俚語(yǔ)在英語(yǔ)中的應(yīng)用

丁 寧

(沈陽(yáng)藥科大學(xué) 外語(yǔ)組,遼寧 沈陽(yáng) 110016)

俚語(yǔ)在英語(yǔ)中的應(yīng)用

丁 寧

(沈陽(yáng)藥科大學(xué) 外語(yǔ)組,遼寧 沈陽(yáng) 110016)

俚語(yǔ)是一種非正式的語(yǔ)言,通常用在非正式的場(chǎng)合。有時(shí)俚語(yǔ)用以表達(dá)新鮮事物,或?qū)εf事物賦以新的說(shuō)法。

俚語(yǔ);習(xí)慣用語(yǔ);交流障礙

俚語(yǔ)(slang),是指民間非正式、較口語(yǔ)的語(yǔ)句,是百姓在日常生活中總結(jié)出來(lái)的通俗易懂順口的具有地方色彩的詞語(yǔ),地域性強(qiáng),較生活化。有時(shí)俚語(yǔ)用以表達(dá)新鮮事物,或?qū)εf事物賦以新的說(shuō)法。俚語(yǔ)存在于任何一種語(yǔ)言當(dāng)中。拿漢語(yǔ)來(lái)說(shuō),歇后語(yǔ)、俏皮話、方言等等,都可以歸為俚語(yǔ)。

一、俚語(yǔ)的重要性

因?yàn)橘嫡Z(yǔ)屬于非正式用語(yǔ),所以我們?cè)跁?shū)面或者其他非口語(yǔ)對(duì)話中不會(huì)經(jīng)常使用到俚語(yǔ),但這并不意味著英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)中可以忽略這種非正式用語(yǔ),如果不能很好地掌握俚語(yǔ),在交流,特別是與以英語(yǔ)為母語(yǔ)的人的交流過(guò)程中,會(huì)遇到很大的障礙。

每種語(yǔ)言中,都會(huì)有一些人們?cè)陂L(zhǎng)期的交流過(guò)程中所總結(jié)出來(lái)的精辟的詞語(yǔ)和語(yǔ)句。將這些詞語(yǔ)和語(yǔ)句簡(jiǎn)化后,便得到了我們現(xiàn)在所應(yīng)用的俚語(yǔ)。俚語(yǔ)可以說(shuō)是通過(guò)簡(jiǎn)單的語(yǔ)言表達(dá)復(fù)雜思想的一種方式,是人們經(jīng)驗(yàn)和智慧的結(jié)晶。在漢語(yǔ)的表達(dá)過(guò)程中,我們也經(jīng)常會(huì)用到俚語(yǔ),如果說(shuō),對(duì)于語(yǔ)言本身的單詞、句型、語(yǔ)法以及寫作方面的掌握是基礎(chǔ)的話,那么俚語(yǔ)就是語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)的升華。

二、俚語(yǔ)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(dāng)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(rèn)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(gè)語(yǔ)言環(huán)境,就是他們所在談?wù)摰恼夜ぷ鳌憘€(gè)人簡(jiǎn)介的問(wèn)題。小張朋友的那句話是在提醒小張應(yīng)該把自己優(yōu)點(diǎn)和長(zhǎng)處展現(xiàn)在他的個(gè)人簡(jiǎn)介當(dāng)中,翻譯成漢語(yǔ)有“展現(xiàn)自己”的意思。如果對(duì)這句俚語(yǔ)不是很理解,在聽(tīng)到horn的時(shí)候,很容易誤解朋友的話,不僅違反了交通規(guī)則,也會(huì)讓朋友覺(jué)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(gè)故事當(dāng)中,作者未能理解calling card的意思。從字面意思上來(lái)理解,calling card應(yīng)譯作“電話卡”。當(dāng)作者的朋友詢問(wèn)她:“What’s her calling card”的時(shí)候,作者感到非常迷惑,不知道電話卡跟了解一個(gè)人有什么關(guān)系。但是,熟知俚語(yǔ)的人應(yīng)該懂得,calling card還有一個(gè)意思,就是“性格,特點(diǎn)”。當(dāng)我們描述一個(gè)人時(shí),calling card指的是這個(gè)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(rèn)為是同事讓他按照單子上的表述去在地上挖坑。當(dāng)然,在我們平時(shí)所學(xué)的課本中,dig通常的解釋是“挖”。但是,在日常用語(yǔ)中,dig還有另外一層意思,也就是“深究”“理解”。因此,當(dāng)他的朋友讓他去看一下單子,研究一下里面內(nèi)容的時(shí)候,回來(lái)卻在地上看見(jiàn)了一個(gè)半人深的大坑,頓感震驚。如果我們能夠在學(xué)習(xí)的過(guò)程中,多積累一些這樣的俚語(yǔ)和習(xí)慣用語(yǔ),也就不會(huì)犯這樣的錯(cuò)誤了。這種誤解,看似可以理解,但是如果發(fā)生幾次,可能會(huì)影響到你的工作甚至生活。

通過(guò)上面幾個(gè)故事,我們應(yīng)該能明白俚語(yǔ)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(duì)于一門語(yǔ)言的掌握,已經(jīng)不僅僅是為了交流,更多的是為促進(jìn)國(guó)與國(guó)之間的友誼、經(jīng)濟(jì)合作以及貿(mào)易來(lái)往。俚語(yǔ)的應(yīng)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(guò)程當(dāng)中,避免誤會(huì)的產(chǎn)生,準(zhǔn)確無(wú)誤地表達(dá)和理解彼此的思想。

[1]于涵.美國(guó)口語(yǔ)俚語(yǔ)[M].北京:世界圖書(shū)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(yáng)人,助教,主要從事英語(yǔ)教學(xué)與研究。

責(zé)任編輯 韓璽吾 E-mail:shekeban@163.com