在学习英语的过程中,你是否遇到过这样的一些常用表达语:它们表面看是一种意思,但实际表达的含义却与字面意思差着十万八千里,常令人“丈二和尚摸不着头脑”。其实,在这些已相沿成习的表达背后都有着一段颇为有趣的身世。现在,就让我们一起来追本溯源,从根本上了解为何这些表达会有如今的含义。
Why do we say that someone who is fired “gets the sack1)”? Find out the history behind this and some other odd expressions.
为什么我们把某人被解雇叫“拿袋子”呢?现在就让我们来追溯一下这一表达以及其他一些奇怪表达背后的历史。
Why do we say that someone who is fired “gets the sack”?
为什么我们把某人被解雇叫“拿袋子”?
The ancient Romans didn’t believe in mollycoddling2) convicted felons3). Rehabilitation4) wasn’t their style. Those convicted of parricide5) or other heinous6) murders were tied in a sack and dumped into the Tiber River, instantly solving any potential recidivism7) problem. The practice spread throughout many other European countries, and, as late as the nineteenth century, murderers in Turkey were tossed into the Bosporus in a sack. To get the sack, then, probably was used figuratively8) as a threat of any sort of punishment, such as losing one’s job.
Another theory to explain how “get the sack” was recorded is that it referred to craftsmen of the Middle Ages. Artisans9) carried their tools in sacks; while they worked, they handed the sacks to their employers. When a craftsman got the sack, it meant that his services no longer were required. He left, literally, holding the bag.
古罗马人认为不该纵容已被定罪的重罪犯。对罪犯进行再教育可不是古罗马人的风格。那些被判弑亲罪或其他严重谋杀罪的罪犯们会被绑起来装入一个大袋子里,然后投到台伯河中,这样一下子就解决了任何可能出现的累犯问题。这种做法传到了欧洲其他许多国家,直到19世纪的时候,土耳其的杀人犯还都是被装进大袋子里,抛入博斯普鲁斯海峡。因此,“拿袋子”很可能是一种象征性的说法,用于威吓某人要受到某种惩罚,比如说丢掉工作。
关于“拿袋子”这一说法如何得以记载还有另外一种说法,和中世纪的手工艺人有关。手工艺人用袋子装着他们的工具,当他们有活干时,就把袋子交给他们的雇主。当一个手工艺人拿回了自己的袋子,那就说明雇主已经不再需要他的服务了。如此一来,手工艺人的确是拿着袋子离开的。
Why do we say that someone who has appropriated someone else’s ideas or future remarks has “stolen thunder from the victim”?
为什么我们把将他人的想法或说法据为己有说成是“偷受害人的雷”?
John Dennis, an English poet and playwright, wrote a tragedy called Appius and Virginia, which was produced in 1709 to less than rousing commercial success. Only one element of the production stirred the audience: thunder sound effects more realistic than any heard before on the stage, effects that Dennis himself created.
The play failed, but the theater’s next production didn’t. Dennis went to check out a successful production of Macbeth and was more than a little upset to discover that his sound effects were used in the storm scenes of Shakespeare’s tragedy.
Different sources vary slightly in describing what Dennis exclaimed upon hearing “his” thunder help promote the new production, but they are all variations of Stuart Berg Flexner10)’s quote: “See how the rascals11) use me! They will not let my play run, and yet they steal my thunder!” I’m sure that Dennis would be even more embittered12) to learn that the only phrase of his that has gained immortality is his expression of sour grapes.
