翻译辨误

1. Do you have a family?你有孩子吗？

2. Time and tide wait for no man.时光如同潮流一样不等人。

3. His mother died of difficult labor.他母亲死于难产。

4. Many people sleep late at weekends.周末许多人睡懒觉。

5. It’s a good father what knows his son.再好的父亲也未必了解自己的儿子。（要是有这样一个父亲就好了，可惜没有这样的父亲）

It’s a … that…要是…就好了

6. They gave the boy the lie.他们指责那男孩子说谎。（give被认为是，被归于）

7. You’re telling me.我早就知道，不用你告诉我。/ 这还用你说吗？

Tell me another.我不信这件事。

I’m telling you.注意听我说（这是很重要的）

I can tell you.真的。我敢断定。

I tell you what.我有个主意。

Tell it like it is.老实说。

You can never tell.谁也不知道。

Don’t tell me you don’t know.你还能不知道？我不信你会不知道。

Now you tell me.为什么不早告诉我？

8. Don’t cough more than you can help.除非忍不住，尽量不要咳嗽。

He is wiser than saying that.他没那么傻，不会那样说。

That’s more than I can manage.我办不到。

That’s really more than I can tell you.

9. I have no opinion of that young man.我觉得那个年轻人不怎么样。

have no opinion不大理会，不大佩服

I have no idea of that young man.我不了解那个年轻人。

10. For those people, hope dies slowly.他们迟迟不肯放弃希望。

He is slow in making up his mind.他总是下不了决心。

Slow help is no help.不及时帮忙等于没有帮忙。

The crowd was breaking up very slowly.人群迟迟不肯散去。

11. What do you think of the man? You’ve stolen my question.你觉得这个人怎么样？我正要问你呢！

12. The machine is in repair.这台机器维修得很好。

13. She has an expensive taste in clothes.她爱好买高档的衣服。

have a taste for sth.爱好某物

14. When there is anything wrong, he’ll just beat it.出了问题他就溜之大吉。

beat it逃走，拔腿就跑；beat it也可以用于祈使句，意为滚蛋

beat使……为难：That beats me.这可把我难住了。

15. He is a walking skeleton.她瘦得像排骨。

16. The constant changing weather there really beats me.那里天气反复无常，我实在适应不了。

17. He had a wild look on his face.他脸上有一种捉摸不透的表情。

make a wild guess（漫无边际/毫无根据地）瞎猜

18. You guys, understand me.伙计们，听着。

19. You don’t know what you’re talking about.你这不是瞎说吗！你简直就是胡说八道！

I know what I’m talking about.我可不是随便瞎说的！

That’s the talk.对极了/可不嘛/本人洗耳恭听。

Now you’re talking!这才像话/这还差不多。

Big/tall talk高谈阔论 small talk闲谈，拉家常 sweet talk甜言蜜语，恭维话

double talk令人不知所云的话 talk sense说得在理 talk wet瞎扯

20. You don’t begin to understand what they mean.你一点儿也不明白他们的意思。

Begin强调不易；not begin to do决不，完全不；begin用以强调否定

He can’t begin to compete with you.她根本没法和你竞争。

You don’t begin to understand what I have suffered.你压根儿不理解我受了多少苦。

Nothing has begun to interest her so much as folk music.什么也比不上民间音乐那样让她动心。

I can’t begin to thank you.真是感激不尽！

21. They didn’t praise him slightly.他们大大地表扬了他。

not slightly隐含着but heavily的含义。

22. That’s all I want to hear.够了，别再说了。

all一词表现出一种不耐烦的心情，认为对方不必往下说了。

23. I wish I could bring you to see my point. 我怎么跟你说不明白呢。

24. Theirs is another case of January and Mary.他们（的情况）又是老夫娶少妻。

该典故源自乔叟的《坎特伯雷故事集》中“商人的故事”。January是一位男爵，在60岁时娶了一个如花似玉的名叫May的年轻姑娘，所以后人就用a case of January and May指“老夫娶少妻”。have January chicks老来得子。

25. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. 美与不美，全在观者。

26. You really flatter me.你真的太抬举我了。

27. He made a great difference.有他没他，大不一样。

28. The long exhausting trip proved too much.这次旅行旷日持久，令人筋疲力尽，我们终于受不了了/我们终于累垮了。

29. The monk is only not a dead.这和尚简直跟死人一样。

30. You look darker after the holiday.度完假你看上去结实多了。

在英语文化中说某个人dark，常常是一种赞美，因为鳌黑的皮肤象征健美。

31. As luck would have it, he was caught by the teacher again.不幸的是，他又被老师逮个正着。

As luck would have it碰巧，可以指“幸运”，也可以指“背运”“不走运”。

32. You can’t teach old dogs new tricks. 上年纪的人学不了新玩意。

top dog优胜者；

Every dog has its day.凡人自有出头日。

like a dog with two tails(某人)非常高兴；He is as pleased as a dog with two tails.

yellow dog无赖；going to dogs完蛋；die like a dog死得很惨；doggy bag带回去家里人吃或留下顿吃的，并不是喂狗用的餐盒。

33. He is really the man in the moon.他真的对世事一无所知/他确实是一个远离尘世的人。

the man in the moon在英美人心目中，月亮是一个远离人世的地方，月亮里的那个人对世界上发生的事一无所知，并不是月老，所谓的媒人。

34. I get a great kick out of watching him skating.看他溜冰，我感到极大的乐趣。

原句kick out并非短语。get a kick刺激，兴奋，快感feel good about原句用一般现在时。get a kick out of sth.

