高级英语pub-talk-and-the-king's-english中英笔记

1 L3 Pub Talk and the King s English 酒吧闲谈与标准英语酒吧闲谈与标准英语 Henry Fairlie 亨利亨利 费尔利费尔利 1 Conversation is the most sociable of all human activities And it is an activity only of humans However intricate the way in which animals communicate with each other they do not indulge in anything that deserves the name of conversation 人类的一切活动中 闲谈是最具交际性的交际性的 sociable 主题句 也是人类特有的 而动物 之间的信息交流 无论其方式何等复杂复杂 intricate 也是称不上交际的 1 And it is an activity only of humans para1 并且它是人类特有的一种并且它是人类特有的一种 活动 活动 And conversation is an activity which is found only among human being Sociable so bl adj 随和的 好交际的 友善的 friendly or agreeable eapecially in an easy informal way 用书 intricate adj hard to follow or understand because full of puzzling parts details or relationships 错综复杂的 难以理解的 难懂的 Indulge 任凭自己沉溺于 耽于 to allow yourself to have or do sth that you like eapecially sth that is considered bad for you indulge in sth indulge yourself 例 Women do not indulge in to the same extent as men deserve 值得 应得 2 The charm of conversation is that it does not really start from anywhere and no one has any idea where it will go as it meanders or leaps and sparkles or just glows The enemy of good conversation is the person who has something to say Conversation is not for making a point Argument may often be a part of it but the purpose of the argument is not to convince There is no winning in conversation In fact the best conversationalists are those who are prepared to lose Suddenly they see the moment for one of their best anecdotes but in a flash the conversation has moved on and the opportunity is lost They are ready to let it go 2 2 闲谈的引人入胜之处就在于它没有一个事先设定好的主题 它时而迂回迂回 meander 前 进 时而奔腾奔腾 leap 起伏 时而火花四射火花四射 sparkle 时而热情洋溢热情洋溢 glow 话题最终会扯到什 么地方去谁也拿不准 感觉 有话想说 的人是一个 完美闲谈 的最大敌人 闲谈不是 为了争论 尽管争论常常是闲聊的一部分 不过其目的并不是为了说服对方 闲谈之中是 不存在什么输赢胜负 输赢胜负 convince 说服 说服 的 事实上 真正的闲聊高手往往是随时准备让步让步 lose 输掉 输掉 的 他们也许会偶然间觉得该把自己最得意的奇闻轶事 anecdote 选出一件插 进来讲一讲 但一转眼一转眼 in a flash 大家已谈到别处去了 插话的机会随之丧失 他们也就听 之任之了 meander n 比喻 proceed in an aimless way ramble 漫谈 闲聊 例 The discussion meandered on for hours 讨论会漫无边际的进行了几个小时 make a point explain fully what one is proposing 表明一种看法 证明一个论点 例 All fight you ve made your point now keep quiet and let the others say what they think 好 啦 你已经把话说清楚了 那就别说了 让别人谈谈看法 Conversationalist n 健谈的人 Sparkle v be full of life and wit 活力和才智换发 She always sparkles at parties 在聚会上 他总是神采奕奕 Glow glow with pride joy pleasure Anecdote n kdo t n 奇闻轶事 关于真人真事的短小有趣的事 in a flash suddenly very quickly 瞬间 非常突然 Without any delay 例 Just wait here I v be back in a flash 就在这儿等我 我马上就回来 2 Conversation is not for making a point para2 交谈并不是为了表明一交谈并不是为了表明一 种看法 种看法 Conversation is not for persuading others to accept our idea or point of view 说服 convincing taking sb over 3 In fact the best conversationalists are those who are prepared to lose para2 实际上 最好的交谈者 是那些准备输的人 实际上 最好的交谈者 是那些准备输的人 In fact a person who really enjoys and is skilled at conversation will not argue to win or force others to accept his point of view meander v wander aimlessly or idly ramble 漫步 闲逛 conversationalist n a person who converses esp one who enjoys and is skilled at 3 conversation 交谈者 尤指 健谈者 anecdote n a short entertaining account of some happening usually personal or biographical 轶事 逸事 3 Perhaps it is because of my upbringing in English pubs that I think bar conversation has a charm of its own Bar friends are not deeply involved in each other s lives They are companions not intimates The fact that their marriages may be on the rocks or that their love affairs have broken or even that they got out of bed on the wrong side is