薄冰、司树森教授答读者问(06-07学年第17期)

薄冰、司树森教授答读者问(2006-2007学年第17期)

　　薄冰、司树森教授答读者问(2006-2007学年第17期)

　　问：在阅读中，见到这样一个句子：① The hotel manager asked them to leave, bag and baggage , immediately.请问这里的bag and baggage究竟是什么意思？查了几部词典都没有，我很好奇，它在句中又是什么成分呢？还有三个词组black sheep, go to the dogs 和green man的确切意思我也不知道，请解释一下。

　　答：bag and baggage是个成语, 其意是：“带着全部财产(尤指被驱逐之人的)，连同全部财物”，在句①中也是with all their property(带上所有的东西)的意思，作伴随状语用。 类似的用法还有： ②I can’t understand why Ted puts up with a drunken brother-in-law in his house. Most people would have turned him out, bag and baggage, long ago. (我不明白特德为什么竟能容忍一个酗酒的内弟呆在家里。大多数人恐怕早就连人带物把他赶出去了。)该成语本来是军事用语，指士兵随身携带的全部装备，现多用于口语，相当于副词，作状物用。其实，像 bag and baggage这种已变为成语的“零冠词+单形可数名词+零冠词+单形可数名词”的结构，在英语中并不乏其例。又如： ③He had flung himself into the project body and soul. (他全心全意地投入了那项计划。) body and soul也可说 soul and body，均意为：“全心全意地，尽心竭力地”，相当于副词，作状语用。再如：④Mara devoted herself heart and soul to working for the church. (heart and soul意为：“全心全意地”)⑤ He was hand and glove with his new friend.(be hand and glove with…意为：“与……亲密无间”)。

　　现在，简要谈谈你所提问的三个词组：black sheep是习语，直译即“黑羊”，不过其实际使用是指污损全体名誉者，通常译为:“败家子，害群之马”(a person who causes shame or embarrassment because of his deviation from the accepted standards of his group)。几百年来，“黑羊”在英语国家一直被人们看作是一种令人讨厌的、不吉祥的动物。因为黑色总是与邪恶、恶行与魔鬼联系在一起，它会给人们带来厄运或灾难。因此，该成语多用于指给家庭、单位、团体带来耻辱的人。如：⑥My brother has always been the black sheep of the family because he has been in prison several times.顺便提及，black spot是指“公路上经常发生事故的地方或经常发生不幸事件的地区”。如：⑦ Drive with Care! Accident Black Spot! (小心驾驶!事故多发地区!)而black swan“黑天鹅”则意为：“稀世之物，珍品”。如：⑧What! It is my rara avis(罕见的东西，稀世之珍)，my black swan?所以，对“黑色”也不可一概而论。“go to the dogs”也是成语，其意为：“毁灭，衰败”(go to ruin; be ruined or destroyed), 在《圣经》中，狗常被看作是一种邪恶的动物，喻指作恶的人。在《圣经•旧约•列王纪下》、《新约•腓立比书》中均有所述。如：⑨Over the past few years he has gone to the dogs. He doesn’t care about his appearance and he smokes and drinks so much that his health is very bad. ⑩Lord Caversham. Can’t make out how you stand London society. The thing has gone to the dogs, a lot of damned nobodies talking about nothing.顺便提及，go to the dogs的同(近)义习语是go to blazes, go to hell, go to the devil，go to pigs and whistles，也值得记忆。最后，谈谈green man，我们见过green belt“绿色地带”(指环绕城市种有树木的地带，或沙漠地区的防护林带)，green card“(美)”绿卡，green eye “ (铁路上的)绿色信号灯，”green hand“没有经验的工人(水手)，新手”，green power“金钱的力量”等，却很少见green man，这是新词语，其意为“绿色运动的支持者(尤指重视环境保护问题的政治家或其顾问)。”如：{11}Mr. Reilly may bask in the credibility he has established as Mr. Bush’s green man. (赖利先生现在有可能得到布什先生的青睐，担任他的绿色运动的顾问。)英语习语的学习至关重要，在平时学习中应特别注意。