hope that you won't pull my leg.
[正] I hope that you won't hold me back.
註:pull one's leg 是「愚弄某人,開某人的玩笑」的意思,相當於 make fun of sb.。英語中與「拖後腿」相對應的表達是 hold sb. back 或 be a drag on sb. 等。
23. 學校里,那些長得人高馬大的傢伙常來找我的麻煩。
[誤] At school, those big and strong guys always come to find my trouble.
[正] At school, those big and strong guys always come to pick on me.
註:find my trouble 是「發現我的難處」的意思,而英語中「找某人的麻煩」用短語 pick on sb. 它不僅表示「挑剔某人、找某人的碴」,而且還包含 tease(取笑、戲弄)或 bully(威脅、欺侮)的意思。
24. 原來如此。一經你解釋我就明白了。
[誤] So it is. I understand soon after your explanation.
[正] So that's how it is. I understand soon after your explanation.
註:So it is 的意思是「的確如此」,它是用來表示對對方觀點的贊同的。例如:
A: It is a fine day today!
B: So it is.
而在表達恍然大悟時,英文要用 So that's how it is 或 So that explains it, 或更簡單地道的說法 Oh, I see.
25. 先生,您是不是迷路了?
[誤] Hello, monsieur, get lost?
[正] Hello, monsieur, got lost?
註:這兩句譯文表面上看只是時態上存在差異,其實它們的含義也截然不同。get lost 是俚語:「走開,別搗亂」的意思,got lost才是「迷路」。難怪當你友好地問外賓 "Get lost?"時,他並不領情呢!
Please see:
http://www.rainlane.com/dispbbs. ... 64&star=1#65796
(1) get lost!: go away
"I wish he'd get lost and stop bothering me. I don't want to talk to him!"
---Dennis Oliver's Idioms:
http://www.eslcafe.com/idioms/id-g.html
(2) Get lost! INFORMAL
used to tell someone forcefully and quite rudely to go away:
Tell him to get lost!
(from Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/ ... =CALD&key=47316
(3)《英漢大詞典》p.1055:
We got lost in the woods. 我們在森林中迷路了。
(4) 張道真《現代英語用法詞典》p.820-821:
He lost his bearing(迷失方向)in the strange city.
(5) 在...中迷路,迷失在...
We were lost in the forest.
We are lost in the woods.
* lost one'e way 迷路
She had lost her way.
Don't lost your way in the storm.
(6)《漢英大詞典》上海交大版;金山詞霸2005:
均收錄了 get lost 為「迷路」;而「金山詞霸2005」把「get lost」和「got lost」均列為「迷路」。但都沒有例句。
有關迷路的常見說法:
1) to get lost(常用)
I wouldn't have gotten lost, if I had asked for directions.
要是我問過路,就不至於迷路了。
2) to lost one's way(正式)
The child had lost his way.
那個小孩迷路了。
3) to take the wrong road(不常用)
Finally we found ourselves having taken the wrong road.
最後,我們發覺我們迷路了。
4) to go the wrong way(常用)
I am we are going the wrong way.
恐怕我們走錯路了。
5) so lose one's bearings(正式)
One might lose his bearings in an unfamiliar place.
一個人在不熟悉的地方最容易迷路。
6) can't find one's way(常用)
They went on in the desert until at last they couldn't find their way.
他們在沙漠里繼續走,直到他們最後迷了路。
7) to stray(正式)
They strayed in the woods.
他們在森林中迷路了。
(to go astray:走入迷途,走上歧途)
Today I came across get lost in The Invisible Man ---H. G. Wells:
"I'm not trying to run away, I swear," protested Marvel tearfully. "I don't know these roads and I don't want to get lost."
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26. 我沒料到這個無恥的女人居然同她好友的丈夫調情。
[誤] I had not expected that this shameful woman should flirt with her best friend's husband.
[正] I had not expected that this shameless woman should flirt with her best friend's husband.
註:shameful 通常指某事物是「可恥的,丟臉的」,而 shameless 表示 having or showing no feeling of shame; immodest or impudent,它一般用來指人「不知羞恥的,不要臉的」或「傷風敗俗的」。原文也可譯為:It's shameful that the woman should flirt with her best friend's husband.
27. 東施效顰。
[誤] Doingshi imitates Xishi.
[正] The ugly imitates the beautiful in such a distorted way that the ugliness of the ugly becomes worse.
註:把原文按照字面意思直譯過來,恐怕只有中國人能夠理解。要想讓外國人明白這個中國成語,就要對譯文進行解釋性加工了。同樣,「情人眼裡出西施」不是 Xishi is in the eye of the beholder,而是 Beauty is in the eye of the beholder。
28. 你不好好學習,還想去牛津上大學。這可真是個不切實際的幻想喲!
[誤] You don't study hard, yet you want to go to Oxford. What an impractical illusion!
[正] You don't study hard, yet you want to go to Oxford. What an illusion!
註:漢語中的修飾語往往用的很多,目的在於加強語氣,但這種表達習慣在翻譯時必須進行處理。illusion 本身就有 impractical 的含義,而英語中在表意已經很明確的情況下是無需重複的。
29. 想讓他答應這樣的要求恐怕不大可能。
[誤] I'm it is impossible for him to agree to such a request.
[正] I'm afreaid it is unlikely for him to agree to such a request.
註:impossible 表示「完全不可能」,所以與原文有出入。在英語中,probable 表示的可能性最大,其次是 possible,再次是 likely。而常用的句式為 it is probable/possible/likely for sb. to do sth.,或 sb. be likely to do sth.。
30. 一群螞蟻
[誤] a group of ants
[正] a colony of ants
註:表示群體時,group 通常指人或物,而 colony 才指生物群體。
The Chinglish Files have been featured in the U.K. newspaper "The Telegraph" and on the BBC radio program "The World Today."
Chinglish: The humorous version of English that appears (often in instructions for assembling or using products) after a translation from the original Chinese (or any other language) fails to come across in "normal" English.
The term Chinglish is a fusion of the "Chin" from Chinese and the "glish" from English. Chinglish is not a racist or bigoted term and should not be taken as such. If anything, The Chinglish Files are a way of poking fun at how difficult our flawed English language can be to translate at times. It is not intended as a dig at the intelligence or linguistic capabilities of other nations. Anyway, that's enough "serious" discussion already... time for some fun:
(a * indicates the more popular featured pieces of Chinglish - The newest pieces of Chinglish are at the bottom of the page)
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