从文化角度看习语翻译【摘要】习语是语言文化的结晶，缺少了习语，语言将会变得索然无味。习语在语言中的应用比比皆是，在写作或演说中适当地使用习语将会使篇章增色，加强语言的力量使语言更形象。奈达曾说过，习语是比任何非习语更具冲击力的表达，它带有一种语言和文化的识别特征。习语被广泛应用于各类写作和演说中，如在文学作品中，在科学著作中，在政治演说中，甚至在美国.习语都成为辩论中唇枪舌战的武器。美国第16届总统亚伯拉军·林肯在他篇著名演说中引用了圣经里的一句话：“互相分裂的房子无法站立。”米号召美国人民团结一致反对黑奴制度，停止内战。美国人对圣经的内容都很熟悉，他们为此深受感动。林肯废奴运动也取得了很好的结果。既然习语在语言运用中有如此重要地位，那么恰到好处地翻译习语将有助于跨文化交流。中英不同的文化使得英汉习语在表达上有很大差异，也使得翻译中容易产生误译，因此加强对英汉习语文化内涵差异的了解有着重要意义。本文在探讨英汉习语文化内涵差异的基础上提出了四种翻译方法：直译法、意译法、意象转移法、增删法。【关键词】习语：文化：习语翻译[Abstract Idioms,having universal appeal,are widely recognized as the essence or thecrystallization of language.Without idioms language would become dull and dry,whereas anappropriate use of them in speech and writing will add much to variety strength and vividness ofthe language.Idioms usually carry more impact than none-idiomatic expressions because of theirclose identification with a particular language and culture.Idioms are widely used in almost allkinds of speeches and writings:they can be found in literary works,in scientific and politicalarticles;even debates in the United Nations are often interspersed with idioms which becomeverbal weapons that are difficult to argue against.The 16th US President Abraham Lincoln oncequoted an idiom derived from the Bible:"A house divided against itself cannot stand."in one ofhis famous speech,calling on people to fight against slavery and Civil War.American people,who were familiar with the Bible,were greatly impressed and Lincoln's antislavery campaign atlast yielded fruitful result.Thus idioms hold an important position in language use,an adequatetranslation of idioms is not only helpful but also essential in intercultural communication.This paper attempts to make a brief comparative study of the cultures embodied in Chinese andEnglish idioms and explores the role of the culture in understanding and rendering of both Englishand Chinese idioms.[Key Words]Idioms;culture;the translation of idioms1.IntroductionCultural studies have currently been prevailing in the west.And talking about cultural studies hasalso become a fashion in the circle of present Chinese culture and academia,especially in the fieldof literary theory and criticism.Accordingly,in the wide sphere of translation studies,there aresome scholars both at home and abroad who have tried to replace translation with culturaltranslation studies and interpretation.Translation is considered to be a cross-culturalcommunication,which concerns not only the transfer between languages,but also the transferbetween cultures.However,the ways of thinking,beliefs,attitudes and values of different culturesnot only give rise to failures or misunderstandings in cross-cultural communication but also poseheadaches to translation theorists and translators.An idiom is a beautiful gem of a language as well as crystallization of national culture.Yet it isalso one of the most difficult things to leam and use in a foreign language.They are often ratherhard to understand from the meaning of individual words.Chinese and English both abound withidioms,whose succinct forms and profound meanings make themselves more condensed andexpressive.Many idioms bear figures and strong cultural flavors.If they are translatedappropriately,not only can the original spirit and meanings be faithfully conveyed,clearlyunderstood and accepted by the target language readers,but also the Chinese and Englishvocabularies can be enriched to provide a broader cultural vision.The issues of rendering idiomsof one language into another are always complicated,if the two languages involved are so unlikein backgrounds and cultures with each other.This paper expounds the close relationship betweenidioms and culture translation,and the issue of idiom translation is explored from a culturalperspective.2.Definitions and forms of idiom2.1 The definitions of idiomThe word "idiom"possesses several meanings.It may be defined as "the language of a peopleor a country”,asim“the Chinese idiom”;or“a dialect'”asin“Cantonese idiom”.It may also bedefined,according to Oxford Advanced Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary,as "phrase orsentence whose meaning is not clear from the meaning of its individual words and which must beleamt as a whole unit"[1]p734.The second definition most suits the purpose of this paper.TheChinese“equivalent'”for“idiom”is“习i语”，it also refers to a kind of a set phrase or sentence fixedby long usage.From the above definitions we can extract two basic criteria on which to decidewhether or not an expression is an idiom(or.