约翰·丹尼斯是英国诗人兼剧作家,写过一部悲剧叫《阿皮尔斯和维吉尼亚》。这部戏于1709年上演后反应平平,没有在商业上大获成功。戏中只有一点打动了观众:那就是它的雷声效果比以往任何一部舞台剧中的雷声效果都来得逼真,这是由丹尼斯自己设计的。
尽管这部戏失败了,但剧院的下一部戏却大受欢迎。丹尼斯前去观看这部大获成功的戏剧《麦克白》时,看到自己的音效用在了莎士比亚这部悲剧的暴风雨场景中,他的心里有点五味杂陈。
丹尼斯为此大发感慨,说正是“他的”这种雷声效果才让新戏大放异彩。关于他的感慨,不同来源的版本在描述上略有不同,但说来说去,都源于斯图尔特·伯格·弗莱克斯纳引述他的那句话:“瞧瞧这些流氓是怎样利用我的吧!不让我的戏演下去,却偷了我的雷!”我敢肯定,如果丹尼斯知道他唯一流传下来的话是他这句颇具酸葡萄心理的言辞的话,一定会更加愤愤不平的。
Why is a final effort called “last ditch”?
为什么把最后一搏称为“最后一道沟”?
Anyone who fought in a war has probably hoped that the trench he was in was the “last ditch” he would ever see. Most of us would guess that the ditch referred to in “last ditch” is a military trench rather than a farmer’s irrigation ditch, but few realize that this expression predates the two world wars.
The first recorded use of “last ditch” was in Bishop Gilbert Burnet’s memoirs, History of My Own Time, published in the early eighteenth century: “There was a sure way never to see it [Holland] lost, and that was to die in the last ditch.” The earliest use of “last ditch” was a literal one, signifying a last stand, a last defense against an aggressive enemy. The first American citation was in a proclamation issued by the citizens of Westmoreland, Virginia, in 1798: “In War We know but one additional Obligation, To Die in the Last Ditch or uphold our nation.”
任何在战争中浴血奋战的人很可能都希望他所在的战壕是他见到的“最后一道沟”。我们大多数人都会认为“最后一道沟”中所说的“沟”应该是一个军事战壕,而非农民用于灌溉的沟渠。但鲜有人知道,这种说法在两次世界大战之前就已经出现。
据记载,“最后一道沟”的说法最早出现在主教吉尔伯特·伯内特的回忆录《我的时间历史》(出版于18世纪初期)中,其中写道:“我们一定有办法让荷兰永不消失,那就是战死于最后一道沟。”“最后一道沟”最初的意义如同字面所说,指的是对抗入侵的敌人时所占据的最后据点和最后防线。这种说法首次在美国出现是在1798年弗吉尼亚州威斯特摩兰县公民发布的一项公告中:“在战争中,我们有且只有一个附加的义务,即要么战死于最后一道沟,要么起身捍卫我们的国家。”
Why is mincing13) around a subject called “beating around the bush”?
为什么把说话拐弯抹角叫“击打树丛”?
Medieval men may not have had the thrill of flinging Frisbees, but they had a worthy counterpart, the challenging sport of batfowling14). A rare nocturnal15) sport, batfowling consisted of going into a forest or shrub-laden area and beating birds senseless with a bat. But being true sportsmen, they didn’t want to kill a defenseless bird. So before whacking16) it with the bat, they woke the bird up first, by stunning it with a harsh light, rendering the bird blind and temporarily helpless.
Sometimes, though, the birds proved to be uncooperative, selfishly sleeping in bushes where they were invisible, instead of marching forward and offering themselves as ritual sacrifices. So batfowlers engaged servants, to literally beat adjacent bushes to rouse flocks of sleeping birds. As the stunned birds awakened and fled in panic, they would be attracted to the torch or lantern and be socked17) into unconsciousness by the batfowler.
Although the person today who beats around the bush might not have violence on his mind, he similarly conceals or avoids the real thing that concerns him. While he might pretend to be interested in the bush, he might be more interested in the bird, or worm, lurking inside.
