发布时间 : 星期一 文章动物词在汉英文化中的喻义及其翻译更新完毕开始阅读10fb3f8483d049649b6658e9
For example:
(1) 俗话说得好，叫做“杀鸡吓猴”，拿鸡子宰了，那猴儿自然害怕。（李宝嘉：《官场现形记》）
The saying has it well, “kill the chicken in order to frighten the monkey”. If the chicken is killed the monkey is certainly scared. [22]
(2) 楚兵罢食尽，此天亡楚之时也，不如因其机而遂取之。今释弗击，此所谓养虎遗患也。（司马迁：《史记.项羽本纪》）
The troops of Chu are short of food, which shows the gods want to wipe them out and take up the state. If we don’t launch an attack upon them and let them go, what we shall do is to nourish a tiger to be a source of the trouble in the future. [23]
(3) Advice and correction roll off him like water off a duck’s back. 劝导对他好像水过鸭背似的不起作用。[24] (4) You stupid ass! How could you do a thing like that? 你这头蠢驴！怎么会干出那种事儿来？ [25]
Let’s have a look at some other examples: dark horse (黑马), paper tiger (纸老虎), lamb duck (跛脚鸭子), as pure as a swan (像天鹅一样圣洁), etc.
Keeping image of association vehicles can make language vivid and vigorous and preserve the original style. Adopting this method not only reproduces the source language meaning and charm but also benefits the cultural exchange between Chinese and English. 4.2.2 Changing image of animal association vehicles
English language and Chinese language have some cultural discrepancies. If some original association vehicles are kept in the process of translation, the target language readers may not understand them. Indeed, there are occasions where certain cultural aspects of original cannot be directly transferred into the target language culture. Thus, in the process of intercultural
communication, we may replace the original image with a different one that retains the meaning of the original message and well fits in with the target language. For example:
To Chinese people, if someone talks too much and don’t want to stop, we will use “叽叽喳喳，像只麻雀” to describe him. In Chinese culture, people always associate “sparrow” with someone talkative. This coincides with the associative meaning of “magpie” in the English culture (see section 2.2.1). Therefore, the replacement of “sparrow” with “magpie” is quite necessary for the sake of English reader’s acceptability.
(5) 郭彩娣见徐义德装出一副笑面虎的神情，越发使她生气。（周而复： 《上海的早晨》） It made Kuo Tsai-ti more furious than ever to see Hsu Yi-teh putting on this wolf-in-sheep’s clothing manner. [26]
(6) Mr. Smith may serve as a good secretary, for he is as close as an oyster. 失密斯先生可以当个好秘书，因为他守口如瓶。[27]
In addition, when using other association vehicles to replace the original association vehicles, we should pay attention to some traps. Look at the example: (7) Lock the stable door after the horse is stolen/has bolted.
It is not proper to put it into “亡羊补牢”. This English proverb means “to take precaution too late to be effective”, which emphasizes “late”, equal to Chinese expression “贼去关门” or “雨后送伞”. However, in Chinese proverb it stresses “not too late” and its complete expression is “亡羊补
牢，犹为未晚”, which is equal to another English proverb “It’ s never too late to mined[sic].” [28] Chinese and English people adopt different animal images to express the similar figurative meanings, so this method of changing images is the best way and this conforms to the thinking modes and expressions of the source and target language readers. 4.2.3 Discarding image of animal association vehicles
Some animal words contain opposite figurative meanings with commendatory or derogatory sense and exist semantic gaps. If these culturally loaded association vehicles can be represented in the target language version, it would cause many misunderstandings and language barriers. So the best way is to discard the images of animal association vehicles. For example: (8) 他被新来的经理炒鱿鱼了。
“炒鱿鱼” is a dialect in the area of Guangdong province. It is equal to “fire sb.” or “get the back” in English language. If we try to retain the image “鱿鱼”, the English readers would be baffled. Here we should choose to tell out the meaning of the sentence to make the translation clear. So the translated version is “He was fired by the newly-appointed manager.” (9) Don’t listen to her gossip; She is a cat. 别听她搬弄是非，她是个心地恶毒的女人。
(10) The lions at her party included two famous authors and a musician. 她宴请的社会名流包括两名作家和一名音乐家。 [29]
When this method is used in translation, the target language readers have no difficulty in reading and they do not need to stop to guess the meaning of the figurative expressions as well. Along with the development and close contact with the foreign countries, the western have been learning the Chinese culture all the time. So do the Chinese people. When translating, we can use literal translation plus annotation in the beginning. After the target language readers have been very familiar with the expressions and known their meanings in the source language texts, we can omit the annotation. With the lapse of time, Chinese and English language will be absorbed each other. This will benefit more to know the two countries’ cultures and customs, and the two countries can keep their own national flavors. 5. Conclusion
Human beings always have inseparable relations with animals. In the long period of time when man is in harmony with animals, he has come to realize that all animals, whether they are friends or enemies, contribute much to man’s living. Therefore, animal words come into human communicating language. It can be said that human language reflects human ideas and acts; so animal words play a very important role in human linguistic communication.
Different cultures of Chinese and English nations entrust cultural connotations to the animal words, which cause discrepancies in the application of animal association vehicles. These discrepancies bring obstruction of intercultural communication. As an important means of cross-cultural communication, translation is also closely connected with culture. For the purpose of our effective communication, we should understand these culturally loaded animal words correctly and do the equivalent translation between English language and Chinese language, and build a bridge for the linguistic cultural exchange.
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