simply not a concern They are like the musketeers of Dumas who although they lived side by side with each other did not delve into each other s lives or the recesses of their thoughts and feelings 3 或许是从小混迹于 upbringing n 培养 养育 英国小酒吧的缘故吧 我觉得酒馆 里的闲聊是别有韵味的 酒馆里的朋友们对彼此的生活毫不了解 involve in 使牵扯到 他们只是临时的伙伴 相互之间并无深交 intimate 密友 知己 这些人之中 也许有人 的婚姻面临破裂 on the rock 婚姻的破坏 有人恋爱受挫 有人碰到别的什么不顺心的 事儿 go out of bad on the wrong side 但这些都无关紧要 他们就像大仲马笔下的三个 火枪手 musketeer 火枪手 一样 虽然朝夕相处 却从来不过问 delve 发掘 彼此的私 事 recess 私事 也不去打探别人内心的秘密 4 Bar friends are not deeply involved in each other s lives para3 酒酒 吧友人没有深层次地涉及彼此的生活 吧友人没有深层次地涉及彼此的生活 People who meet each other for a drink in the bar of a pub are not intimate friends for they are not deeply absorbed or engrossed in each other s lives close friends 密友 intimate n a close friend or companion 密友 知己 on the rocks in or into a condition of ruin or catastrophe 婚姻 破坏的 失败的 例 Tim s marriage is on the rocks 提姆的婚姻亮起了红灯 delve v investigate for information search 发掘 调查 研究 recess n a secluded withdrawn or inner place 幽深处 get out the bed on the wrong side to be cross or grouchy 早晨起来便心情不好 Love affair n a romantic sexual relationship usually between two people who are not married 4 to each other 4 It was on such an occasion the other evening as the conversation moved desultorily here and there from the most commonplace to thoughts of Jupiter without any focus and with no need for one that suddenly the alchemy of conversation took place and all at once there was a focus I do not remember what made one of our companions say it she clearly had not come into the bar to say it it was not something that was pressing on her mind but her remark fell quite naturally into the talk 4 有一天晚上的情形正是如此 当时人们正在漫无边际地东拉西扯 从最普通的家常琐 事聊得有关木星的科学趣闻 完全没有一个特定的主题 可突然间中心话题奇迹般地出现 了 大伙的话题都集中到了一处 我不记得其中一个伙伴的那句话是什么情况下说出来的 不过 显然她并没有特意地准备什么 那也算不上是什么非说不可的要紧话 那只不过 是随着大伙儿的话题十分自然地脱口而出的 desultorily adv aimlessly at random 随意地 无目的地 alchemy n an early form of chemistry whose chief aims were to change baser metals into gold a method or power of transmutation esp the seemingly miraculous change of a thing into something better 炼金术 变化物质的方法或魔力 5 Someone told me the other day that the phrase the King s English was a term of criticism that it means language which one should not properly use 5 就在前几天 有人告诉我说 标准英语 这个词是带贬义色彩的批评用语 指的是 人们应该尽量避免使用的英语 6 The glow of the conversation burst into flames There were affirmations and protests and denials and of course the promise made in all such conversation that we would look it up on the morning 5 That would settle it but conversation does not need to be settled it could still go ignorantly on 6 此语一出 谈话氛围立即热烈起来 burst into flames 有人表示赞成 affirmation 也有人 怒斥 protest 还有人则不以为然 denial 最后 当然少不了像处理所有这种场合下的意见 分歧一样 大家约好次日一早去查证一下 问题就这样解决 settle 了 不过 闲聊并不需 要解决什么问题 大家仍旧可以糊里糊涂地继续闲扯下去 5 It could still go ignorantly on para6 大伙仍旧可以糊里糊涂地扯下去 大伙仍旧可以糊里糊涂地扯下去 The conversation could go on without anybody knowing who was right or wrong burst into 突然进入 某种状态 flame n 火焰 affirmation n 肯定 确认 protest n 反对 抗议 denials 否定 拒绝接受 7 It was an Australian who had given her such a definition of the king s English which produced some rather tart remarks about what one could expect from the descendants of convicts We had traveled in five minutes to Australia Of course there would be resistance to the King s English in such a society There is always resistance in the lower classes to any attempt by an upper class to lay down rules for English as it should be spoken 7 告诉她 标准英语 应做这种解释的原来是个澳大利亚人 知道这个后 有些人便 说起刻薄话来了 说什么囚犯的后代这样说倒也不足为奇 就这样 不到 5 分钟 大家便 扯到了澳大利亚 在那个地方 标准英语 自然是不受欢迎的 因为下层人民总是会抵 制上流社会给 规范英语 