丁 寧

(沈陽藥科大學 外語組,遼寧 沈陽 110016)

俚語在英語中的應用

丁 寧

(沈陽藥科大學 外語組,遼寧 沈陽 110016)

俚語是一種非正式的語言,通常用在非正式的場合。有時俚語用以表達新鮮事物,或?qū)εf事物賦以新的說法。

俚語;習慣用語;交流障礙

俚語(slang),是指民間非正式、較口語的語句,是百姓在日常生活中總結(jié)出來的通俗易懂順口的具有地方色彩的詞語,地域性強,較生活化。有時俚語用以表達新鮮事物,或?qū)εf事物賦以新的說法。俚語存在于任何一種語言當中。拿漢語來說,歇后語、俏皮話、方言等等,都可以歸為俚語。

一、俚語的重要性

因為俚語屬于非正式用語,所以我們在書面或者其他非口語對話中不會經(jīng)常使用到俚語,但這并不意味著英語學習中可以忽略這種非正式用語,如果不能很好地掌握俚語,在交流,特別是與以英語為母語的人的交流過程中,會遇到很大的障礙。

每種語言中,都會有一些人們在長期的交流過程中所總結(jié)出來的精辟的詞語和語句。將這些詞語和語句簡化后,便得到了我們現(xiàn)在所應用的俚語。俚語可以說是通過簡單的語言表達復雜思想的一種方式,是人們經(jīng)驗和智慧的結(jié)晶。在漢語的表達過程中,我們也經(jīng)常會用到俚語,如果說,對于語言本身的單詞、句型、語法以及寫作方面的掌握是基礎的話,那么俚語就是語言學習的升華。

二、俚語故事分析

1.blow your own horn

Xiao Zhang had just graduated from university and was hunting for a job.One day he was driving a car to go on an outing with several friends.They were caught in a traffic jam downtown,so they had to wait patiently in their car.They began to talk one after another about their experiences in looking for a job and exchange ideas on how to write a curriculum vitae.

One of his friends patted Xiao Zhang on the shoulder and said:"You should blow your own horn!"

As soon as that friend finished speaking,a burst ofsound washeard.His friend quickly stopped him:’Hey,what are you doing?Sounding your horn is forbidden here,otherwise fines will be imposed.Didn’t you see the sighbroad’Don’t Horn’over there?"

Xiao Zhang felt puzzled and said:"Didn’t you ask me to blow the horn?I thought you wanted me to sound the horn to hurry the unmoving car in front."

Later Xiao Zhang figured out that"blow your own horn"means"publicize or boast one’s abilities or achievements."There his friends meant that Xiao Zhang should not modest but show off his strong points and merits when writing his resume.

在這則故事當中,小張誤解了朋友的意思,在禁止鳴笛區(qū)域按了喇叭。可能在讀文章的最初,很多讀者也跟小張一樣,認為他的朋友的那句“Blow your own horn”是在告訴小張去按喇叭催促前面擁擠的車輛,但是,小張和這些讀者們都忽略了另一個語言環(huán)境,就是他們所在談論的找工作、寫個人簡介的問題。小張朋友的那句話是在提醒小張應該把自己優(yōu)點和長處展現(xiàn)在他的個人簡介當中,翻譯成漢語有“展現(xiàn)自己”的意思。如果對這句俚語不是很理解,在聽到horn的時候,很容易誤解朋友的話,不僅違反了交通規(guī)則,也會讓朋友覺得尷尬。

2.calling card

I was describing a friend whom I met at the supermarket the other day to my American friend Susan,for Susan also knew her.However,Susan could not think of whom I was talking about form beginning to end.She asked me:“What’s her calling card?”What she said kept me in the dark.I wondered what this had to do with the calling card of that friend.Did Susan have the ability of recalling whom her friend was by the calling card that her friend was using?

After I queried her about it,Susan couldn’t help laughing and explained that“calling card”could also have the meaning of“distinguishing features or characteristics”of a person beside meaning“telephone card.”

在這個故事當中,作者未能理解calling card的意思。從字面意思上來理解,calling card應譯作“電話卡”。當作者的朋友詢問她:“What’s her calling card”的時候,作者感到非常迷惑,不知道電話卡跟了解一個人有什么關(guān)系。但是,熟知俚語的人應該懂得,calling card還有一個意思,就是“性格,特點”。當我們描述一個人時,calling card指的是這個人“與眾不同的地方”而并非是他的“電話卡”。

3.Can you dig it?

One day,not long after I started working in a surveying company,I was assigned to work done outside the office with a colleague at a construction site for surveying boundary markets.Perhaps due to the construction,the fixed maker,which was previously surveyed and set up,was removed and lost.My colleague and I make a great deal of effort to look for the market but could not find it.As a result,it was almost impossible for us to proceed with our work.Therefore,my colleague decided to phone our company for construction in a public telephone booth.

Before he left,he gave the computer forms for reporting statistics to me and said:“I know it’s somewhere around here,I want you to take a look at the sheets see whether you can dig it.”

After a while,my colleague came back and was really startled by what he saw.

It turns out that“dig”in American English has another meaning than the dictionary definition. The second meaning is understanding or finding out by searching or looking for information,etc. However,I had already dug a big hold half a person’s depth in the ground.

在這篇故事中,作者誤解了同事的意思,把同事的一句“I want you to take a look at the sheets see whether you can dig it”誤認為是同事讓他按照單子上的表述去在地上挖坑。當然,在我們平時所學的課本中,dig通常的解釋是“挖”。但是,在日常用語中,dig還有另外一層意思,也就是“深究”“理解”。因此,當他的朋友讓他去看一下單子,研究一下里面內(nèi)容的時候,回來卻在地上看見了一個半人深的大坑,頓感震驚。如果我們能夠在學習的過程中,多積累一些這樣的俚語和習慣用語,也就不會犯這樣的錯誤了。這種誤解,看似可以理解,但是如果發(fā)生幾次,可能會影響到你的工作甚至生活。

通過上面幾個故事,我們應該能明白俚語在日常生活中的重要性,它不僅僅有助于我們與人溝通,更重要的是能夠產(chǎn)生一種親切感。在交流全球化的今天,我們對于一門語言的掌握,已經(jīng)不僅僅是為了交流,更多的是為促進國與國之間的友誼、經(jīng)濟合作以及貿(mào)易來往。俚語的應用不但可以讓我們給他人留下深刻的印象,拉近彼此之間的距離,也能在交流的過程當中,避免誤會的產(chǎn)生,準確無誤地表達和理解彼此的思想。

[1]于涵.美國口語俚語[M].北京:世界圖書出版公司北京公司, 2003.

H31

A

1673-1395(2010)01-0171-02

2009-11-20

丁寧(1982—),女,遼寧沈陽人,助教,主要從事英語教學與研究。

責任編輯 韓璽吾 E-mail:shekeban@163.com