人们在交流时，在涉及某种不便表达的生理器官或生理行为的情况下 如直言不讳地述说，往往会令人感觉不舒服，受话人也会认为对方没 涵养，很粗俗。事实上，英语中有很多委婉的表达可以化解这种尴尬 急冲冲跑出办公室，某小姐问声“急啥?”通常他不会说“尿尿”
（to
urinate or defecate ）
1，去洗手间（go
四，在西方，工人罢工go on strike 被说成industrial action （工业行动），没有了一点“罢工”的痕迹。
Humorous Function(幽默功能)
1、be sent into prison--live at goverment's expense (享福利) 2、death--be in Abraham's bosom(温馨，享受) 3、protracted war of anti-obesity--Battle of the
3. Annotation(注释） Sometimes it is not enough to just use literal translation or liberal translation, so it is necessary to make further explanation. In the blue grass region, A paradox was born: The corn was full of kernels And the colonel full of corn. ( H. L. Menchen, 1945. )
译文: 老人们对自己的称呼感到不满意,他们也不喜欢被叫做年纪大的或 上了年纪的人; 很快人们称他们为长者。他们觉得这个委婉语也不尽人意 ,于是人们便以"高级公民"或"金色年华"的人相称,而老年妇女则信心十足 地叫自己是成年人。
2. Liberal translation
Many Chinese and English euphemism are different both in content and form; at this point, we have to translate the euphemistic meaning directly. e.g. This student is too free with fists. 这个学生爱打架。 Harry used an Angol- Saxon word. 哈里用了一脏词( Anglo- Saxon 在这儿是委婉语。就一般而 言, 英语中最脏的粗话多源于古英语, 因此得名) 。 "Wait a minute, I want to pick a daisy" "等一下，我要去方便一下" 他有”断袖之癖“ He is homosextual.
3 月14 日下午两点三刻, 当代最伟大的思想家停止思想了。让他一个人留 在房间里总共不过两分钟, 等我们再进去的时候, 便发现他在安乐椅上安 静地睡着了，但已经是永远地睡着了。
• （凤姐儿低了半日头，说道：“这个就没法了！你也该将 一应的后事给他料理料理。冲一冲也好。”）尤氏道：“ 我也暗暗地叫人预备了。就是那件东西，不得好木头，且 慢慢地办着罢。”（曹雪芹：《红楼梦》，第十一回）
•
Old people did not like that description of themselves , and like aged or aging no much more; Soon they came to be called the elderly. Even the euphemism seemed unduly doddering, so we were treated to senior citizen and golden- ager and old women keep their chins up by calling themselves mature.
Palliative Function(掩饰功能)
一，英语里看不到穷国poor nations,有的只是 backward nations （滞后国家） 二，underdeveloped nations（欠发达国家） developing nations （发展中国家） 三，emerging nations （新兴国家）
1，pipe engineer 实际上就是plumber 管道工 2，packing engineer 是porter 搬运工 3，appearance engineer 是美容师
现在服务性行业常用industry 来代替trade
1，the tourist industry 旅游业 2，the hotel industry 旅馆业 3，the woman’s beauty industry 美容业
英语 1,to pass away
2,to depart 3,to leave us 4,to go to sleep 5,to go to heaven 6,one’s heart has stopped beating
1，羽பைடு நூலகம் 3，仙逝 2，圆寂 4，不在
汉语
Ineffable Funcion(避讳功能)
Definition
Euphemism: It is the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant. (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, 1973) 委婉语： 用转弯抹角的说法来代替直截了当的话，把原来显得粗鲁 或令人尴尬的语言温和、含蓄地表达出来 “好听的话”或“ 讨人喜欢 的话”
Definition & Functions
Etymology
源于希腊语
eu (good,sounding well,好的,好听的) Euphemism pheme (speech or saying,话语或好话)
Euphemism: good speech or comfortable words. Use of pleasant, mild or indirect words or phrases in place of more accurate or direct ones (用好听的话或令人愉快的方式表达)
每日家偷狗戏鸡, 爬灰的爬灰, 养小叔子的养小叔子, 我什么 不知道? . . . day in and day out scratching in the ashes. . . ( A slang term for adultery between a man and his daughter- in- law. ) 。 爬灰指的是翁媳之间的乱伦关系(incest)。译文采取加注法, 弥补了译语相应词汇空缺(lexical gap)带来的问题。
Bulge(“突出部”之战)
Translation Strategies
1. Literal translation
• Although there are differences between Chinese euphemism and English euphamism, many similar expressions exist as well. In order to maintain the original meaning and style, the translator should try to use literal translation. • e.g. On the 14th of March, at a quarter to three in the afternoon, the greatest living thinker ceased to think. He had been left alone for scarcely two minutes and when we came back we found him in an arm chair peacefully gone to sleep but forever.
• 译文: 在肯塔基州出现了—— 一个似是而非的怪现象: 玉米上长满粒 上校身上也是粒。 (注: 这首小诗中上校指的是农民。因为美国没有世袭的贵族 封号,于是创造了一系列尊称来寻求安慰,“上校”最为常见 。本文讽刺了名为“上校” ,实为农民的社会现象。) 上文中如果将“ colonel”译成“上校”而不加注,读者就不 能体会该诗的深层涵义;如果直接译成“农民” ,则令人觉得 莫名其妙了。
Functions
Ineffable Function
Polite Function Euphemism
Palliative Function
Humorous Function
Ineffable Funcion(避讳功能)
One of the terms that seem to be almost universally avoided is death. Therefore many nations have created a number of inoffensive substitutes for the word "death" or "死"。
“… If I don 't have a drain o 'rum , Jim , I 'll have the horrors; . . . and if I get the horrors , I 'm a man that has lived rough, and I 'll raise Cain…” (Robert Louis Stevenson "Tresure Island")