制定的条条框框 tart adj sharp in taste sour acid 辛辣的 尖酸的 刻薄的 lay down to assert or declare 声明 颁布 例 He had already clearly lain down his view in his opening speech 6 例 The regulations lay down a rigid procedure for checking safety equipment 法令规定了一 套严格的安检程序 8 Look at the language barrier between the Saxon churls and their Norman conquerors The conversation had swung from Australian convicts of the 19th century to the English peasants of the 12th century Who was right who was wrong did not matter The conversation was on wings 8 想想撒克逊农民 churl 与征服他们的诺曼统治者之间的语言隔阂 barrier 吧 于是闲 聊的主题又从 19 世纪的澳大利亚囚犯 convict 转移到 swung 使 摇摆 了 12 世纪的 应该农民 peasant 身上 谁对谁错 并没有关系 闲聊依旧热火朝天地进行着 barrier n 屏障 妨碍 roadblock churl n a farm laborer peasant 农民 庄稼人 乡下人 Conqueror n 征服者 占领者 Swung v 使 摇摆 convict n a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court 罪犯 Peasant n 农夫 on wings in flight continually moving about 像飞一样地 飘飘然 例 The birds are on wings in the sky 鸟儿在空中展翅高飞 She went home on wings 她高高兴兴地回家 9 Someone took one of the best known of examples which is still always worth the reconsidering When we talk of meat on our tables we use French words when we speak of the animals from which the meat comes we use Anglo Saxon words It is a pig in its sty it is pork porc on the table They are cattle in the fields but we sit down to beef boeuf Chickens become poultry poulet and a calf becomes veal veau Even if our menus were not written in French out of snobbery the English we used in them would still be Norman English What all this tells us is of a deep class rift in the culture of English after the Norman Conquest 7 9 有人举了一个众所周知但仍值得深思的例子 在谈到饭桌上的肉食时我们用法语词 而谈到提供这些肉食的牲畜是则用盎格鲁 撒克逊词 猪圈里的活猪叫 pig 饭桌上吃的猪 肉便成了 pork 来自法语 pore 地里放养的牛叫 cattle 而桌上吃的牛肉则叫 beef 来自 法语 boeuf 小鸡叫 chicken 用作肉食则变成 poultry 来自法语 poulet calf 小牛 加工成肉则变成 veal 来自法语 vcau 即便我们的菜单没有为了装洋耍派头而写成法语 我们所用的英语仍然是诺曼式的英语 这一切向我们昭示了被诺曼人征服之后的英国文化 上所存在的深刻的阶级裂痕 rift n an open break in a previously friendly relationship 分裂 失和 Sty sties C a place where pigs are kept pigsty Poultry n hens ducks geese turkeys etc Kept for eating or for their eggs domestic fowls 家禽 Veal flesh of a calf used as meat 使用的 小牛肉 6 They are cattle in the fields but we sit down to beef boeuf para9 地里放牧着的牛叫地里放牧着的牛叫 cattle 席上吃的牛肉则叫 席上吃的牛肉则叫 beef These animals are called cattle when they are alive and feeding in the fields but when we sit down at the table to eat We call their meat beef 10 The Saxon peasants who tilled the land and reared the animals could not afford the meat which went to Norman tables The peasants were allowed to eat the rabbits that scampered over their field and since that meat was cheap the Norman lords of course turned up their noses at it So rabbit is still rabbit on our tables and not changed into some rendering of lapin 10 撒克逊农民农民 peasant 种地养殖养殖 rear 牲畜 自己出产的肉自己却吃不上 全部送到了 诺曼人的餐桌上 农民们只能吃在地里乱窜乱窜 scamper 的兔子 因为兔子的肉便宜 诺曼贵 族自然不屑不屑 turn up one s noses at 去吃它 因此 活兔子和兔子肉共用 rabbit 这个词表示 而没有换成由法语 lapin 转化 转化 rendering 翻译 翻译 而来的某个词 8 scamper v run or go hurriedly or quickly 儿童及某些小动物 奔跑 蹦蹦跳跳 例 The rabbit scampered away in fright 兔子惊慌地抛了 rendering n a translation 翻译 turn up one s nose at to sneer at scorn 嘲笑 轻蔑 例 The children turned up their noses at my home cooking 孩子们嘲笑我的厨艺 11 As we listen today to the arguments about bilingual education we ought to think ourselves back into the shoes of the Saxon peasant The new ruling class had built a cultural barrier against him by building their French against his own language There must have been a great deal of cultural humiliation felt by the English when they revolted under Saxon leaders like Hereward the Wake The