英語詞語溯源之致命的弱點
你想了解開拓時期在美國語言中留下的痕跡嗎？你想知道水門事件的始末嗎？日常生活中一些不起眼的詞，包括貓、狗、馬、牛和凡士林、小費、頂住，也會演繹出讓人意料不到的含義和用法來。為了表達原文的意圖（如詞語的歷史淵源）和照顧上下文的行文，往往采取“直譯”的辦法，必要時在括弧內(nèi)提供參考譯法。例如，all thumbs譯為“全是拇指”，而在括弧里提供“笨手笨腳”，“手腳不聽使喚”等參考譯法。有些讀音也是“音譯”。在不涉及上述情況時，編者一般盡量從漢語習慣出發(fā)，采取“意譯”的辦法。即使有時不能完全意譯，也盡量采取直譯、意譯相結(jié)合的做法，略增減一二個字，使其意義明顯。
材料來源于本人上過的詞源學課程。
【本期內(nèi)容】
Achilles'heel致命的弱點
The Greek poet Homer has given us many phrases. A famous one is "Achilles'heel." Every body has his "Achilles'heel," his weak spot.
希臘詩人荷馬給我們留下了很多成語，其中著名的一個就是“阿奇里斯的腳跟”。每個人都有自己的“阿奇里斯的腳跟”，即他的弱點。
This is the story Homer tells in the Iliad. Achilles' mother bathed him as a baby in the River Styx to make him immortal, deathless like a god. But she held him by the heel and it did not get wet. The heel therefore was the one spot where Achilles could be hurt, possibly killed. And so he was in the Trojan War.
荷馬在《伊里亞特》講的故事是這樣的：阿奇里斯的母親在冥河里給出生的阿奇里斯沐浴，為了使他能像神一樣地永生不死。但是她提著阿奇里斯的腳后跟，因而那一部分沒有浸濕。于是腳后跟成了阿奇里斯身上唯一會受傷、也許是會致命的弱點。后來在特洛伊戰(zhàn)爭中果然發(fā)生了這樣的事。
None of the Trojan weapons was able to hurt Achilles. The god Apollo, however, knew of Achilles’ weak spot and told Paris about it. Paris then shot an arrow at Achilles' heel and killed him.
特洛伊人的任何武器都無法傷害阿奇里斯。然而阿波羅神卻知道阿奇里斯的弱點并告訴了帕里斯。帕里斯就對準阿奇里斯的腳后跟射出一箭，把他殺死了。
Who among us does not have his Achilles'heel? Even a man made of stone sooner or later will show his weak spot. It changes as we get older. But in youth it is love. Love leaves us helpless. We soon find ourselves turning "head over heels" with it.
我們之中有誰沒有自己的.“致命的弱點”呢？即使是巖石刻成的人，早晚也會暴露出弱點來的。但是這種弱點隨著我們年齡的增長而有所不同。青年時，它是愛情。愛情使得我們不能自控。用不了多久我們就會發(fā)現(xiàn)愛情使自己“頭腳顛倒”（“神魂顛倒”）。
This phrase needs no explanation. It is a clear picture of one who has fallen violently in love. He is its victim and seems to spin like a wheel, turning over and over, as an acrobat does somersaults.
這個詞無需多加解釋。這是陷入情網(wǎng)的真實寫照。他變成了愛情的俘虜，輪子一般地不斷打轉(zhuǎn)，活像個雜技演員在翻筋斗。
A similar phrase is "turning top over tail." You could also say "Love has me by the heels", or "treads upon my heels"—it pursues you, follows you close or "snaps at my heels," as a dog that keeps biting you around the ankles.
另一個類似的成語是“神魂顛倒”。你還可以說“愛情捆住了我的手腳”，或者“愛情纏住了我”——它跟蹤著你，緊追不舍，“尾隨腳跟”，如同一只狗追著你的腳脖子一樣。
There was a time when "to bless the world with one's heels" meant to be hanged. The man who dreamed up that phrase must have had a strange sense of humor. The expression is hundreds of years old. In the words of an English writer of the 1500's:"And the next day the three thieves were brought forth to 'bless the world with their heels'." The phrase, however, has gone out of use.
曾經(jīng)有一個時期，把被吊死稱作“用腳跟向世界祝福”。想出這個說法的人，準有某種與眾不同的幽默感。這個成語已有好幾百年的歷史。一位十六世紀的英國作家這樣寫道：“于是，第二天，那三個賊就被拉出去‘用腳跟向世界祝福’了。”不過現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)不再使用這個短語了。
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