习语)：Firstly,established and refined by long practical use,an idiom has a relatively high degree ofstability of the lexical components.An idiom allows little or no variation in form under nommalcircumstances.In general,any change in the components will result in absurdities or even renderthe idioms meaningless.A speaker or writer cannot normally do any of the following with anidiom unless he or she is consciously making a joke or attempting play on words:a.Change the order of the words in it (e.g.*"at sevens and sixes"instead of"at sixes and sevens");b.Delete a word from it (e.g.*"a kettle of fish"instead of"a nice kettle of fish");c.Add a word to it (e.g.*"to show one's white teeth"instead of"to show one's teeth");d.Replace a word with another(even with a synonymous word)(e.g.*"the pear of one's eye"instead of"the apple of one's eye")e.Change its grammatical structure (e.g.*"a king may be looked at by a cat"instead of"a cat maylook at a king").Similarly in Chinese we can only say:“七零八落”not“八零七落；“无的放矢”not“无的放箭”，although“矢”and“箭”both mean“arow”.However,just as what has been mentioned above,sometimes,either for the sake of sarcasm or for the sense of humor or for the sake of style,we cancreate,as a makeshift,some irregular variants from the original idioms,but these irregular variantsare transient,and may not be acknowledged by people as a whole:(1)"to read more than one can chew"is from"to bite off more than one can chew";(2)“be dressed to the teeth”is from“to be armed to the teeth”.Similarly in Chinese:(3)“一箭三g雕”(to shoot three hawks with one arrow)is an irregular variant of the set phrase“一箭双雕”(to shoot two hawks with one arrow）;(4)“权令智昏(to be blinded by lust for power)fiom“利令智昏”(to be blinded by lust for gainSometimes for rhetorical effect,an idiom can be made brief with only the core element remained:(5)The hotel was expensive,the food was poor and the bad weather was the last straw.In this sentence,"the last straw"is adapted from the idiom"It is the last straw that breaks thecamel's back.”(6)Make hay.The market is good now don't miss the chance.Here,“make hay”is abbreviated from the idiom“Make hay while the sun shines'”.Suchadaptation usually calls for the familiarity of the idiom by the reader to recognize the real meaning.Secondly,an idiom often carries meanings,which cannot be deduced from their individualcomponents.More often than not,it cannot be interpreted only according to its literal meaningTake the expression"to go Dutch (with someone)"for example:Instead of going to theNetherlands(Holland),it means to agree to share the cost of something (with someone),as in"Will you let me take you out to dinner tonight?"As long as we go Dutch".Take another Chineseidiom for example:“胸有成竹(literally means to have the bamboo in one's mind,figuratively,tohave ready plans or design in one's mind.cf.to have a card up one's sleeve).An idiom usuallyacquires an implied meaning,that is to say,most idioms are metaphorical in meaning.Themeaning of an idiom is somewhat more than the sum meanings of its constituent words,in otherwords,idioms convey more meaning as a whole than the few words could carry separately.Thiscan be fully illustrated by the following examples:when taken literary,the phrase"the man in thestreet"is not an idiom.In a figurative sense,"the man in the street"implies the average person,who represents general opinion.When someone says,"You cannot unscramble the scrambledegg",he is not merely referring to the egg,and he is using a metaphor to tell another person not toworry about something that cannot be undone."Cat's paw"does not refer to the paw of a cat but aperson who has been fooled or exploited."Black sheep"is not a sheep which is black at all.And itmeans an evil member of a herd or a good-for-nothing person.2.2 Forms of idiomsIn a broad sense,idiomatic phrases cover all of the following forms:set phrases,proverbs,common sayings,colloquialisms,allusions and slangs.Here four important forms of idioms areselected for explanation.2.2.1 Set phrasesOne most important group of idioms are set phrases whose form is set and many of them are ratherrigid and cannot show up in any other forms.There is an inexhaustible storehouse of set phrasesthat play an important role in English language.I shall select one of them with cultural traces.Forexample,the origin of"to kick the bucket"can be traced back to a religious ceremony of baptismin Christianity.As far as a Christian is concerned,his/her important three stages,birth,marriageand death,are closely connected with a religious ceremony:baptism.A Christian needs to receive