What does that mean? 你真的瞭解這個慣用語嗎?
很多字詞並非表面所見的意思，字詞的組合會產生不同的解釋。這樣的慣用法，我們稱之為「比喻」。一個成功的比喻，作者本身必須相當瞭解字詞的源起。以下的句子為讀者介紹一個比喻及其來源。
Imagery buries itself in language and takes on new meaning. The transplanted and transformed sets of words are called “figures of speech.” For a figure of speech to be effective, however, a writer must first understand the original meaning of the phrase. The following sentence contains a common figure of speech. Its original meaning is explained.
“It was a perfect storm: After the heated test tube cracked, splattering technicians with the acidic solution, the scrambling techs knocked the treadmilling guinea pig off the counter and into the carnivorous fish tank.”
「這是場完美的風暴：加熱試管爆裂，酸性溶液濺了技術人員一身，腳步踉蹌的技術員把跑步機上的天竺鼠撞得跌下檯子，跌入放有肉食魚的魚缸。」
“Perfect storm” is a phrase that entered popular culture 15 years ago when a movie based on a book of the same title was released. It described a storm off the New England coast of the United States that developed after three climactic conditions converged. The result: a perfectly awful and deadly storm. The phrase—almost a cliché now—thus generally describes the coming together of several independent elements that, when combined, produce a consequence that is remarkably complete in a negative way.
「完美的風暴」原為小說名稱，十五年前搬上大銀幕後蔚為流行，描寫在美國新英格蘭沿海，三個氣候條件匯集，造成一場非常可怕而致命的風暴。「完美的風暴」一詞如今可說已是常見的陳詞，一般形容幾個獨立的因素結合起來，通盤造成負面後果。
In the laboratory incident metaphorically described as a “perfect storm,” the phrase refers not at all to the weather but to a series of sequential disasters. First, the technicians apparently overheated the glass tube. They also had set up a treadmill in a precarious place: on the edge of a countertop overlooking an open tank of flesh-eating fish. None of these situations in itself was especially noteworthy. However, they were aligned in such a way as to produce a disaster (for the pig, at least) when they came together in a flurry. It was perfectly awful.
本段句子以「完美的風暴」比喻實驗室中的意外，指的並非天氣，而是一連串的災難。首先，技術人員顯然把試管加熱過度；此外，他們還在一個危險的地方擺放跑步機，就放在檯子上，旁邊是未加蓋的魚缸，缸裡養的是肉食魚類。這些因素分開來看尚且不值得特別一提，但是在慌亂的情況下，組合在一起就會釀成災難（起碼對天竺鼠來說是場災難），而且是非常可怕的災難。
Imagery buries itself in language and takes on new meaning. The transplanted and transformed sets of words are called “figures of speech.” For a figure of speech to be effective, however, a writer must first understand the original meaning of the phrase. The following sentence contains a common figure of speech. Its original meaning is explained.
“It was a perfect storm: After the heated test tube cracked, splattering technicians with the acidic solution, the scrambling techs knocked the treadmilling guinea pig off the counter and into the carnivorous fish tank.”
「這是場完美的風暴：加熱試管爆裂，酸性溶液濺了技術人員一身，腳步踉蹌的技術員把跑步機上的天竺鼠撞得跌下檯子，跌入放有肉食魚的魚缸。」
“Perfect storm” is a phrase that entered popular culture 15 years ago when a movie based on a book of the same title was released. It described a storm off the New England coast of the United States that developed after three climactic conditions converged. The result: a perfectly awful and deadly storm. The phrase—almost a cliché now—thus generally describes the coming together of several independent elements that, when combined, produce a consequence that is remarkably complete in a negative way.
「完美的風暴」原為小說名稱，十五年前搬上大銀幕後蔚為流行，描寫在美國新英格蘭沿海，三個氣候條件匯集，造成一場非常可怕而致命的風暴。「完美的風暴」一詞如今可說已是常見的陳詞，一般形容幾個獨立的因素結合起來，通盤造成負面後果。
In the laboratory incident metaphorically described as a “perfect storm,” the phrase refers not at all to the weather but to a series of sequential disasters. First, the technicians apparently overheated the glass tube. They also had set up a treadmill in a precarious place: on the edge of a countertop overlooking an open tank of flesh-eating fish. None of these situations in itself was especially noteworthy. However, they were aligned in such a way as to produce a disaster (for the pig, at least) when they came together in a flurry. It was perfectly awful.
本段句子以「完美的風暴」比喻實驗室中的意外，指的並非天氣，而是一連串的災難。首先，技術人員顯然把試管加熱過度；此外，他們還在一個危險的地方擺放跑步機，就放在檯子上，旁邊是未加蓋的魚缸，缸裡養的是肉食魚類。這些因素分開來看尚且不值得特別一提，但是在慌亂的情況下，組合在一起就會釀成災難（起碼對天竺鼠來說是場災難），而且是非常可怕的災難。
Posted at 2011-09-22 10:10:29
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