On Culture Connotations and Translation of English Allusions

1、 on culture connotations and translation of english allusionscontentsabstract (english)iabstract (chinese).iiintroduction.1i. the culture connotation of english allusions.1 a. from the bible.1 1. the beam in ones own eye11. adams apple.22. doubting thomas23. olive branch.2 b. from greek myths and le

2、gends.3 1. achilles heel.3 2. an apple of discord.3 3. pygmalion.4 c. from fables.4 1. to bell the cat.4 2. blow hot and cold.4 d. from literature works.5 1. fight with windmills5 2. penelope s wed5 3. catch-226 e. from historical stories61. keep ones powder dry62. meet ones waterloo.7ii. the ways o

3、f translating.7a. literal translation.7b. annotation.8c. free translation. .9d. borrowing11e. multiple translations combined.11iii. attention.12conclusion.12bibliography.14abstractenglish allusions have rich sources and cultural connotations, when translating, the reservation of the moral and the or

4、iginal language form are very important, so, only through tracking back their sources, can we have a deep understanding of them and translate them into chinese appropriate. most english allusions come from the bible, greek myths and legends, fables, literature works, historical stories. four main me

5、thods of chinese translation are: literal translation, free translation, annotation, borrowing.key words: allusions chinese translation moral摘要英语典故源头众多，并承载着丰富的文化内涵。来源于英语典故中的谚语汉译过程中寓意和原谚语语言形式的保留很重要，因此，只有对它们追根溯源，才能理解其深刻含义，将其恰当地翻译成汉语。英语典故多来源于圣经, 希腊神话传说，寓言，文化作品，历史故事；汉译方法主要有直译，意译，加注,借用四种方法。关键词：典故 汉译 寓意on

6、 culture connotations and translation of english allusionsintroductionenglish allusion is a bright pearl in western culture. text succinct, profound moral, and aftertaste meaning are its main characteristics. they are used extensive, not only in literary works, but also in the newspapers and magazin

7、es. in english, allusions meaning is: an implied or indirect reference, especially when used in literature(wwbsterg ninth new collegiate dictionary). as a special rhetoric, allusion refers people quote some people, events have allusions character in myths, fables, literature works and so on when the

8、y are expressing in oral or writing, and makes it blend with the rest of the narrative. so allusion has abundant culture connotations and deep national color, if we are unfamiliar with allusions background, we will fell confused to allusions meaning, and can not understand its moral. besides, althou

9、gh english allusions have some common in characteristics and founctions, because its rich and colorful sources, makes them have strong national cultural color, they reflect different customs, religious faith, and mode of thinking. to english learners, its difficult to understand the western culture

10、if we dont know allusions well. i. the culture connotations of english allusionsenglish allusion is a language form full of color, vivid image, obvious metaphoric meaning, strong philosophy are its language characteristics. to a certain extent, english allusions reflect cultural characteristics of e

11、nglish national. many allusions come from classical literatures in english language, more accurately, there are many resources as follow: the bible, greek myths and legends, fables and the works of literature masters and historical stories. many english allusions are recorded in these classical lite

12、rature works at the earliest, have a deep influence to english culture, when translating, you should express the moral in the original fully, and can be accepted by chinese readers.a. from the bible1. the beam in ones own eyeliterature is a senior expression form in the human culture. some splendid

13、phrases, plots, portraits in the literary works impressed us, and then hand down in the form of allusions. these allusions mainly come from the bible, homer epic, shakespeares poetic drama and other famous works. for example :( the beam in ones own eye) comes from the new testament of matthew. jesus

14、 said not to judge others, lest commented by people. because how you comment others, you must be commented by people. why you only see a stab in your brothers eye, but can not think a beam in your own eye? later “the beam in ones own eye” refers your own big mistake.2. adams applein the genesis old

