论文总字数：27188字

摘 要

流传于民间口语中的谚语，伴随着文字的产生，开始出现在各种文学作品和文化典籍中。英语谚语有一部分来自书面文献，主要出自希腊罗马神话、寓言故事、莎士比亚戏剧以及一些名家作品中。本文从英语谚语词义的修辞格、结构的修辞格及语音的修辞格三方面分析和探讨英语谚语的各种特点及其翻译方法。

关键词：英语谚语；修辞特点；翻译方法

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

3. Rhetorical Features 2

3.1 Lexical devices 2

3.2 Syntactical devices 4

3.3 Phonetic devices 5

4. Translation of English Proverbs 6

4.1 Literal translation 7

4.2 Free translation 9

4.3 Equivalent translation 10

4.4 Annotation 12

5. Conclusion 13

Works Cited 15

1. Introduction

The definition of English proverb in Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary is popular with short suggestion and warning epigram. There has long history for English proverbs. It is people’s experience of life against nature. The feature of the English proverb is concise and comprehensive.

English proverbs can be easily understood for the use of simple words, easily recited for harmonious rhyme and impressed deeply on people with vivid comparison and description. As Russell said: “A proverb is one man’s wit and all men’s wisdom”, and also Francis Bacon said: “The genius, wit and spirit of a nation are discovered in its proverbs”. The contents of the English proverb include many aspects: politics, society, geography, national custom, history and culture. It is the valuable key which helps us understand English-speaking countries. Some proverbs contain philosophical truth of human life, eg: “Life is long if it is full”(生活充实，生命长久). Some proverbs are connected with learning, eg: “If you lie upon rose when young, you lie up on thorns when old”(少壮不努力，老大徒伤悲). Some proverbs are connected with interpersonal relationship, eg: “Better die standing than live kneeling”(宁愿站着死，不愿跪着生). And others are connected with family and society, eg: “He who keeps company with a wolf will learn to howl”(近墨者黑). English proverbs not only contain many philosophical theories, but also considered as the Jewel House of language and rhetoric art. This thesis explores rhetoric involved in English proverbs and summarizes corresponding translation approaches.

2. Literature Review

The famous English writer Professor Wang Zuoliang advocates studying and researching the rhetoric in the early fifty years ago. Since the 1980s, the vigorous development of English rhetorics has achieved a lot of new progress in China. For instance, Feng Cuihua studies English rhetorics on the basis of the theory and practice. English Rhetorical Options of Feng Cuihua is divided into five types: Syntactic means, lexical means, the mean of speech rhythm, rhetoric, allusions and quotations. It improves great help for future generations to learn figures of speech. A Concise Course of English Rhetoric by Li Shude and Feng Qi describes the detail of simile, personification, hyperbole, parody, palindromes and more than 22 kinds of rhetoric methods. It exposes the definition, origin, expression technique and rhetoric effect about each English rhetoric from a new angle. It makes readers have a new understanding of English rhetoric. In addition, some scholars classify figures of speech in English and Chinese proverbs by analyzing the relationship between rhetoric and translation. They discuss the translation method from perspective of rhetoric. For example, Zeng Zili, who has been studying English proverbs for a long time. The book of An Overview of English Proverbs published in 1983. In his book, Mr. Zeng lectures on the definition, origins, classification and translation of English proverbs. His book achieved high popularity and it set an example in English proverbs study. Another book, written by Wang Dechun, entitled Proverbs and culture in Chinese and English, was published in 2003. The author in this book discusses in detail the origins, cultural implications, language features and social function of Chinese and English proverbs. The book is unique in that it pays due attention to cultural difference and common points by comparing Chinese proverbs with English proverbs, which offers a new perspective in proverbs study.

3. Rhetorical Features

The sentence pattern of English proverbs is concise and the boundary tone is harmony. In addition, a large number of rhetorical devices express its art style. There are over dozens of rhetorics used in English proverbs. The following introduction from the three aspects of lexical devices, syntactical devices and phonetic devices briefly.

3.1 Lexical devices

In English proverbs, the figure of speech is used frequently. And the metaphor, personification, hyperbole, pun and antonym are more common.

3.1.1 Comparison

Comparison is the most common rhetorical device. It is used almost everywhere. It refers to an imaginative way of describing something by saying that it is something else which has the qualities that you are trying to describe. The abstract thing or principle can be expressed specifically, and easy to understand with tropes. The common metaphorical ways can be divided into the followings.

(1) Simile

 Simile is a stated comparison between two things that really are very different, but sharing some common elements. Similes are introduced by the use of “like” or “as”. Here are some instances:

There is no place like home.金窝银窝，不如自己的狗窝。

Choose an author as you choose a friend.择书如择友。

Beauty fades like a flower.色衰似花谢。 (Li, Feng 6)

(2) Metaphor

A metaphor, like a simile, is a comparison made by referring to one thing as another. But in a metaphor, the comparison is implied rather than stated. In metaphors, as in similes, the two things being compared must be essentially different.(Wang, Zhang 97) 

In a metaphor, the comparison would appear simply as:

A good book is the best of friends, the same today and forever.

好书如相伴终生的挚友。

A dwarf on a giant’s shoulders sees the farther of the two.

侏孺站在巨人的肩上，会看得更远。

Speech is the picture of the mind.

言论是心灵的写照。

3.1.2 Personification

Personification is a form of metaphor in which a lifeless object, an animal, or an idea is made to act like a person. Such as:

Walls have ears.隔墙有耳。

Time and tide wait for no man.时不我待。

A cock is valiant on his own dunghill.夜郎自大 。

Straws show which way the wind blows.草动知风向。

3.1.3 Hyperbole

Hyperbole is an exaggerated statement used to heighten effect. And hyperbole is often accomplished via comparisons, similes, and metaphors. For instance:

She eats like a bird.她食量很小。

A cat has nine lives.猫有九条命。

Spend money like water.花钱如流水。

One enemy is too much.一个敌人太多。

3.1.4 Literary quotation

Literary quotation refers to that many English proverbs are from historical events, a famous saying or classical literary works. More accurately, there are several sources of Greek mythology, the Bible, Aesop’s Fables and works of literature masters. At the same time, it should be noted that translation of these English proverbs should express its implied meaning of the original literary quotation.

Here are some instances from the Greek mythology of Homer’s Epic lliad.

The Heel of Achilles.唯一弱点；薄弱环节；要害。

Between Scylla and Charybdis.锡拉和卡津布迪斯之间。

An Apple of Discord.争斗之源；不和之因；祸根。

3.2 Syntactical devices

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