動物詞在漢英文化中的喻義及其翻譯(編輯修改稿)

　

【文章內容簡介】 ovince, “象州”, “象鼻山” in Guangxi province, “象河” in Tibet, etc. “Elephant” also symbolizes status. For example, in remote antiquity, the noble ladies wore clothes with designs of elephants (象服)。 The emperors rode on elephants. The “elephant” is doted by Chinese people because of the Buddhist legends. It is said that the Buddhist patriarch was the reincarnation of white elephant. On the contrary, in English white elephant (白象) is likened to things that are useless and often expensive. The allusion is originated from a folk story that in Siam (now Thailand), the king would give a white elephant as a present to a subject that he did not like. The subject would have to spend all his money on looking after the rare animal. Therefore, there exist such expressions in English, “elephantine (笨拙)”, “elephant humor (蹩腳的幽默)”, “elephant task (累贅的活兒)”.[8] Some animal words with mendatory figurative meaning in English, but with derogatory figurative meaning in ChineseLet’s take our familiar animal word “dog” for example. The dog is very interesting and closely related with people. Most of the “dog” expressions possess a mendatory sense or at least a neuter sense in English. It is all right to refer to certain people as “big dog (重要人物)”, “top dog (優勝者)”, “lucky dog (幸運兒)”, etc. in English. “To help a lame dog over the stile” means “to help someone in difficulty”. “To let sleeping dogs lie” means “to make no trouble” or “not to disturb people”. “Every dog has its day,” means “every person will some day succeed or bee fortunate.” Such usage does not contain derogatory meaning. But figures of speech like these are not proper in Chinese as the word “狗” in most Chinese phrases is associated with some derogatory meanings, as is reflected in sayings like “狗膽包天、狗急跳墻、狗頭軍師、狗腿子、狗血噴頭、狼心狗肺、狗眼看人低、喪家之犬、狗嘴吐不出象牙”, etc., even though most Chinese now think the dog is man’s faithful friend. [9] However, in some cases the word “dog” may have derogatory sense in English, as is shown in the following examples: “yellow dog (卑鄙之人)”, “dirty dog (齷齪之人)”, “sly dog (陰險之人)”, “dead dog (無用的人)”, and some vulgar languages: “son of bitch (狗雜種)”, “you dog (狗東西)”, “that cur (小雜種狗)”, etc. [10] “Owl (貓頭鷹)” is very popular with the western. The Greeks use “owl” to stand for Athens, which is famous for its many owls. And it’s said that Athena, the woman patron saint was given an owls as her mark. It symbolizes wisdom, calmness, gravity and steadiness. In dispute among birds and beats, it is the owl that they go to for advice, and we can see such idiom “as wise as an owl”. If we use “owlish” to describe somebody, we want to say he is clever or serious, . “Patrick peered owlishly at us through his glasses. (帕特里克透過他的眼鏡嚴肅而機智地審視著我們。) ” But in Chinese, the figurative meaning of the word “owl” is quite different. “Owl” is described as the devil, ill omen and evil. People are afraid of seeing an owl, especially seeing its entering the house, so there are proverbs which go like these: “夜貓子進宅，無事不來”。 “夜貓子抖擻翅，大小有點事兒”. The mere sight of an owl or the sound of its hooting might cause people to draw back in fear. [11] To Chinese people and English people, “bear” has quite different figurative meanings. To Chinese people “bear” means “cowardly and timid” or “stupid”, such as “笨熊”, “瞧那熊樣”, etc. However, in English, people use “bear” to refer to those persons having special ability, for instance, “He is a bear at music. (他是音樂天才。)”Another example is an insectcricket (蟋蟀), which, however, means totally different to both the Chinese and the English. In Chinese culture, “cricket” refers to a small, brown, jumping insect which makes a shrill sound by rubbing its front wings together. It is often used to express “grief” and “desolation”, which is reflected in the following example “獨申旦而不寐兮，哀蟋蟀之宵征” written by Song Yu in the book of 《九辯》. But in English, since Shakespeare used “as merry as crickets” in Henry IV, the English and American people have used “cricket” to symbolize joy all the time. For example, once wrote in his Two Years Ago that “I have not had all the luck I expected, but… am as merry as a cricket. (雖然我沒有得到想要的一切好運，但我卻很高興。)” [12] Different animal association vehicles and similar figurative meaningsDifferent animal words have similar cultural connotations in English and Chinese languages and people use different animal words to express similar meanings. Even though the animal association vehicles are different, they have similar figurative meanings.For instance, agriculture is the foundation of China’s economic development, so the cattle (牛) play a great role in Chinese culture. There are so many expressions which use “cattle” as association vehicles, such as “壯實如牛”, “牛氣沖天”, “象老黃牛一樣辛勤工作”, “過著牛馬不如的生活”. However, in the Middle Ages, horse was not only the inseparable part of Knights’ lives, but also the animal kept and used by the imperial families. So English people give horse many good figurative meanings such as “as strong as a horse”, “to work like a horse”, “get on one’s high horse”. Similarly, Great Britain is an island country, so fishery is important. Therefore, there exists such figurative expression “to drink like a fish (牛飲)”. [13] In English, there are many figurative expressions using the word “horse” as association vehicles, . “change horse (換馬)” is likened to “change groups or leaders (換班子或領導人)”。 “from the horse’s mouth (第一手的)”。 “talk horse (吹牛)”, etc.To Chinese people, “tiger” is referred to as the king of animals and stands for power, vigor and bravery. So there are many expressions with the letter “虎”: “英雄虎膽”, “龍爭虎斗”, “藏龍臥虎”, “如虎添翼”, “虎將”, etc. But in English “tiger” symbolizes cruelty. The western regards “lion” as the king of animals. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language interprets “a person felt to be like a lion especially in courage, ferocity, dignity or dominance (一個象是獅子的人，特別指勇氣、兇猛、威嚴或權勢方面)”. We use “as bold as a lion” to describe a brave person. The lion enjoys high prestige. In addition,