15、testament, the god created our ancestors, adam and eve, and let them living in the eden park. there were kinds of fruits in the eden park, the god warned them not to eat the fruits in one tree, it was forbidden fruit. but eve could not stand the devil satans temptation, ate the forbidden fruit, and

16、let adam eat. it is said that a piece of fruit stuck in adams throat when he was eating, the god let that piece of fruit remained in his throat forever for giving adam a lesson. so mens adams apple is more prominent than womens.for example: father tried to make henry laugh by moving his adams apple

17、up and down.(爸爸把他的喉结上下移动，逗得亨利哈哈大笑。).3. doubting thomasdoubting thomas(怀疑的托马斯) comes from the bible . new testament gospel of john, chapter 22, the articles topic was the jesus went back to meet his disciples after he resurrected. thomas, one of the twelve disciples didnt witness, claimed that he mus

18、t see the mark nailed on the jesus hand, or he didnt believe the jesus had resurrected. later “doubting thomas” refers the people who believe others or accept other peoples advice.for example: being a doubting thomas, he was deaf to his friends advice till it was too late.(他疑心重，不肯听取朋友的忠告，终至事态无法挽回。)4

19、. olive branchrecorded in the bible: the god used flood engulfed the whole world, only noahs families survived by a ark, leaned in the side of the mount ararat. when flood reduced slightly, noah released a pigeon to exploit the flood situation. because everywhere was water, the pigeon can not settle

20、 anywhere, and flew back. 7 days later, he sent the pigeon again, this time, there was a green olive branch in its mouth when it flew back. according that, noah known the flood had became lower, the olive branch brought the message of peace. later the olive branch is the symbol of peace and fortune.

21、 used with hold, extend, tender.for example: my husband is the first to hold out the olive branch after our quarrel.(我们俩争吵后，我丈夫一般首先做出和解的表示。)b. from greek myths and legendsthe emergence and development of british and american culture has a close relationship with the ancient greek culture. greek and

22、roman mythology legends left many vivid and profound allusions for english. 1. achilles heelachilles is one of hero in greek and roman mythology legends. after birth, his mother immersed him in the styx by carrying his heels, so his body immersed in the styx can not be hurt by sword and spear except

23、 his heels, because they were in his mothers hands, like normal peoples body for not touching the styx. in a war, a poisonous sword just hit achilles heel, then dead soon. so “achilles heel” comes from that, became the synonym of the “feet of clay”. such as: the inexperienced goalkeeper became the a

24、chilles heel of the team. ( 缺乏经验的守门员成了这个球队的致命弱点。)2. an apple of discordthere is a god called strife goddess in greek myths. she held the grudge because not invited to kings daughter peleuss wedding . for abreacting resentment, she left a golden apple engraved with” to most beautiful people in the wo

25、rld”, three goddess at the party scrambled for the golden apple, and led to the famous trojan war. so “an apple of discord” becomes the synonym of ”the source of the disaster” or ”a source of disorder”. when knowing this, its not difficult to understand the following sentence: the right to inherit t

26、he large estate their father had left became the apple of discord between the two brothers.( 他们的父亲遗留下来的大宗地产的继承权成了两兄弟之间争端的起因。)3. pygmalionpygmalion(皮格 马利翁) was the king of cyprus in ancient greek legends, and he also was a outstanding sculptor. he thought there were many blamed places in womens bodie

27、s, so carved a girl meticulously by using ivory. the statue was not only beautiful, but also natural and decent, like a real person. pygmalion liked his masterpiece very much, and fell in love with it gradually. so pygmalion prayed venus can turn the statue into a real woman, and deigned to him as h

28、is wife. his desire was satisfied. this story later became many literary themes, such as morriss the earthly paradise and shavians my fair lady all borrow the story. now people use “pygmalion” to describe a kind of person who remaking someone by using some kind of skills or abilities, then fell in l

29、ove with her.c. from fablesthe fable is a story mode contains parable story to show a profound philosophy. if using a brief, fixed words to summarize its moral, then became allusions.1. to bell the cat “to bell the cat” is from an old english fable. a group of mice got together, discussing how to gu

