:::
What does that mean? 你真的瞭解這個慣用語嗎?
【英文學習】
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.
“When the scientist returned home, his electric car purred into the driveway, a docile cat with so little snarl that the lightest sleeper in the house wasn’t disturbed.”
「科學家回到家，他駕駛的電動車發出輕微的呼嚕聲進入車道，就像溫馴的小貓，咆哮聲極低，屋裡的人即使剛睡著，也不會受打擾。」
Members of the cat family, large and small, are renowned for their quiet movement. Their padded feet and superb muscle structure let them leap and bound and run around without so much as a thump or a thud. They also are notably quiet at rest, with the most common resting sound being a vibration called purring. Scientists aren’t sure why cats purr. Regardless of why purring occurs, the sound is persistent and soft and identifiably feline in its origin. Cats also snarl, particularly before and during a fight, in a show of latent aggressiveness.
貓科動物無論體型大小，都以動作輕柔聞名，因為牠們腳上有肉墊，加上優異的肌肉結構，所以跑跳時不會砰砰作響。牠們靜止時也很安靜，休息經常發出一種震動聲，稱為呼嚕聲。科學家還不知道貓科動物為什麼會發出呼嚕聲，但不論原因為何，呼嚕聲是一種持續而輕柔的聲音，而且只有貓科動物才會發出這種聲音。貓科動物也會咆哮，特別是在打鬥之前與打鬥時，展現潛在的侵略攻勢。
Electric vehicles sometimes are compared to cars, as in this example, partly because they often are nimble and smaller than higher-powered vehicles. The sentence’s first allusion is to the relative quiet of the vehicle, its “purring.” This is opposed to the raucous sound made by a car powered by a V-8 engine with a glass-pack muffler. The writer goes on to metaphorically describe the car as “docile” (underpowered) with minimal “snarl” (loud engine emissions). Giving the car the characteristics of a cat gave readers a fresh image of the end of a typical day.
有時我們會把一般汽車和電動車互相比較，如例句的示範。相較於馬力較高的汽車，電動車比較敏捷靈巧，也比較迷你。句中首先以 “purring” （發出呼嚕聲）比喻，說明電動車比較安靜，不像配備玻璃絲消音器、以 V8 引擎驅動的汽車，會發出嘈雜的噪音。接下來句子繼續以其他比喻，暗喻電動車很 “docile”（溫馴），也就是動力較低，且 “snarl”（咆哮聲）極低，也就是引擎的轟隆聲極低。賦予電動車貓科動物的特性，可以讓讀者看完一般的句子後，留下新鮮的印象。
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.
“When the scientist returned home, his electric car purred into the driveway, a docile cat with so little snarl that the lightest sleeper in the house wasn’t disturbed.”
「科學家回到家，他駕駛的電動車發出輕微的呼嚕聲進入車道，就像溫馴的小貓，咆哮聲極低，屋裡的人即使剛睡著，也不會受打擾。」
Members of the cat family, large and small, are renowned for their quiet movement. Their padded feet and superb muscle structure let them leap and bound and run around without so much as a thump or a thud. They also are notably quiet at rest, with the most common resting sound being a vibration called purring. Scientists aren’t sure why cats purr. Regardless of why purring occurs, the sound is persistent and soft and identifiably feline in its origin. Cats also snarl, particularly before and during a fight, in a show of latent aggressiveness.
貓科動物無論體型大小，都以動作輕柔聞名，因為牠們腳上有肉墊，加上優異的肌肉結構，所以跑跳時不會砰砰作響。牠們靜止時也很安靜，休息經常發出一種震動聲，稱為呼嚕聲。科學家還不知道貓科動物為什麼會發出呼嚕聲，但不論原因為何，呼嚕聲是一種持續而輕柔的聲音，而且只有貓科動物才會發出這種聲音。貓科動物也會咆哮，特別是在打鬥之前與打鬥時，展現潛在的侵略攻勢。
Electric vehicles sometimes are compared to cars, as in this example, partly because they often are nimble and smaller than higher-powered vehicles. The sentence’s first allusion is to the relative quiet of the vehicle, its “purring.” This is opposed to the raucous sound made by a car powered by a V-8 engine with a glass-pack muffler. The writer goes on to metaphorically describe the car as “docile” (underpowered) with minimal “snarl” (loud engine emissions). Giving the car the characteristics of a cat gave readers a fresh image of the end of a typical day.
有時我們會把一般汽車和電動車互相比較，如例句的示範。相較於馬力較高的汽車，電動車比較敏捷靈巧，也比較迷你。句中首先以 “purring” （發出呼嚕聲）比喻，說明電動車比較安靜，不像配備玻璃絲消音器、以 V8 引擎驅動的汽車，會發出嘈雜的噪音。接下來句子繼續以其他比喻，暗喻電動車很 “docile”（溫馴），也就是動力較低，且 “snarl”（咆哮聲）極低，也就是引擎的轟隆聲極低。賦予電動車貓科動物的特性，可以讓讀者看完一般的句子後，留下新鮮的印象。
