翻译经验: 和“猪”一样蠢

cgwn

刚才我在一个英语学习论坛上，看到有一篇“中翻英”的短文，译的很不错，只是其中的一句话有点问题。这句话是as stupid as a pig(像猪一样愚蠢)，您看出问题了吗？在汉语中，我们确实经常说“蠢猪”这个词，来形容某个人很笨，因此在一般中国人的感觉中，猪就代表愚蠢。但在西方文化中，代表愚蠢的动物并不是猪，而是驴，因此这句话应当翻译成as stupid as an ass。写到这里，我想顺便再多说一句，在西方文化中，猪不仅不代表愚蠢，有时甚至还代表快乐，比如as happy as a pig(像猪一样快乐)，因此我们有必要在这里为猪先生平反昭雪(笑)。

通过这个小例子，我们可以看出，在翻译这种与动物有关的比喻性句子(metaphoric sentence)时，我们一定要考虑西方文化的因素，避免用中国人的习惯说法代替西方人的习惯说话。由于这个问题并不是一个很重要的问题，一般的英语教科书上很可能没有介绍，因此我特意收集了一些常用的形容词与动物的搭配，供初学者朋友们参考，请看：

as blind as a bat (像蝙蝠一样盲目)

as hungry as a bear (像熊一样饥饿)

as busy as a beaver (像河狸一样忙碌)

as busy as a bee (像蜜蜂一样忙碌)

as songful as a bird (像鸟一样动听)

as angry as a bull (像公牛一样愤怒)

as changeful as a chameleon (像变色龙一样多变)

as bald as an eagle (像鹰一样秃顶)

as sly as a fox (像狐狸一样狡猾)

as tall as a giraffe (像长颈鹿一样高)

as silly as a goose (像鹅一样愚蠢)

as fast as a hare (像野兔一样快)

as playful as a kitten (像小猫一样喜欢嬉戏)

as gentle as a lamb (像小羊一样温和)

as brave as a lion (像狮子一样勇敢)

as stubborn as a mule (像骡子一样顽固)

as wise as an owl (像猫头鹰一样聪明)

as quick as a rabbit (像兔子一样快)

as slow as a snail (像蜗牛一样缓慢)

as graceful as a swan (像天鹅一样优美)

as slow as a turtle (像乌龟一样缓慢)

as hungry as a wolf (像狼一样饥饿)

最后我还想再补充一句：上面的搭配，并不是固定不变的，比如bull(公牛)这种动物，经常跟angry(愤怒)搭配，但它也可以跟mad(疯狂)、strong(强壮)等搭配，因此初学者朋友们千万不要搞教条，一定要灵活运用.