30、ard against the cats attack. one of mice suggested that when cat was unprepared, tied a bell around the cats neck, so, when the cats coming, mice can run away quickly. every mice thought its a good idea, but which mouse dare to tie the bell? so “to bell the cat” is often used to refer to willing to

31、taking risks for the sake of others, available in following sentence: we did not know who would put him this delicate question when my friend offered to bell the cat. ( 我们真不知道谁会向我的朋友提出这个微妙的问题， 使他自告奋勇去冒这个险。 )2. blow hot and cold“ blow hot and cold” comes from an aesops fable called “man and the small

32、 mountain forest god”. in a cold winter evening, the small mountain forest god met a man lost in the forest, so took him home. the people constantly blew hot air to his hands in the way. when arrived home, the little mountain forest god gave him a bowl of hot porridge, the man kept blowing porridge,

33、 the small mountain forest god thought the man blew cold air one second, the next blew warm air, was quite changeable, can not be get along with. the allusion now refers flexuous, and inconstant. it can be used in following sentence:the two political parties both refused to admit him for he had blow

34、n hot and cold.( 两个政党都不愿接受他，因为他对两党的态度变化无常，都不专一。) d. from literature works1. fight with windmills“fight with windmills” ( 以幻影为敌， 跟风车开仗) comes from the renaissance literature master cervantes famous work the don quidxote . weird ideas are full of the protagonists head, he thought all tall windmills we

35、re the giant, so decided to zap them. he also said it was just a war, wiped out these bad things on the earth was making contributions to god. but his pike was destroyed into several sections, he and his horse all fell to the ground. this allusion refers absurd behavior or fighting with imaginary ex

36、ternal enemies. such as: he has some reasonable causes, but most of the times fights windmills. ( 他有些理由还合乎情理， 但少数时间他是凭空乱打乱斗。)2. penelopes wedpenelope s wed(没完没了的工作) penelope was the daughter of the price of sparta in homer the odyssey. when she grew up, there were innumerable men proposed to her, fi

37、nally ulysses won the penelopes love because of his upright and brave. the trojan war broke out soon after they got married. ulysses rated army and went on an expedition, he went there nearly 20 years. during those long periods of time, it was unknown about ulysses life and death, many people though

38、t ulysses would not back to ithaca. so many noblemen in ithaca and nearby proposed to penelope one after another. they wanted to usurp ulysses kingdom and wife. facing with these noblemens tangle, smart penelope thought a good idea, she told these noblemen that she was weaving shroud for ulysses fat

39、her, after finished, she would choose one of them as husband. so she locked herself in weaving houses, she weaved day, and disconnect night, can not complete forever. “penelopes wed” comes from that, refers to doing a never finish work. for example: they are always fighting and negotiating and fight

40、ing, a perfect penelopes wed. ( 他们总是在打仗， 谈判， 又打仗，永远没有完结的时候。 ) 3. catch-22catch-22(no.22 military regulation) comes from the american contemporary writer, joseph hellers homonymy novel. during the world war ii, the protagonist was on active service in american air force. he worried that he would die

41、in the war, so pretended to psychosis, trying to eascape from the army. because of the troops regulations, anyone who had psychosis can not fly. but there was another military regulation, that was no.22 military regulation showed: anyone who wanted to escape combat responsibility was not a real psyc

42、hosis. as a result, the protagonist can only keep flight mission. if he was a real psychosis, that he can be allowed not to flight, but if he was a real psychosis, he could not put forward grounded application. later, catch-22 refers to “a dilemma can not get rid of” or ”formulable obstacles”. this

43、allusion can be used in following sentence: it was an -other one of those catch-22 situation. you re damned if you do and you re damned if you dont.(这真是又一个无法摆脱的困境，做也挨骂，不做也挨骂。)some characters in shakespeares plays and british and american literatures are the main source of english allusions, such as:

