成语的直译与意译(选自上海翻译)
-
A
矮子里拔将军
直：
pick a general
from among the dwarfs
意：
select someone
for lack of a better one;
select from among the
mediocre/ run-of-mill
B
八字还没一撇
直：
Not even the
first stroke of the character
“
八
”
has happened.
意：
Nothing tangible is in
sight.
Things aren
’
t
even starting to take place yet.
There is no
sign of anything happening yet.
Things are
still up in the air.
班门弄斧
直：
Wield the axe before Lu
Ban (the ancient master carpenter).
意：
display
one
’
s learning or parade
one
’
s skill in the presence
of an
expert;
teach
one
’
s grannie how to suck
egges;
bring coal to Newcastle
杯弓蛇影
直：
mistake the shadow of a
bow in the cup for a snake
意：
self-created
suspicion;
imaginary fears;
be extremely nervous and
suspicious
杯水车薪
直：
try to put out a carload
of burnig firewood with a cup of water
意：
a
useless attempt;
a drop in the bucket;
utterly inadequate measure
背水一战
直：
fight with
one
’
s back to the river or
wall
意：
fight to win or die;
fight a last-ditch battle;
put up a
desperate fight
冰冻三尺，
直：
It takes more than one
cold day to freeze three feet of ice.
非一日之寒
意：
The trouble is deep-
rooted;
Rome was not built in a day.
兵来将挡，
直：
stop
an
advancing
army
with
troops
and
onrushing
water
with
earth
水来土掩
意：
counter move for move;
counter measure for measure
不以规矩，
直：
You
cannot
draw
squares
and
circles
without
the
campass
and
square.
不成方圆
意：
Nothing can be
accomplished without norms and standards.
C
草木皆兵
直：
take every grass and tree
as an enemy soldier
意：
a state of
extreme nervousness, as if surrounded by enemies
沧海桑田
直：
Seas change into mulberry
fields.
意：
Time brings great change
to the world.
(
饱经沧桑：
have experienced many vicissitudes of
life)
赤膊上阵
直：
go into battle stripped to
the waist
1
意：
take personal charge and
go it alone despite opposition;
Throw away all
disguise and tactics;
come out into the open as a
result of desperation or foolhardiness
此地无银
直：
The 300 taels of silver
are not buried here (a sign put up by the man in
the
三百两
folk tale over the place where he had
hidden the money)
意：
A clumsy
self-exposing performance or denial;
A
guilty
person
gives
himself
away
by
conspicuously
protesting
his
吹胡子瞪眼
唇亡齿寒
吹毛求疵
寸有所长，
尺有所短
打肿脸
充胖子
当一天和尚
撞一天钟
调虎离山
叠床架屋
东方不亮
西方亮，
黑了南方
有北方
放长线
钓大鱼
翻手为云
innocence;
Protest
one
’
s innocence too much.
直：
froth at the mouth and
glare with rage
意：
snort and
stare in anger;
fume with rage
直：
If the lips are gone, the
teeth will be exposed.
意：
If
one of two interdependent things falls, the other
is in danger.
直：
blow upon
the hair trying to discover a flaw
意：
find fault with;
pick holes in
直：
An inch has its length and
a foot sometmes falls short.
意：
Everybody has his
strennths and weaknesses.
D
直：
Try to look fat by
slapping one
’
s face till
it
’
s swollen.
Boast about one
’
s
pink cheek after having been slapped.
意：
Do something beyond
one
’
s means in order to look
impressive;
try to satisfy
one
’
s vanity when one cannot
really afford to do so
直：
go
on tolling the bell as long as one remains a monk.
意：
do the minimum required or
do as little as possible to get by;
do
the least that is expected of one;
take a passive attitude towards
one
’
s work
直：
lure the tiger out of his
mountain or lair
意：
tempt or
entice somebody into leaving his vantage ground
直：
pile one bed upon another
or build one house on top of another
意：
needless duplication;
repetition and superfluity
直：
When there is dark in the
east, it is light in the west;
When things are dark in the
south, there is still light in the north.
意：
There is alsways plenty of
room for manoeuvring.
E
F
直：
throw a long line to catch
a big fish
意：
devise a long-term plan to
secure something big
直：
produce clouds with one
turn of the hand and rain with another
2
覆手为雨
意：
wield
one
’
s power capriciously;
be shifty and capricious;
be tricky and deceitful
放马后炮
直：
fire belated shots
意：
comment on
something when it is already over;
fail to give timely advice;
be a Monday morning
quarterback
风声鹤唳
直：
scared by the moan of the
wind and the cry of the cranes, and seeing
the
草木皆兵
风调雨顺
people are
国泰民安
风雨同舟
佛面蛇心
佛要金装
人要衣装
釜底抽薪
赴汤蹈火
肝脑涂地
ground
赶鸭子上架
隔岸观火
enemy in every bush and tree
意：
describing the extreme
nervousness of a fleeing
army
’
s suspicion of
danger at the slightest sound
直：
The
elements
are
propitious,
the
country
is
prosperous
and
the
at peace.
意：
favorable climate,
prosperity and peace
直：
in
the same storm-tossed boat
意：
stand together through
thick and thin;
share weal and
woe;
help each other in
distress;
share the same fate with;
cast in one
’
s lot
with
直：
have a
Buddha
’
s face but a
viper
’
s heart
意：
be honey-lipped but evil
at heart;
be a malicious hypocrite
直：
As Buddha needs a gilt
statue, man needs fine clothes.
意：
Fine feather make fine
birds; Fine clothes make the man.
直：
pull out the burning
firewood from under a cauldron
意：
take drastic measures to
deal with a critical situation;
cut the
ground from under somebody
’
s
feet;
tackle the root cause
直：
be ready to jump into
boiling water and plunge into raging fire
意：
go through hell and high
water;
be ready to risk
one
’
s life
G
直：
be
ready
to
dash
one
’
s
brains
out
or
scatter
one
’
s
innards
on
the
意：
be ready to lay down
one
’
s life for a cause;
be willing to repay a favor with
extreme sacrifice
直：
drive a
duck onto a perch
意：
make
somebody do something entirely beyond him
直：
watch a fire from the
other side of a river
意：
look
on at somebody
’
s misfortune
with indifference;
show no concern
for another
’
s trouble
3