Color Words and Translation Lecture Seventeen Color Words and Translation 颜色词的翻译

Definition The word which expresses a color It includes primary, material and mixed color words.

Types Primary color words The words which express the basic colors in our daily life, such as red, white, black ,purple, brown, green, yellow. (赤，橙，黄，绿，青，蓝，紫 )

Changes of primary color words The degree of primary color words may be changed by adding pre-modifiers, such as light/pale/faded/dull or dark/deep/bright/brilliant/fairly. (浅/淡+基本颜色词; 深/暗+基本颜色词) e.g.: light red/浅红色 bright red/鲜红色

Material color words The words which express the color of an object or a material e.g.: gold ruby, cherry, rosy, coral, sapphire, emerald , lapis lazuli , lemon, canary , lime, olive, jade, jet, pitch, inky , ivory , snowy, silvery, milky, pearly

Mixed color words The words consisting of a material color word and a primary color word or two primary color words e.g. blood-red, orange-red, sharp cherry red, light blue , clear blue, pale blue, heavenly blue, dull green, fairly green, fresh green, brilliant yellow, pitch-dark, yellow-greenish

Grammatical functions (1) 在中国传统文化里，红色代表喜庆。 In traditional Chinese culture red symbolizes celebration and jubilation. (2) 白发三千丈，缘愁似个长。 My whitening hair would make a long long rope, yet could not fathom all my depth of woe.

(3) 春风又绿江南岸 The spring breeze greenizes the land south of the Yangtze River again. (4) My love is like a red red rose. 我的爱人像一朵红红的玫瑰。 (5) Her face reddened. 她的脸红了。

Cultural connotations of color words in C & E “红色”在汉语文化里表示喜庆、好运，如”红榜”(honor roll)、”红运”(good luck)、”红利”(dividend)等。Red在英语里则有”危险”、”暴力”、”血腥”之意，如red battle(血战)，red ruin(火灾)，Red Scare(红色恐怖)等。

“绿色”在汉语里的文化内涵不显著，可以象征春天、生命、朝气等，在”戴绿帽子”(to be a cuckold / to have an unfaithful wife) 一词里则含有贬义。在英语里，green则可表示“嫉妒”、“无经验的”、“财力、金钱”（因为美钞是绿色），如green-eyed（眼红的），green-hand（生手），green power（财团）等。

“黄色”在汉语文化里过去与皇帝有关，因为皇帝的衣服是黄袍(yellow robe)、黄马褂(yellow mandarin jacket)。在现代汉语中则表示淫秽，如“黄色电影”(blue films)、“黄色新闻”(sex news)，”黄色录像”(pornographic video)，”黄色文学”(pornography)。Yellow在英语中表示“胆小”、“卑鄙”，也可作为特定事物的标记，如a yellow dog（卑鄙的人），a yellow-livered person（胆小鬼），yellow pages（黄页，指电话号码薄），Yellow Book（黄皮书），yellow boy（金币，俚俗用语）。

“蓝色”在汉语里没有文化内涵。Blue在英语里可表示”忧郁、沮丧”、”下流、淫秽”、”高贵的、贵族的”、”出人意料的”等意思，如to feel blue(感到沮丧)，blue talk(下流言论)，blue blood贵族血统，out of the blue(意想不到)，once in a blue moon(千载难逢)等。

“白色”在汉语里主要表示”丧葬”、”纯洁”，如”白喜事”，”白璧无瑕”；此外还象征反动，或表示不添加任何东西，或表示徒劳，或表示错写错拼等，如”白色恐怖”(White Terror)，”白开水”(plain boiled water)，”白饭”(plain cooked rice)，”白搭”(no use)，”白白”(in vain)，”白费”( to be of no avail)，”白字”(wrongly written or mispronounced character)等。White在英语里面除表示”纯洁”外还可表示”善意的”、”昂贵而无用的”、”胆小的”等意义，如a white lie(善意的谎言)，white elephant(昂贵而又无用之物)，white-livered(胆怯的)，white coffee(加牛奶的咖啡)等。