king s English if the term had existed then had become French And here in America now 900 years later we are still the heirs to it 11 如今 当我们听着有关双语双语 bilingual 教育问题的争论时 我们应该设身处地设身处地 into the shoes of 替当时的撒克逊农民想一想 新的统治阶级统治阶级 ruling 用法语来对抗撒克逊农民自己 的语言 从而在农民周围筑起一道文化壁垒 当英国人在像觉醒者赫里沃德这样的撒克逊 领袖领导下起来造反时 他们一定深深地感受到了文化上的屈辱屈辱 humiliation 标准英语 如果那时候有这个名词的话 已经变成法语了 而九百年后我们在美国这个地方仍然继承 了这种影响 bilingual adj of in or using two languages 用 两种语言的 in the shoes of in another s position 站在别人的立场上 设身处地 例 I m glad I m not in his shoes with all those debts to pay off 我庆幸不用像他那样去偿 还所有的债务 Heir n to sth 继承人 7 The new ruling class had built a cultural barrier against him by building their French against his own language para11 新的统治阶新的统治阶 级用法语来对抗其他语言 这样就建立起了对抗这些农民的文化壁垒 级用法语来对抗其他语言 这样就建立起了对抗这些农民的文化壁垒 9 The new ruling class by using French instead of English made it difficult for the English to accept or absorb 合并 the culture of the rulers 12 So the next morning the conversation over one looked it up The phrase came into use some time in the 16th century Queen s English is found in Nashe s Strange News of the Intercepting of Certain Letters in 1593 and in 1602 Dekker wrote of someone thou clipst the King s English Is the phrase in Shakespeare That would be the confirmation that it was in general use He uses it once when Mistress Quickly in The Merry Wives of Windsor says of her master coming home in a rage here will be an old abusing of God s patience and the King s English and it rings true 12 那晚闲聊过后的第二天一大早便有人去查阅了资料 这个名词在 16 世纪已有人使用 过了 纳什作于 1593 年的 截获截获 intercept 信函奇闻 中就有过 标准英语 Queen s English 的提法 1602 年德克写到某人时有句话说 你你 thou 把 标准英语 King s English 简化简化了 莎士比亚作品中是否也出现过这一提法呢 如出现过 那就证明这个 词在当时既已通用 他用过一次 在 温莎的风流娘们 中 女仆 Quickly 在讲到她家老 爷回来后将会有的盛怒情形时说 少不了一通臭骂 骂得昏天暗地 标准英语 不知要给他糟蹋成个什么样子啦 后来的事实果然被她说中了 intercept v seize or stop on the way before arrival at the intended place 拦截 截断 截击 例 Reporters intercepted him as he tried to leave by the rear entrance 他想从后门溜走 记者 把他截住了 abuse v use wrongly use insulting coarse or bad language scold harshly 滥用 辱骂 口出恶言 Thou 人称代词 汝 你 13 One could have expected that it would be about then that the phrase 10 would be coined After five centuries of growth of tussling with the French of the Normans and the Angevins and the Plantagenets and at last absorbing it the conquered in the end conquering the conqueror English had come royally into its own 13 我们有理由认为这个词就是那个时候产生 产生 coin 杜撰 杜撰 的 经过前后五百年的发展和与 诺曼人 安茹王朝 Angevin 及金雀花王朝 Plantagenets 的法语的竞争 英语最终同化同化 absorbing 了法语 被统治者成了统治着 英语取得了国语的地位取得了国语的地位 come into its own coin v make up devise invent a new word phrase etc 编造 杜撰 新词 新短语等 tussle v to fight or struggle without using any weapons by pulling or pushing someone rather than hitting them 斗争 搏斗 竞争 词组 Tussle with 例 He was tussling with the other boys come into one s own to receive what properly belongs to one esp acclaim or recognition 得到自己该得的东西 如荣誉或世人的口碑 Royally adv 像王族 庄严地 8 English had come royally into its own para13 英语取得了国语英语取得了国语 的地位 的地位 The English language received proper recognition and was used by the King once more 14 There was a King s or Queen s English to be proud of The Elizabethans blew on it as on a dandelion clock and its seeds multiplied and floated to the ends of the earth The King s English was no longer a form of what would now be regarded as racial discrimination 14 这样便有了一种英国人值得引以为傲的 标准英语 伊丽莎白时代的人没费吹灰之 力便使其影响日盛 日盛 multiplied 使 增加 相乘 使 增加 相乘 遍及全球 blew 吹吹 标准英语 再也不带有今天所谓的种族歧视种族歧视 racial discrimination 的性质了 dandelion n any of several plants of the composite family common lawn weeds with jagged 11 leaves often used as greens and yellow flowers 蒲公英 属 15 Yet there