中世纪的人们也许无法享受到扔飞盘的乐趣,但他们却有一个极富挑战性的类似运动——夜间以灯火诱捕鸟儿。这是一项极其少见的在夜间进行的运动,做这项运动时,人们进入树林或灌木丛生的地方,用木棒把鸟儿打晕。但作为真正的玩家,捕鸟人可不想猎杀毫无防备的鸟儿。所以,他们在用木棒击打鸟儿之前,会先把鸟儿叫醒,叫醒的方法就是用强光把它们惊醒,强光会使它们看不见东西,一时间无从防备。
但是,鸟儿们有时候却不那么合作,自顾自地在树丛中熟睡,让人无法看到它们。它们才不会大模大样地飞出来,让自己去送死呢。所以,捕鸟人就要让仆人去击打附近的树丛,把那群熟睡中的鸟儿唤醒。当受到惊吓的鸟儿醒来,惊慌失措地四处乱飞时,它们就会被火把或是灯笼的光亮吸引过来,然后只消捕鸟人几下重击,它们便“不省人事”了。
尽管今天“击打树丛”的人的头脑中也许没有暴力的念头,但却同样隐藏或回避了他真正关心的问题:他可能装作对树丛很感兴趣,但实际上他更感兴趣的可能是隐藏在树丛中的鸟儿或是虫子。
Why is someone who surreptitiously18) listens to others’ conversations called “an eavesdropper”?
为什么把鬼鬼祟祟窃听别人谈话的人叫 “屋檐滴水”?
Eavesdropping isn’t exactly an endearing activity today, but from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries, eavesdropping was a crime in England. Back then, communities were not equipped with gutter systems, so houses were surrounded by eavesdrops, spaces all around a building where water dripped from the eaves19). The purpose of the eavesdrop was to allow a wide overhang so that rain fell far enough from the house to safeguard the security of the foundation.
The first eavesdroppers were nefarious20) types who literally stood in the eavesdrops to overhear private conversations. Protected from the elements21) by the overhang, this low-tech espionage22) evidently faded as sewer systems rendered eavesdrops obsolete.
在今天,窃听这种行为的确不讨人喜欢,但在16到19世纪的英格兰,窃听可是一种犯罪。那时候,由于许多居住区里都没有安装排水系统,人们就在房子四周留出一圈空地,叫“檐下滴水处”,从屋檐滴下的水便落到此处。“檐下滴水处”的作用是能够让屋檐的宽度加大,这样当雨水流下时,就能离房子足够远,从而确保了地基的扎实。
最早的窃听者简直无法无天,他们实际上就站在“檐下滴水处”偷听屋内私密的谈话。屋檐自然可以让窃听者们免遭风吹雨打,但是随着排水系统的出现,屋檐已不再合乎时宜,而檐下窃听这种技术含量不高的间谍行为也逐渐消失了。
1. sack [sAk] n. 大袋,麻布袋 2. mollycoddle [5mClI7kCdl] vt. 纵容
3. felon [5felEn] n. 重罪犯 4. rehabilitation [5ri:(h)E7bIlI5teIFEn] n. (罪犯的)改造,再教育
5. parricide [5pArI7saId] n. 弑亲罪 6. heinous [5heInEs] adj. (罪犯或罪行)十恶不赦的,令人发指的
7. recidivism [rI5sIdIvIzEm] n. (罪行、恶行等的)累犯,重犯 8. figuratively [5fI^jErEtIvlI] adv. 比喻地,象征性地
9. artisan [B:tI5zAn; (?@) B:rtIzn] n. 工匠,技工,手艺人
10. Stuart Berg Flexner:斯图尔特·伯格·弗莱克斯纳(1928～1990),美国词典编纂者,因撰写美国词汇起源系列的书籍而闻名。
11. rascal [5rB:skEl] n. 流氓,无赖 12. embittered [Im5bItEd] adj. 愤怒的,怨恨的
13. mince [mIns] vi. 委婉地说 14. batfowl [5bAtfaul] vi. 夜晚以灯火诱捕鸟
15. nocturnal [nCk5tE:nl] adj. 夜间的 16. whack [(h)wAk] vt. 猛击,拍打
17. sock [sCk] vi. 猛击,重击 18. surreptitiously [7sQrEp5tIFEslI] adv. 暗中地,秘密地,偷偷摸摸地
19. eave [i:vz] n. 屋檐 20. nefarious [nI5feErIEs] adj. 邪恶的,穷凶极恶的
21. the elements:天气(尤指大风、大雨等恶劣天气) 22. espionage [5espIEnIdV] n. 间谍,间谍行为