“黑色”在汉语传统文化里与丧葬有关，此外还表示”坏、邪恶”，如”黑心肠”(evil mind)，黑幕”(inside story)，”黑手”(evil blackstage manipulator)等。Black在英语里表示”不吉利”、”暗淡”、”愤怒”等意思，如Black Friday(=Good Friday, 黑色星期五 / 耶稣受难日)，black sheep(害群之马)，black future(暗淡的前途)，to look black at someone(怒目而视)等。

Translation methods 1．直译 如果英汉语的颜色词表达的意思相同，则用直译。例如： (1) 红旗 red flag (2) red ink 赤字 (3) He is a tall, burly fellow with long hair and more white than black to his eyes. 他是个身材高大、长头发、眼球白多黑少的人。

(4) 他穿一身浅灰色底子淡蓝色条纹的西装，打着一条玫瑰红的领带。 He was dressed in a European-style suit of a pale-grey material with pale-blue stripes and a rose-red tie.

2．意译 如果原文颜色词的意思，在译入语中无法用颜色词表达时，则省略颜色词，译其意义。例如： (1) 红豆 love pea (2) in the black 赢利 (3) 我们的工夫全白搭了。 Our efforts were all wasted. (4) A: “She looks blue today. What’s the matter with her?” B: “She is in holiday blue.” 甲：“她今天显得闷闷不乐，出了什么事？” 乙：“她得了假期忧郁症。”

3．转换颜色词 当原文颜色词的意义在译入语里用另一种颜色词表达时，就需要转换。例如： (1) 黄色录像 blue video (2) brown sugar 红糖 (3) 封面和封底是重磅的米色道林纸，边上打了两个眼。 The covers were of heavy weight, buff-coloured calendered paper with two holes punched in the edges. (4) He is a green-eyed monster. 他是个好眼红的人。

翻译实践 原文： 中国科技馆的诞生来之不易。与国际著名科技馆和其他博物馆相比，它先天有些不足，后天也缺乏营养，但是它成长的步伐却是坚实而有力的。它在国际上已被公认为后起之秀。 世界上第一代博物馆属于自然博物馆，它是通过化石、标本等向人们介绍地球和各种生物的演化历史。

第二代属于工业技术博物馆，它所展示的是工业文明带来的各种阶段性结果。这两代博物馆虽然起到了传播科学知识的作用，但是，它们把参观者当成了被动的旁观者。 世界上第三代博物馆是充满全新理念的博物馆。在这里，观众可以自己去动手操作，自己细心体察。这样，他们可以更贴近先进的科学技术，去探索科学技术的奥妙。

中国科技馆正是这样的博物馆!它汲取了国际上一些著名博物馆的长处，设计制作了力 学、光学、电学、热学、声学、生物学等展品，展示了科学的原理和先进的科技成果。

参考译文： The Chinese Science and Technology Museum as a newcomer does not have an easy start. Compared with those world famous foreign science and technology museums and other kinds of museums, it lacks the resources in technology, science research and professional expertise. However, it grows up with solid achievements and now is ranked among the best world wide.

The first generation of museums are what might be called natural museums which, by means of fossils, specimens and other objects, introduced to people the evolutionary history of the Earth and various kinds of organisms. The second generation are those of industrial technologies which presented the fruits achieved by industrial civilization at different stages of industrialization. Despite the fact that those two generations of museums helped to disseminate / propagate / spread scientific knowledge, they nevertheless treated visitors merely as passive viewers.

The third generation of museums in the world are those replete with / full of wholly novel concepts / notions / ideas. In those museums, visitors are allowed to operate the exhibits with their own hands, to observe and to experience carefully. By getting closer to the advanced science and technologies in this way, people can probe into their secret mysteries.

The China Museum of Science and Technology is precisely one of such museums. It has incorporated some of the most fascinating features of those museums with international reputation. Having designed and created exhibits in mechanics, optics, electrical science, thermology, acoustics, and biology, those exhibits demonstrate scientific principles and present the most advanced scientific and technological achievements.

Assignment white-collar workers gray-collar workers pink-collar workers golden-collar workers  

to raise to the purple to be born in the purple to marry into the purple black in the face to look black at sb black sheep black day black future

黑心肠 黑手 黑幕 黑钱 他的眼圈红了. 他没有白干. 万紫千红 红男绿女 他变了脸,铁一般的青