如何在英语写作中引用谚语
巧用谚语，妙笔生花--- 如何在英语写作中引用谚语
上海新东方学校国内考试部
贾从永
众所周知，谚语乃是一种语言的精华，寓意深刻，表达隽永。在英语写作中如能适当地引用一些谚语，可以为文章增辉添彩。一些同学在平时的学习中积累了一些谚语，但在写作时不知道该如何将它们恰当地引用到文章中去，笔者根据美国第一大报纸《纽约时报》近年来引用谚语的情况，总结出英语中常见的引用谚语的地道表达法，供同学们写作时模仿。
谚语在英语中叫proverb，引用时经常会在其前面酌情加上old, Chinese, English, Russian之类的形容词；动词一般用go, say, state, has it, put it等，在这些动词后面用逗号或冒号皆可。谚语可加双引号（这时谚语的第一个字母要大写），也可不加双引号（这时第一个字母可以不大写）。引用谚语的表达方式常见的有如下十种：
1) A proverb goes / says, ---
4) A proverb has it that ---
A Yiddish proverb goes, “Better to lose with a wise man than win with a fool.”
有一句依地语谚语说得好，“宁输智者，不赢傻子。”（August 14, 2000）
A proverb says, “Medicine cures the man who is fated not to die.
有一句谚语说，“命不该死有药救。”(July 16, 2009)
An old proverb has it that “if the thorn doesn’t scratch when it first emerge, it will never scratch.”
有一句古老的谚语说，“如果新长的荆棘不扎手，它就永远不扎手。”(March 26, 2006)
2) As a / the proverb goes / says, ---
3) As a / the proverb has it / puts it,
As a Chinese proverb goes, “Don’t climb a tree to look for fish.”
正如中国的一句谚语所说，“不要缘木求鱼。”(April 24, 2000)
As the old Chinese proverb says, “If you do not enter a tiger’s den, you cannot get her cubs.”
正如中国的一句谚语所说，“不入虎穴，焉得虎子。”(November 15, 1993)
As a Spanish proverb has it, “Flies don’t enter a closed mouth.”
正如一句西班牙谚语所说，“祸从口入。”(July 26, 1992)
As a Navajo proverb puts it, “What comes around goes around.”
正如纳瓦霍族的一句谚语所说，“一报还一报。”(May 28, 1987)
As a local proverb here in Chad puts it: A woman who is pregnant has one foot in the grave.
正如乍得当地的一句谚语所说：女人怀宝宝，鬼门关上走一遭。(March 20, 2004)
5) There is a proverb: ---
6) There is a / the proverb that goes / states, ---
There’s an African proverb: “Educate a boy, and educate an individual. Educate a girl, and you educate a community.”
有一句非洲的谚语说：“教育好一个男孩，仅教育好一人。教育好一个女孩，则教育好一群人。”(August 19, 2009)
There’s a Russian proverb that goes: you must support the most talented people because untalented people will support themselves.
有一句俄罗斯谚语说，你须拥戴贤人，庸者仅会自顾。(December 31, 1995)
There is an old Jewish proverb that states: “A Shekel is always better in my pocket than in yours. “
有一句古老的犹太谚语说：“金币在我口袋里总比在你口袋里强。”(August 10, 2009)
7) ---, a / the proverb goes, ---
8) ---, goes a / the proverb, ---
“A river is deep,” an old African proverb goes, “because of its source.”
有一句古老的非洲谚语说，河有源泉水才深。(September 24, 2008)
To kill a snake, goes an old African proverb, you must first crush the head.
有一句古老的非洲谚语说，打蛇先打头。(September 22, 1985)
9) --- have a proverb that goes, ---
10) There is / exists a proverb. It goes, ---
The Arabs have a proverb that goes, “When the sultan’s dog died, everyone marched in his funeral. But when the sultan himself died, no one marched at all. “
阿拉伯人有一句谚语是这样说的，“当苏丹的狗死了，人人都为之送葬。而当苏丹死了，却无人为之送葬。”(November 27, 1983)
There’s an old Russian proverb. It goes, “Pray devoutly. Hammer stoutly.”
有一个古老的俄罗斯谚语说，“虔诚祈祷，努力拼搏。”(May 17, 1984)
What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the soul.
--- Joseph Addison
教育之与心灵，由于雕刻之与大理石。
Absence is to love what wind is to fire: it extinguishes the small; it inflames the great.
--- Comte Bussy-Rabutin
离别对于爱情好比风对于火：它能将小火熄灭；却将大火烧得更旺。
Where there is no desire, there will be no industry.
--- John Locke
哪里缺乏热情，哪里就不会有勤奋。
Where there is marriage without love, there will be love without marriage.
--- Benjamin Franklin
哪里有没有爱情的婚姻，哪里就有没有婚姻的爱情。
Where there is a flatter there is also a fool.
--- Joseph Addison
哪里有拍马屁的人，哪里就有傻瓜。
He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who find peace in his home.
--- Goethe
无论是国王还是农夫，只要家庭和睦，他便是最幸福的人。
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