had been something in the remark of the Australian The phrase has always been used a little pejoratively and even facetiously by the lower classes One feels that even Mistress Quickly a servant is saying that Dr Caius her master will lose his control and speak with the vigor of ordinary folk If the King s English is English as it should be spoken the claim is often mocked by the underlings when they say with a jeer English as it should be spoke The rebellion against a cultural dominance is still there 15 不过 那个澳大利亚人的解释也有一定道理 下层阶级在使用这一名词时总带着一点 轻蔑轻蔑 pejorative 讥讽 讥讽 facetious 的味道 我们会发现 就连 Quickly 这样一个婢女婢女 servant 佣人 佣人 也会说她的主子凯厄斯大夫管不住自己的舌头 而讲起平民百姓平民百姓 ordinary folk 们所讲的那种粗话 如果说 标准英语 就是所谓 规范英语 这种看法常常会受 到下层人民的嘲笑嘲笑 mock 讥讽讥讽 jeer 他们有时故意开玩笑地把它称做 规反英语 下层 人民对于文华上的专制还是颇有 抵制抵制 rebellion 反抗 反抗 心理的 pejorative adj disparaging or derogatory 轻蔑的 贬低的 facetious adj usu derog 通常作贬义 joking or trying to be jocular esp at an imappropriate time 滑稽的 诙谐的 尤指在不适当的时候 开玩笑的 例 a facetious young man 耍贫嘴的小伙子 underling n a person in a subordinate position inferior disparaging 通常作蔑词 下属 jeer n Jeering remark taunt 揶揄的言语 嘲讽 例 He ran off their jeers ringing in his ears 他一跑了之 耳边仍回响着他们的冷嘲热讽 mock at sb sth make fun of eap by mimicking him it contemptuously ridicule 取笑 某人 某物 尤其指模仿嘲弄 愚弄 mocking smile voice laugh 嘲弄的微笑 声音 大笑 9 The phrase has always been used a little pejoratively and even facetiously by the lower classes para15 下层阶级使用这个短语时 常下层阶级使用这个短语时 常 带有贬义 甚至讥讽的味道 带有贬义 甚至讥讽的味道 12 The phrase the King s English has always been used disrespectfully 无礼地 不恭地and jokingly开玩笑地by the lower classes or The working people very often make fun of the proper and formal language of the educated people 10 The rebellion against a cultural dominance is still there para15 对文化支配的对抗仍然存在 对文化支配的对抗仍然存在 There still exists in the working people as in the early Saxon peasants a spirit of opposition to the cultural authority of the ruling class 在劳动人民中仍然存在着 就像早期的撒克逊农民一样 反对统治阶级文化权威的 精神 16 There is always a great danger as Carlyle put it that words will harden into things for us Words are not themselves a reality but only representations of it and the King s English like the Anglo French of the Normans is a class representation of reality Perhaps it is worth trying to speak it but it should not be laid down as an edict and made immune to change from below 16 正如卡莱尔所说 对我们来说 词语会变成具体具体 harden 的事物 是一种始终存在 的危险 词语本身并不是现实 它不过是现实的一种反应形式形式 representation 而已 标准 英语和诺曼人的盎格鲁法语的性质一样 也只是一个阶段用来表达现实的一种形式 让人 们学着去讲也许不错 但既不应该把它作为法令法令 edict 也不应该使它完全不接受不接受 immune 来自下层的改变 edict n an official public proclamation or order issued by authority decree 法令 命令 布 告 Immune adj exempt from or protected against something disagreeable or harmful 不受影响 的 可避免的 13 harden v cause sth to become hare strong etc 使某物 变硬 变坚强 变鉴定 11 There is always a great danger as Carlyle put it that words will harden into things for us para16 正如卡莱尔提出的 正如卡莱尔提出的 对我们而言 对我们而言 词语会变成具体的事物词语会变成具体的事物 这始终会有极大的危险 这始终会有极大的危险 There is always a great danger that we might forget that words are only symbols and take them for things they are supposed to represent For example the word dog is a symbol representing a kind of animal We mustn t regard the word dog as being the animal itself 总是有一个很大的危险 我们可能会忘记 单词只是符号 sign mark 并 把他们的东西 他们应该代表的话 例如 狗 是一个象征 代表一种动物 我们不能 把 狗 这个词本身作为动物本身 17 I have an unending love affair with dictionaries Auden once said that all a writer needs is a pen plenty of paper and the best dictionaries he can afford but I agree with the person who said that dictionaries are instruments of common sense The King s English is a model a rich and instructive one but it ought not