35. Are you there?你在听我说话吗？

36. If you think he is a good man, think again.要是你认为他是个好人，那可就错了。

37. I remember seeing him at a very hot spot in a place called Happy Valley.我记得我是在叫做欢乐谷的地方一个危险的地点见到他的。

hot spot常指危险的地点，尤指政治纠纷，随时会爆发动乱或战争的地方。

38. The new president is a trained physician with a soft spot for baseball.这位新校长是一位训练有素的医生，特别喜欢棒球(是个棒球迷)。

have a soft spot for=be fond of or affectionate towards

soft spot弱点

39. He is a man of confidence.他是个骗子。

40. That took his breath away.他大吃一惊/他惊讶得说不出话来。

at a breath/in one breath一口气

in a breath一瞬间，一刹那

take a breath歇一口气；take a deep breath深呼吸

take someone’s breath away/knock the breath out of someone使某人大吃一惊

41. Hold your horses.不要急/慌。别忙，看情况再说。

此成语来自驾驭马车（一辆马车常常不止一匹马拉），其意思是“不要慌(先做好准备)”。

42. All you can get from him is words and deceit.他说得全是谎话。从他那儿根本掏不出真话。

and和其后的名词起定于作用，修饰and前面的名词。如：a necklace and gold一条金项链；with eye and envy.用羡慕的眼光；sweet and twenty二十岁的甜人儿。

43. Two is company but three is none.两人成伴，三人不欢。

一对情人出去活动时，如果第三者不知趣也要跟着凑热闹，中文叫当电灯泡，英文叫play gooseberry.

44. The elevator girl reads between passengers.在没有乘客的时候，开电梯的姑娘就看看书。

He was between sheets by eleven o’clock.十一点钟时，他已躺在被窝里了。

The two of them bought a second-hand car between them.他们两个人合伙买了一辆二手车。

Between ourselves, I don't think much of him.咱们私下里说说，我觉得他这个人不怎样。

45. His new book is strictly for the birds.严格说他的新书毫无价值。

Bird在英语中有贬义也有褒义，可以指女孩dolly bird、犯人jail bird、行家老手old bird、夜猫子night bird、早起的人early bird。

46. Students are still arriving. 学生还没到齐。

从正面顺着翻译别扭的话，从反面着眼，即反过来译，如肯定译成否定，或否定译为肯定，有时候会别开生面。

The team is yet to win a game.下次可能赢。

The old man lay awake almost the whole night.老人几乎一夜没有合眼。

The teacher really has an open mind.老师真的没有偏见。

He is strange to complement.他不爱听恭维话。

I’ll see you dead before I accept your term.见你的鬼去，我才不会接受你的条件呢。

Only that I know you might be wanted, I should detain you a little longer.要不是知道有人会找你，我会留你多待一会儿。

47. chain smoker抽起烟来一支接一支没个完

He is an early riser. 他总是起得很早。

He is a poor loser.他这个人输不起。

48. Misery may love company, but company clearly doesn’t love misery. 人在悲伤的时候都喜欢有人陪伴，可是一般人却不愿陪伴悲伤的人。

Traveling company旅伴 life company终身伴侣

49. They went away as wise as they came.他们离开的时候跟来的时候一样，仍然一窍不通。

I am still no wiser.我还是弄不明白。

Be anyone’s guess谁也说不准。

50. I won't do it to save my life.我死也不会那样做。

I will die before I steal.我宁死也不会去偷。

51. She married a fortune.傍大款。

She married into the purple.她嫁到了一个显赫之家。

He married translation.他终身致力于翻译。

52. The village is on the side of the mountain.村庄在半山腰。

53. Better late than the late.迟到总比丧命好。（美国高速公路上的一条宣传安全的标语）

Better late than never.

one's late years晚年

54. Calculation never made a hero.举棋不定永远成不了英雄。

Calculation是一个褒义词，除了具体数字方面的计算核算外，还可以指推测、精打细算、仔细思考、慎重考虑。虽然有时也有贬义，但主要指“打自己的小算盘”。如：personal calculation个人小算盘。

55. I could use some money.我想赚些零用钱。/我等着用钱呢。

这是一句美国口语，也是一种习惯用法。言不由衷。Could想要。如I could laugh for joy.我高兴得想笑。

56. It is a monster of a dog.这是一条恶魔般的恶狗。

He is a skeleton of a man.他瘦骨如柴。

大学英语综合教程翻译辨误