44、 hamlet(哈姆雷特) refers irresolute and indecisive people; shylock(夏洛克) refers the moneylender who are greedy and reaching after money without scruple; cleopatra(克娄巴特拉) refers the peerless beauty; huck berry finn(哈克贝利 费恩) refers the adventurer in childrens groups.e. from historical stories1. keep ones p

45、owder drythere are many famous events and stories in history, later generations often used succinct statement to express its contents, then became allusions after used too long. for example: keep ones powder dry(枕戈待旦，仅防万一) produced in the middle of 17th century. when charles i provoked the civil war

46、, a military formed by a new bourgeoisie whose leader was cromwell, conquered charles i. cromwell required the troops “ put your trust in god; but mind to keep your powder dry! ( 相信上帝会保佑我们， 但必须注意保持火药干燥! ) ”because if you cant keep powder dry, once encounter will unprepared, cromwell was reminding hi

47、s forces to be on the alert anytime ,prepared for fight. later “keep ones powder dry” was used to express be ready for something, just in case.2. meet ones waterloomeet ones waterloos meaning is “suffering a crushing defeat”, waterloo is a small town in the middle of belgium, when napoleon was elect

48、ed as president, he flew a high pitch, mullen everywhere, and swollen with arrogance. in 18th .6.1815, napoleon rated french troops, fighting against countries such as britain and germany, as a result, he was defeated, and can not recover after a setback. so “meet ones waterloo” become the synonym o

49、f “suffering destructive hit”. from that “after winning 5 games in a succession, the team met its waterloo” this sentence can be understood as”在连胜五场之后，那只球队惨遭失败”。ii. the ways of translatingwhen translating the english allusions, its not enough to seeking equivalent performance by using synonymous voc

50、abularies between languages as premise, firstly the translator should understand the allusions moral correctly, then using the correct translation methods. the ways to translate english allusions: literal translation, free translation, annotation, borrowing.a. literal translationpeople have many com

51、mon senses to the phenomenon of nature, the life experience and truth. these aspects reflected in the classical literatures, and passed down as allusions. these allusions generally have clear metaphoric meaning, vivid image, if translate from its literal meaning directly, can express its textual met

52、aphoric meaning, then use literal translation. to do so can grasp the moral in the original allusion accurately, and also can preserve the textual presentation, its “kill two birds with one stone”. for example:one swallow doesnt make a summer.一燕不成夏。from aesop fables.an eye for an eye， a tooth for a

53、tooth.以眼还眼，以牙还牙。from the bible.every heart has its own ache.每颗心都有其痛处。from the bible,love your neighbor as yourself.爱邻如爱己。from the bible. brevity is the soul of wit.简洁是智慧的灵魂。from the hamlet.easy come， easy go.来容易，去也容易。from shakespeares plays appearance is deceiving.外貌是不可靠的。from aesops fables the mous

54、e and the lion.at present the superpowers are armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons, placing the people of the whole world under their nuclear threat(目前，超级大国的核武器武装到了牙齿，把全世界人民置于他们的威胁之下。) dont shed crocodile tears to me, you are really glad we met with misfortune.(别在我面前掉你那鳄鱼的眼泪，你分明是在幸灾乐祸。)but becaus

55、e we can not satisfy the desires of our hearts, why should we cry sour grapes at them?(我们何必因为不能满足钻进内心的欲望而把他们说成酸葡萄呢？)if condition is permitted, literal translation can maintain the original textual content and the original textual form especially keep the original parables, image and national local c

56、olor, etc. as in the first allusion “one swallow” corresponds ” 一燕”, while “doesnt make a summer” can be transliterated as ”不能构成夏天”, while has the same meaning with”不成夏”. in the second case, an eye and a tooth are transliterated as “眼” and”牙”, and the translation stays the same with the original text, also reserves the mo