成语的直译与意译(选自上海翻译)

A

●矮子里拔将军直：pick a general from among the dwarfs

意：select someone for lack of a better one;

select from among the mediocre/ run-of-mill

B

●八字还没一撇直：Not even the first stroke of the character “八” has happened.

意：Nothing tangible is in sight.

Things aren’t even starting to take place yet.

There is no sign of anything happening yet.

Things are still up in the air.

●班门弄斧直：Wield the axe before Lu Ban (the ancient master carpenter).

意：display one’s learning or parade one’s skill in the presence of an

expert;

teach one’s grannie how to suck egges;

bring coal to Newcastle

●杯弓蛇影直：mistake the shadow of a bow in the cup for a snake

意：self-created suspicion;

imaginary fears;

be extremely nervous and suspicious

●杯水车薪直：try to put out a carload of burnig firewood with a cup of water

意：a useless attempt;

a drop in the bucket;

utterly inadequate measure

●背水一战直：fight with one’s back to the river or wall

意：fight to win or die;

fight a last-ditch battle;

put up a desperate fight

●冰冻三尺，直：It takes more than one cold day to freeze three feet of ice.

非一日之寒意：The trouble is deep-rooted;

Rome was not built in a day.

●兵来将挡，直：stop an advancing army with troops and onrushing water with earth

水来土掩意：counter move for move;

counter measure for measure

●不以规矩，直：You cannot draw squares and circles without the campass and square.

不成方圆意：Nothing can be accomplished without norms and standards.

C

●草木皆兵直：take every grass and tree as an enemy soldier

意：a state of extreme nervousness, as if surrounded by enemies

●沧海桑田直：Seas change into mulberry fields.

意：Time brings great change to the world.

(饱经沧桑：have experienced many vicissitudes of life)

●赤膊上阵直：go into battle stripped to the waist

意：take personal charge and go it alone despite opposition;

Throw away all disguise and tactics;

come out into the open as a result of desperation or foolhardiness

●此地无银直：The 300 taels of silver are not buried here (a sign put up by the man in the

三百两folk tale over the place where he had hidden the money)

意：A clumsy self-exposing performance or denial;

A guilty person gives himself away by conspicuously protesting his

innocence;

Protest one’s innocence too much.

●吹胡子瞪眼直：froth at the mouth and glare with rage

意：snort and stare in anger;

fume with rage

●唇亡齿寒直：If the lips are gone, the teeth will be exposed.

意：If one of two interdependent things falls, the other is in danger.

●吹毛求疵直：blow upon the hair trying to discover a flaw

意：find fault with;

pick holes in

●寸有所长，直：An inch has its length and a foot sometmes falls short.

尺有所短意：Everybody has his strennths and weaknesses.

D

●打肿脸直：Try to look fat by slapping one’s face till it’s swollen.

充胖子Boast about one’s pink cheek after having been slapped.

意：Do something beyond one’s means in order to look impressive;

try to satisfy one’s vanity when one cannot really afford to do so

●当一天和尚直：go on tolling the bell as long as one remains a monk.

撞一天钟意：do the minimum required or do as little as possible to get by;

do the least that is expected of one;

take a passive attitude towards one’s work

●调虎离山直：lure the tiger out of his mountain or lair

意：tempt or entice somebody into leaving his vantage ground

●叠床架屋直：pile one bed upon another or build one house on top of another

意：needless duplication;

repetition and superfluity

●东方不亮直：When there is dark in the east, it is light in the west;

西方亮，When things are dark in the south, there is still light in the north.

黑了南方

有北方意：There is alsways plenty of room for manoeuvring.

E

F

●放长线直：throw a long line to catch a big fish

钓大鱼意：devise a long-term plan to secure something big

●翻手为云直：produce clouds with one turn of the hand and rain with another

覆手为雨意：wield one’s power capriciously;

be shifty and capricious;

be tricky and deceitful