戏说“酒”字在汉英词典中
（选自《英语世界》2016年第2期）
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文/肖福寿1 陆谷孙2
2014年，美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）曾公布“Top 10”世界十大最爱喝酒的国家（heaviest drinking nations）排名。根据这项排名，中国位于世界第二。看看中国的酒文化，如夏朝的“杜康造秫酒”、商代的“酒色文化”、周代的“酒祭文化”和“酒仪文化”、秦汉年间的“酒政文化”、三国时期的劝酒之风、魏晋南北朝时期的“酒财文化”、唐代的“酒章文化”和“酒催诗兴”、明清两代的“酒域文化”，还有诸多酒礼和酒俗，如元旦饮椒柏酒、正月十五饮填仓酒、端午饮菖蒲酒、中秋饮桂花酒、重阳饮菊花酒，足可成为民俗研究的一部分。
检阅一下有关“酒”的说法，再罗列一下这些说法如何译成英语，饶有趣味。本文选取汉英词典编者们自以为迻译尚有特点的某些表达法，与广大读者共享或请质疑、指谬，权作汉英比较的一席戏说。
一、“酒”字的界定
1．“饮料名”之意：① alcoholic drink ② wine ③ spirit(s) ④liquor
例1：美～佳人 fine wine and beautiful women
例2：花间一壶～，独酌无相亲。 Holding a pot of wine among the flowers, I drink it all by myself.
例3：～被认为既是生活中所有问题的原因，又是解决办法。 Alcohol is considered to be both the cause of, and solution to all of life’s problems.
例4：劝君更尽一杯～，西出阳关无故人。 I now urge you to drink up this cup of wine; no friend out beyond West Yangguan will dine and wine you.
2．“饮酒”之意：① to drink wine ② to have a drink
例：文王诰教小子有正有事，无彝～。 King Wen admonished and instructed the young nobles charged with office or in any employment that they should not ordinarily consume alcohol.
3．“酒筵”之意：① a feast ② a banquet ③ a treat
例1：办一桌～多少钱？ How much does a feast cost?
例2：几时办婚礼～？ When is a wedding feast arranged to take place?
4．“姓”之意：Jiu
二、“酒”的种类
1．白酒 ① spirit(s) ② liquor
例1：～红人面，黄金黑世心。 Just as colourless liquor reddens people’s faces, so yellow gold blackens their hearts.
例2：中国人爱喝～，醉了就喝醒酒汤。 Chinese people, who are crazy about alcohol, sober themselves by eating de-intoxicating soup.
2．红酒 red wine
例：品～ sample red wine
3．黄酒 ① yellow rice wine ② yellow millet wine ③ Shaoxing wine
例：约在三千多年前，中国人就开始大规模酿制～。 Chinese people began to mass-brew yellow rice wine approximately more than 3,000 years ago.
4．米酒 rice wine
例：酿糯～ brew glutinous rice wine
5．葡萄酒 grape wine
例：醇香的～ full-bodied wine
6．烧酒 white liquor
例：～类 high-proof liquors
7．药酒 ① medicated wine ② medicinal liquor
例：调制～ concoct medicated liquor
三、与“酒”有关的词语
1．酒店 ① a wineshop ② a pub ③ a hotel ④ an inn ⑤ a restaurant
例：～式公寓 a serviced apartment
2．酒色 ① wine and women ② sensual pleasure ③ flushed complexion after drinking ④drunkenness ⑤drunken state ⑥colour of wine
例1：纵情～ ① to indulge oneself in sex and alcohol ②to lead a sensual life
例2：～财气 ① wine, woman, wealth and power ② various kinds of evil temptations ③all sorts of allurements
例3：～纯正。 The wine looks fine and pure.
例4：～天 ① overcast ② rainy ③ wine and women ④ sensual pleasure
例5：～之徒 ① one who lusts after wine and women ②one who wallows in wine and women ③ a libertine ④ a debauchee
例6：～祸之媒。 Alcohol and sex are the agents of disaster.
例7：～醉男人。 Wine and women intoxicate men.
3．酒食 ① food and wine ② meals with drink ③ relishes to go with wine
例1：～征逐 ① to vie in feasting each other ② to invite each other to parties
例2：有～先生馔，曾是以为孝乎？ When the young have wine and food and set them before their elders, is this to be considered filial piety?
例3：子有～，何不日鼓瑟？ You have spirits and viands; why not daily play with lute?
4．酒水 ① drinks ② beverages and alcohol ③ a feast ④ a banquet
例1：办了一桌～ to give a feast
例2：结婚后补办～ to throw a feast after the marriage
例3：～免费。 Drinks are free of charge.
例4：这一桌饭菜加～共五百元。 The meal amounts to 500 yuan, beverages included.
四、与“饮酒行为”有关的词语
1．酒胆 ① courage to drink ② guts to drink ③ big guts after drinking ④ Dutch courage
例：他是有～的，没饭力的。 ① He dares to drink but has no appetite for food. ②He is strong without feeble within.
2．酒风 ① alcoholic apoplexy ② drunken fit ③ drunken antics
例1：撒/发～ throw a drunken fit
例2：三国时期的～极“盛”，～剽悍、嗜酒如命。 During the Three Kingdoms Period, people were addicted to drink like crazy due to the prevalent and rampant drunken antics.
3．酒后 ① after drinking ② under the influence of wine ③ influenced by alcohol
例1：～戏笑之言 ① some remarks made in jest after drinking ②a few jesting remarks made under the influence of wine
例2：～茶余 ① over a glass of wine and a cup of tea ②at one’s leisure ③in one’s free time
例3：～乱性 inappropriate behaviour after drinking
例4：～失态 to forget oneself after a few drinks
例5：～失言 to make an indiscreet remark under the influence of alcohol
例6：～耳热。 Ears start to burn after having a drink.
