Archive for 3月, 2008

3月 26 2008

Tata

Published by under Word by Word

英国的小报爱在头版标题上玩文字游戏,最近的麦卡特尼离婚案,让各家小报有几个月的时间可以拿两个当事人的名字和 Beatles 的歌名开玩笑。大报们一般不参与这个,但今天的《每日电讯报》(The Daily Telegraph)还是忍不住插了一脚,不过他们报道的还是严肃新闻。今天的头版图片的标题是:

Ford Says Tata to Jaguar

Jaguar 是老牌英国车,几年前被美国牌子 Ford 收购,现在 Ford 把 Jaguar 卖给了印度的 Tata 集团。Ta-ta 又是英国俚语,相当于 bye-bye。

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3月 24 2008

Daily Quote: floored

Published by under BBC,Daily Quote

Simon Hoggart described the strangeness of last week’s Prime Minister’s Question Times (PMQ) in the Guardian:

It was a question time full of jollity. David Cameron floored Gordon Brown by agreeing with him. In private they probably concur on many things, but it doesn’t do to say so in front of the children, so this came as a surprise.

他用了两个比喻,floored 和 in front of the childre,形象地解释了 PMQ 的意义。

Prime Minister’s Question Time (PMQ) 是英国首相每周一次来到议会辩论厅,面对全体议员回答问题的时刻。PMQ 的作用,让我想起我们看古代演义小说时,常出现的两军对阵,主将出马单挑的情形。如果一方主将被“斩于马下”,马上全军“阵脚大乱”、“望风而逃”。当然我们知道仗不是这么打的,将军们只要坐阵指挥,无需单挑比武功。但是演义小说如果没了武将单挑,便少了一大乐趣,现代政治也是一样。于是 PMQ 虽然名义上是给予所有议员质询首相的机会,但看点其实是反对党领袖如何单挑首相,连回合都规定好了,有6次机会。上周 David Cameron 把布朗打翻在地 (floored),保守党这边自然是“旌旗招展”、欢声雷动。

Simon Hoggart 接着又用反喻,把 PMQ 比作夫妻吵架--原应回避孩子们,但 PMQ 时,众议员们象是一群习惯了父母吵架的孩子,看着父母和和睦睦反而莫明其妙了。

It doesn’t do 是一种因为老式而有趣味的表达方法。在 BBC 的古装剧 Cranford 中,古板的 Deborah 就爱用这种表达方法,特别是当她觉得某种行为不合礼仪的时候。

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3月 11 2008

Elizabeth : 名字的游戏

Published by under Word by Word

在王家卫新作 My Blueberry Nights 中,Norah Jones 的角色离开纽约去了孟菲斯,Jude Law 演的男主角一家家地给孟菲斯的饭店打电话,找一个叫 Elizabeth 的女孩。可是在孟菲斯,她晚上工作的酒吧里,别人都叫她 Lizzy,而在白天打工的快餐店中,她胸口的名牌上写着 Betty。到了拉斯维加斯的赌场,她的名字变成了 Beth。

其实 Lizzy,Betty,Beth 都是 Elizabeth 的简写或者昵称,所以她也不算改了名字。Elizebath 的简写或昵称非常之多,wikipedia 列出的有超过70个。伊丽莎白二世 (Elizabeth II)小时候给亲人写信,署的就是昵称之一 Lillibeth 。

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3月 07 2008

Buzzword: blackout

Published by under Buzzword

The Times 的读者来信

Sir, You report on the voluntary news blackout on Prince Harry in recent weeks. Can I request that this blackout be extended indefinitely to the entire Royal Family?

Jack Edmondson
London SW6

这位 Edmondson 先生大概不是保皇派了。他一定和这位有共鸣。

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3月 06 2008

Daily Quote: mean relatives

Published by under Daily Quote

I saw this on the Guardian sport page and quite like the funny expression:

As this Milan side ages, visitors have become like relatives who look at the household belongings such as the Campions League and wonder how soon they might inherit them.

03.05.2008 The Guardian

However, when I looked at the same article by Kevin McCarra on Guardian’s website, the sentence became:

It was as if they had come to the home of their ageing relatives and could not stop themselves from stealing a look at valuable belongings, such as Champions League silverware, that they might soon inherit.

Don’t know which is the early version though.

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3月 01 2008

Drudge Report

Published by under Word by Word

因为曝光哈利王子行踪Drudge Report 又出现在媒体上。当年 Drudge Report 第一个爆出克林顿丑闻,被认为是“网络民主化”,“网络战胜传统媒体”的典范。后来各方回顾此案,总结出 Drudge Report 其实就是个政治立场右倾的爆料Blog--不过当年 Drudge Report 大红大紫的时候,还没有 Blog 这个概念。

Drudge Report,与其翻译成干巴巴的“德拉吉报道”,不如给予一个与其地位相称的专门译名,我看就叫“掘奇密报”好了。

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