习语翻译中的文化信息处理

从广义上讲，习惯用语通常包括成语（idioms）、短语（set phrases）、谚语（proverbs）、格言（sayings）、俗语（colloquialisms）、警句（epigrams）、名言录(quotations)、典故（allusions）、俚语（slang）、歇后语（two-part sayings）等。

在众多的习语中，我们发现，自然现象是人类认识世界的共同认知对象。 一．             习语具有较强的文化特征和民族特征。 在众多的习语中，我们发现，自然现象是人类认识世界的共同认知对象。

趁热打铁 to strike while the iron is hot; 浑水摸鱼 to fish in the troubled water; 如坐针毡 to sit on pins and needles。

英语习语： a thunder of applause 雷鸣般的掌声 at lightning speed 以迅雷不及掩耳之势 His eyes were raining tears. 他泪如雨下。

汉语习语：天壤之别 great difference as between heaven and earth (英语中类似的比喻是all difference in the world)

杞人忧天 to entertain groundless fears or unnecessary worries (英语中类似的比喻是 be more frightened than hurt)

水中捞月 to catch the moon in the water 或 to make an impractical attempt (英语中类似的比喻是 fish in the air; cry for the moon; plough the sands; a wild goose chase)

“知人知面不知心” 杨宪益采用直译的方法，译成“You can know a man’s face but not his heart.” 霍克斯则采用意译的手法，将这一习语的内在意义直接译出来; “Appearances certainly are deceptive!”

“胸有成竹”（Before an artist can draw a bamboo, he must have the image in his mind. 意为 To have a well-thought-out plan before doing something）；“雨后春笋”（To spring up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. 意为 Of new things emerging rapidly in large numbers）；

二．             习惯用语翻译中如何保证文化信息传递的有效度

由于英汉不同的民族文化背景，英汉习语各自行成了鲜明的形象特征，翻译时应力求达义传神、形神兼备。在实在不可能“形似”时要在“神似”的条件下，竭力用其他方法和手段表现出原喻体意之真谛，美之内涵。依据这一原则，可采用以下方法：

一. 保留原形象，以直译和异化为主

1．Every family is said to have at least one skeleton in the cupboard. 俗话说，衣柜里面藏骷髅，见不得人的事家家有。

2．“谋事在人，成事在天。”咱们谋到了，靠菩萨的保佑，有些机会，也可未知。(《红楼梦》) Man proposes, heaven disposes. Work out a plan, trust to Buddha, and something may come of it for all you know.

3．他们愚弄过我们，我们要以其人之道还治其人之身。（茅盾，《子夜》） We will pay them back for the trick they played on us.

4. “君子动口不动手！”阿Q歪着头说。（《阿Q正传》） 译文A: “A gentleman uses his tongue but not his hands!” protested Ah Q, his head on one side. (杨宪益译)

译文B: “The superior man moves only his mouth and not his hand 译文B: “The superior man moves only his mouth and not his hand!” shouted Ah Q, with his head twisted to one side. (香港版本译文)

这件事，除了他三儿子和几个经手的人以外，谁也不知道。他也不对任何人提起。哑巴吃黄连，有苦说不出。（歇后语，选自周而复的《上海的早晨》）

No one knew of these transactions apart from his youngest son and the few people who had handled them, nor was he going to mention the matter to anyone else. He was like the dumb eating the bitter herb: he had to suffer the bitterness of it in silence.

中国有句老话：“瓜熟蒂落”，“水到渠成”。（《毛泽东选集》）

As the old Chinese sayings go, “When a melon is ripe, it falls off its stem,” and “when water flows, a channel is formed.”

宝玉笑道：“我就是个‘多愁多病的身’，你就是那 ‘倾国倾城的貌’。”（《红楼梦》）

“I’m the one ‘sick with longing’” he joked “I’m the one ‘sick with longing’” he joked. “And yours is the beauty which caused ‘cities and kingdoms to fall.’”

（二）转换形象，使之归化 当差异的存在不利于理解，而译入语里恰有相对应的固有习语，这时可用符合译入语习惯，且能引起读者同样联想、同样情感的习语来替换，这也叫归化。

这时委员忽然打发人来叫他，他觉得这正是个一举两得的机会，一来能给李如珍赔个人情，二来能高攀一下委员。 （赵树理，《李家庄的变迁》）

Now this unexpected summons seemed an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: first he could apologize to Li, and secondly he could see the official. (杨宪益译)

“木已成舟罢！好在这个弟子会读书。” （李六如，《六十年变迁》）

“What’s been done can’t be undone “What’s been done can’t be undone! It’s a good thing though, this boy studies well.”

5.今既入了这园，再遇湘云，香菱、芳、蕊一干女子，所谓“人以类聚，物以群分 ”，二语不错。 （《红楼梦》）

Coming here now and meeting Hsiang-yun, Hsiang-ling, Fang-kuan, Jui-kuan and the other girls, it was a genuine case “like attracts like” or “birds of a feather flock together.”

8.他向来是惯叫农民来钻他的圈套的，真不料这回演了一套“请君入瓮”的把戏。（《子夜》）

He had become so used to setting traps for peasants all these years that it came as rather a shock to him to find he had walked into a snare himself.

（三）           放弃原形象意译，达到功能对等

如果原习语的形象既不能保留，又没有合适的替换，那就只能放弃原形象，采用意译的办法。

1．而且这规则是不像现在那样朝三暮四的。

And these rules, unlike those we have today, do not change all the time.

2．他这一阵心头如同十五个吊桶打水，七上八下，老是宁静不下来。 His mind was in a turmoil these days and he was quite unable to think straight.

3．方案一公布，大家就七嘴八舌地议论开了。 Publication of the draft plan touched off a lively discussion, with everybody eager to put in a word.

：三心二意 in/of two minds; 一五一十 in great detail; 不管三七二十一 regardless of the consequences; 三令五申 to have repeatedly issued orders and given warnings; 三头六臂 a person of inexhaustible resources; 三长两短 unexpected misfortune or accident

6…….后来出嫁了，两个人还藕断丝连，这只能怪包办婚姻，不能怪她。（周立波，《山乡巨变》

…and after she was married they still kept it up …and after she was married they still kept it up. The arranged marriage was the cause of this; she can’t be blamed.

8.“再试纺，顶多忙一阵子，过了几天，还不是外甥打灯笼——找舅（照旧）。”（周而复，《上海的早晨》）

“And if we’re now going to have a check spinning, it’ll only mean that we’ll be busier than ever for a spell and then after a few days things will be back to what they were before.”