例7：～见真情。 Truth comes out after the wine is drunken.
例8：～吐真言。 ① In vino veritas. ② In wine there is truth. ③ Wine in, truth out. ④ To wine and whine.
例9：～无德。 ① to get drunk and ignore all decorum ②He who has drunk too much has no manners. ③ One’s decorum becomes loose when drunk.
4．酒驾 ① driving under the influence ②DUI ③ drunk driving ④ driving while intoxicated ⑤DWI
例1：呼吸测醉器检查后被确定极度～ ① be found driving under intense influence ②DUI after a breathalyzer test
例2：我对警察说：“醉驾？宿醉？没有，头脑清醒着呢，什么问题也没有。” I told the police: “DUI? Hung over? No. Hung under, if anything.”
5．酒劲 ① tipsy feeling ② drinking capacity ③ kick
例1：借着～胡说八道 talk nonsense when intoxicated
例2：比～看谁能喝。 Let’s have a drinking competition to see who has more capacity for liquor.
例3：那种威士忌酒很有劲儿。 That whisky has quite a kick.
6．酒力 ① capacity for alcohol ② capacity for alcoholic drinks ③ kick ④ potency (of alcohol) ⑤ stimulating effect of liquor ⑥influence of alcohol
例1：不胜～ unable to hold much wine
例2：～突然爆发。 The wine strikes with a sudden effect.
7．酒量 ① capacity for alcohol ② drinking capacity
例：～再大也是要醉的。 Even if one is a heavy drinker, intoxication is inevitable.
8．酒令 ① drinker’s wager game [in which the person who loses drinks wine as a forfeit] ② to supervise the drinking
例1：行～ play a drinking game
例2：～大如军令。 Drinking games are to be observed more rigorously than military orders.
例3：唐朝酒肆日益增多，～战风行。 In the Tang Dynasty, wineshops sprang up like mushrooms and drinking games were in vogue.
五、与“饮酒者”有关的词语
1．酒鬼 ① a drunkard ② an alkie/alky ③ an inebriate ④ a toper ⑤ a sot ⑥ a tippler
例1：烂醉如泥的～ be as drunk as a skunk
例2：在街上闹事的～ drunkards up to roguery in the street
2．酒神 ① the God of Wine [ie, Dionysus in Greek mythology and Bacchus in Roman mythology] ② a heavy drinker ③ a winebag
例：～之害甚于海神。 Bacchus has drowned more men than Neptune.
3．酒仙 ① the Immortal of the Wine Cup ② a great lover of wine ③ a winebibber ④ a brewmaster
六、与“酒”有关的成语或俗语
1．对酒当歌 ① One should sing out loud while drinking. ②One should accomplish something in life. ③ Make merry while the sun shines.
例：～，人生几何？ Let’s drink and be merry, for life is too short.
2．今朝有酒今朝醉。 ① Drink today while you can. ② Make merry while you can. ③ Gather ye rosebuds while ye may. ④Carpe diem. ⑤YOLO (You Only Live Once).
例：～，明日愁来明日愁。 Drink today while you can; worry not about tomorrow’s worries.
3．酒不解真愁。 Wine can never dispel real sadness.
4．酒不醉人人自醉。 ① It is not the wine that intoxicates drinkers but the drinkers themselves are intoxicated. ② One gets high for reasons other than mere drinking.
例：～，色不迷人人自迷。 Wine doesn’t make men drunk, men get themselves intoxicated; lust doesn’t overpower men, men surrender themselves to it.
5．酒多伤身，气大伤人。 Much drinking does harm to your health, great anger hurts yourself and other people.
6．酒逢知己千杯少。 ① A thousand cups are too little when two bosom friends drink together. ② When one drinks with a bosom friend, his drinking capacity is unusually large. ③ Friends make happy hours.
例：～，话不投机半句多。 ① Friends make happy hours while enemies make difficult ones. ② Among bosom friends, a thousand cups of wine are too few; when the talk turns sour, even one word is more than enough.
7．酒好客自来。 ① Good wine needs no bush. ②One who has real ability and learning needs no boast. ③ Goods of quality or people of ability will attract notice without promotion. ④ If a man build a better mouse trap, the world will beat a path to his door.
8．酒老味醇，人老识深。 ① Wine mellows with year and man sophisticates with age. ② Wine and judgment mellow with age.
9．酒能成事，酒能败事。 ① Liquor can both accomplish and ruin things. ②Drinking can make or mar a great undertaking.
10．酒肉朋友好找，患难之交难逢。 It’s easy to find fair-weather friends, but difficult to meet friends in adversity.
11．酒是英雄胆。 Liquor gives courage.
12．酒香不怕巷子深。 ① The smell of wine is never blocked by the deep, long lane. ② Good wine needs no bush. ③ High-quality goods or really talented people need no advertisement.
例：现在这个年代，已经不是“～”的年代了。 Ours is no longer an age in which good wine needs no bush.
13．酒消百愁。 Liquor dispels all worries.
顺便说，本文素材主要取自《中华汉英大词典》（陆谷孙主编），而诸如“酒逋”“酒德”“酒礼”“酒绿灯红”“酒头”“酒政”“酒中蛇”等许多与“酒”有关的其他英文表达法，更待我们共同探索。 □
注释：
1．1964年生，南京大学博士，哈佛大学访问学者，现为上海大学教授、英语系主任，主要从事英语语块学、ESL写作以及词典编纂研究。
2．复旦大学杰出教授，《英汉大词典》《中华汉英大词典》主编。
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