小编寄语:
无论是翻译,写作,还是阅读,长难句总是最难过的坎,本栏目专为各位小可爱分析《经济学人》中出现的长难句,死磕各种句型,分析各种修辞手法,在解决阅读疑难杂症的同时,积累更多句型与修辞,让作文更加出彩!
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No sooner had Mr Salvini been sworn in than he was proclaiming his eagerness to kick out the 500,000-600,000 immigrants who are reckoned to be living without authorisation in Italy.
上榜理由:倒装句
no sooner...than 一......就......
主语+had no sooner...than + 过去式
例句:我一到家电话就响了。
译文1:I had no sooner reached home than the phone rang. (正常句型)
译文2:No sooner had I reached home than the phone rang. (倒装句型)
另一个表示”还没......就...“的句型,也有这种倒装的用法:
主语 + hardly...when + 过去式
例句:我还没到家,就下起了雨。
译文1:I had hardly reached home when it begain to rain.
译文2:Hardly had I reached home when it began to rain.
参考译文:
萨尔韦尼一上台,就迫不及待表现出他想要将意大利所谓的50-60万非法移民赶出去的愿望。
SOMETIMES silence speaks louder than words.
上榜理由:修辞手法
silence 是“无声”的,如何speak louder than words?
这一修辞手法叫paradox矛盾修辞法。
矛盾修辞法:指一句话前后矛盾
更多栗子:
例句:Some of the biggest failures I ever had were successes.
译文:我人生中最大的败笔就是我的成功。
例句:It appears that the teachers of English teach English so poorly largely because they teacher grammar so well.
译文:英语老师教英语教得这么差,似乎大部分是因为他们的语法教得太好。
矛盾修辞法,还有另外一个说法oxymoron
oxymoron与paradox有什么区别呢?
实际上,oxymoron就是paradox的缩略版,如:
loud silence 掷地有声的沉默
bitter-sweet 苦中带乐
proud humanity 骄傲的谦虚
orderly chaos 有序的混乱,乱中有序
Taking office in December 2011, in the teeth of the crisis, he (the prime minister) administered tough medicine consistently.
上榜理由:修辞手法
administer medicine 开药
用在这里其实是隐喻 / 暗喻的手法。这里明显不是”开药“的意思,而是说自从上台之后,首相推出了很多项强硬政策。把推迟政策说成”开药“,这是比喻的手法。如何确定是明喻还是暗喻呢?请看下例:
He is as cunning as a fox. 明喻
译:他像狐狸一样狡猾。
He is a fox. 暗喻
译:他就是个老狐狸。
in the teeth of 尽管
例句:Permission for the development was granted in the teeth of opposition from local shopkeepers.
译文:虽然受到当地商户的排斥,但是政府还是允许了对该地进行开发。
参考译文:
2011年12月份上台之后,尽管深陷危机,首相还是出台了很多强硬政策。
But there is one area where Britain cannot opt for maximal separation, however great Mrs May’s appetite for self-harm.
上榜理由:修辞手法
irony / sarcasm 讽刺,反讽
Wikipedia释义:
Irony, in its broadest sense, is a rhetorical device in which what appears, on the surface, to be the case, differs radically from what is actually the case.
注:梅姨显然是不喜欢自残的,这句话表面上的意思与现实不符,因此是irony的修辞手法。
按照轻重程度分,Irony 有两种形式:innuendo(影射) 和 sarcasm (讽刺)
innuendo指的是mild irony
sarcasm 与innuendo 是相反的
按照类型分,Irony分为:verbal irony 与 situational irony
verbal irony:
当某人跟你说了一个很傻的想法时,你回答:“What a great idea!”situational irony:如某人看到别人遭遇不幸,反而嘲笑,不久后自己也遭遇同样的不幸。
译文:但是不管梅姨多喜欢自残,有一个方面英国不能完全与欧盟脱离。
Some Tories complain that the Northern Irish tail is wagging the British dog; they might prefer to see a customs border in the Irish Sea than the wrecking of their hard-Brexit dream.
上榜理由:修辞手法
暗喻:将 Northern Ireland 比作 tail(尾巴),Britain 比作dog(狗)
暗喻与明喻的区别:
He is as cunning as a fox.
明喻simile:他像狐狸一样狡猾。
凡是有像......一样的(as adj. as...,like...),都是明喻。
He is a fox.
暗喻metaphor:他就是个老狐狸。
wag 摇摆
正常逻辑是 the dag wags its tail 狗摇摆着尾巴,文中的 tail wags the dog 显然是本末倒置。
it's (a case of) the tail wagging the dog 尾大不掉,本末倒置
used to say that an unimportant thing is wrongly controlling a situation
译文:一些托利党人埋怨北爱尔兰拖了大不列颠的后腿;他们宁愿接受爱尔兰海岸的海关边境,也不愿意自己的”硬退欧“梦想被破坏。