【導(dǎo)讀】proverbs,sayings,epigrams,slangexpressions,colloquialisms,quotations,

　　

【正文】 怪人 a cat with nine lives 富有生命力的人 a fat cat 富人 an old cat 脾氣壞的老太婆 The bird has flown. 人犯已經(jīng)逃走了 Old dog will not learn new tricks. 老人學(xué)不了新東西 ugly duckling 丑小鴨 F. Translation of Animal Idioms Neglecting the Original Animal Apart from the five situations above, we still have another, which is to translate the idioms without using animal names in the target language. This is similar to free translation. We understand their meaning and then substitute them with Chinese expression equal to their meanings. The idiom “it rains cats and dogs” means raining heavily, which is translated as “ 傾盆大雨 ”, “ 大雨滂沱 ”. According the myths of northern Europe, cat is the symbol of heavy rain because cat is sensitive to weather. When the storm is ing, they will jump without rules. Another myth says that Odin always takes a dog by side to be the sign of strong wind. Therefore, heavy rain together with strong wind makes the rain pouring down (“ 大雨滂沱 ”). 13 The idiom “the world is somebody’s oyster” (“ 最為某人得意 ,最有前途的時 ”) means a ll the chances or pleasures of life are open to somebody. This idiom originates from Shakespeare’s play The Merry Wives of Windsor. We see it is not one’s oyster but chance and pleasure. Another idiom “l(fā)ook like a dying duck in the thunderstorm” (“ 驚慌失措，沒精打 采，憂郁，恐懼 ”) means to show ludicrously excessive signs of disturbance over trivial trouble. “A cock and bull story”, ing from an ancient fable which is about animals such as cock, bull being able to speak human language, means an absurdly incredible If pigs can fly, this will be true. We translate that unbelievable thing as “ 荒謬可笑 ”. More examples: a white elephant 沉重的負(fù)擔(dān) You can talk the hind legs off a donkey, but you cannot change wrong into right. 你可以說得天花亂墜 ,但你不能把錯的說成對的 Give a dog a bad name and hang him. 欲加之罪 ,何患無辭 the black sheep 害群之馬 lion’s share 最大最好的一份 to warm a snake in one’s bosom 姑息惡人 carry owls to Athens 多此一舉 live like a fighting cock 吃最好的東西 , 養(yǎng)尊處優(yōu) kneehigh to a grasshopper 很小的時候 play possum 裝病 pigeontoe 內(nèi)八字地走路 14 V． Conclusion Translation is a munication of cultures. To translate animal idioms, a translator ought to keep in his mind that respects should be paid equally to both SL and TL cultures. To achieve this goal, literal translation can be adopted to the utmost extent to preserve the SL information. In the meantime, the translator must give adequate consideration to the TL readers’ taste. After all, it is the TL readers who enjoy the translated version, assimilate the alien cultures and understand them based on their own culture and values. There are some striking cultural disparities between the two languages which may cause cultural conflicts and it is the translator’s responsibility to avoid them. The translator should manage to help the TL readers to achieve an immediate understanding of the source text and thus to promote the munication between two cultures. Translating animal idioms, as a certain cultural negotiation, obviously takes an important part in the contact and munication between different cultures. It involves a series of factors such as animal images, cultural features, target readers, original texts and target texts. It is not only a simple process of following translation rules or matters of plusminus categories for easy pigeonholing of examples of formal and semantic adjustments, but also an integrated process of reflecting such factors as mentioned above. The contrastive study of English and Chinese animal idioms is a creative topic both at home and abroad. The origins, characteristics, association, symbolism and translation of animal idioms have not been fully explored or studied. The research is far from exhaustive and inclusive. Therefore, the study of English and Chinese animal idioms and their translation will remain to be furthered.