Bastard 私生子,不齒之徒,王八蛋,狗東西,無情又自私的人;討厭的,麻煩而費(fèi)勁的工作;令人不快的意外事件
old bastard 對(duì)熟人(限男性)的承認(rèn)、贊成、認(rèn)可
rotten bastard 老哥,臭王八蛋
poor bastard 生活艱苦或運(yùn)氣欠佳者,可憐的家伙
bastard 雜湊的,類似而變型的,代表性不強(qiáng)的,贗造的,等同的
bastardly 卑劣的,滿懷惡意的
bastardize 貶抑,貶抑而使變質(zhì)
like a bastard(強(qiáng)化比喻)
Bastard 長(zhǎng)久以來是英文中罵人最毒的字眼,唯近年來,由于某些更毒的黃色字眼興起,bastard 也相形見絀。Bastard 當(dāng)“下賤,卑鄙”解時(shí),隨 rotten,fucking,stupid 后強(qiáng)化語氣;但作男性熟人的“稱呼”解時(shí),除非是老友或有深交,否則忌用;當(dāng)“艱困的人”解時(shí),常以 poor,wretched 形容之,以表憐憫,且無罵人之意。其合成語示強(qiáng)化作用時(shí),與 bitch 的語意等同。Bastardly 是形容詞,不是副詞; bastardize 當(dāng)及物動(dòng)詞。Bastard 在藝術(shù)及科技界,有“雜種,劣等,畸形異狀”等意思,也無罵人之意;除特殊情況外,在一般場(chǎng)所應(yīng)忌用此字,淑女尤然。
Bastard 用以——罵人,咒事
1. bastard 卑鄙,下賤
A. Everybody sucks,but so do I1,so where does that leave things2? Hearing myself sound off3 like a bratty little bastard makes me ill…
每一個(gè)人都討厭,我也是,那又能怎樣呢?聽自己像個(gè)乳臭未干的小兔崽子高聲嚷嚷,不禁惡心。
(紐約州大石溪分校???Stony Brook Press,3/25/96)
注:
1. 本文是該校學(xué)生投稿抱怨令人郁悶的冬季氣候。
2. so where does that leave things? 是反問句,表示“無奈”。
3. sound off (對(duì)某事)高聲表態(tài)。通常后跟 about的介詞短語,如“sound off about raising taxes”(高聲反對(duì)增稅)。在hear或see等及物動(dòng)詞的賓語后,其補(bǔ)語為不定詞時(shí)省去“to”。本句是用動(dòng)名詞短語當(dāng)主語。
A. Victims’ families1 often spend a lot of energy on retribution,says Victor Streib,a Cleveland State University2 law professor. At the time of execution,they often feel a surge of adrenaline3,like, yeah4,that bastard got what he deserved.
(USA Weekend,5/3-5/96)
克里夫蘭州立大學(xué)法學(xué)教授司徒萊布說:受害人家屬通常一心想報(bào)復(fù)。在執(zhí)行死刑的剎那間,他們通常興奮至極,等于說:“好!那家伙惡有惡報(bào)!”
注:
1. Victims’ families 受害者家屬。
2. Cleveland State University 1964年設(shè)立,學(xué)生多為上班族學(xué)生 (commuter students)。
3. surge of adrenaline 競(jìng)爭(zhēng)激烈時(shí)腎上腺素通常上涌,使體能揚(yáng)升,令人慷慨激昂。
4. yeah… yes的口語化。
A. If you print that,you bastard,I’ll sue you for defamation of character.
王八蛋!你要是報(bào)導(dǎo)那些,我就要告你損害名譽(yù)!
B. But it’s what you said.
那可是你自己說的喔!
A. When you couldn’t collect on the debt,you had the audacity to kill them. You’re in hot water,big time1. You know that,don’t you?
你討債未果,竟敢殺人。你闖了大禍,知道嗎?
B. So I knocked some people off.2 Big deal.3 Don’t forget,you were there with me. And you left fingerprints everywhere. Who’s to know if I did it or you did it?
殺人又怎么樣?別忘了,你也在現(xiàn)場(chǎng),到處都有你的指紋。是我殺的,還是你殺的,誰知道?
A. You bastard! It was you! You killed all three in that family yourself I had nothing to do with it.
你這個(gè)狗東西!是你殺的,一家三口全是你一個(gè)人干的,我根本沒插手。
注:
1. in hot water,big time 惹的麻煩可大哩! big time是加強(qiáng)語氣,有“大大地”之意。
2. knock off (a)仿造,如工業(yè)產(chǎn)品,所仿造的產(chǎn)品;(b)做完(工作、文件、報(bào)告),喝完(啤酒);(c)殺害;(d)下班(What time do you knock off?)。另有 knock it off(少啰嗦),意義不同。
3. big deal 是諷刺性感嘆詞(ironic interjection),作“有什么值得大驚小怪的?”,“那又怎么樣?”,“有什么了不起?”解。
2. bastard 無情郎、自私鬼
A. He never loved his wife. When he died,he didn’t leave her a cent.
他從不愛他太太。他去世時(shí),一分錢也沒留給她。
B. He didn’t leave anything in his estate for his children either, the bastard.
那自私鬼的房地產(chǎn),連子女也都沒份哩。
3. bastard隨rotten,fucking,slovenly等形容詞后,用以加強(qiáng)語氣
A. We’re in trouble now. Some guy squealed1 on us to the police.
糟了!有人密告了我們!
B. Rotten bastard! How did he find out?
臭王八蛋!他怎么發(fā)現(xiàn)的?
注:
1. squeal on us 借“squeal”(尖叫)當(dāng)“報(bào)警”,“告密”解。
A. To the worthless,bumbling,incompetent,inhuman monsters of the MTA1:Leave Tony Avena2 alone,you arrogant,slovenly bastards. You continually,totally and completely disgust every citizen of this country.
(Daily News,8/7/96,讀者來信)
致書罵紐約市大眾運(yùn)輸系統(tǒng)管理局,那些無能又無人性的惡魔:你們這批妄自尊大而懶散的混蛋家伙,別騷擾阿維諾了。你們被全國上下所唾棄。
注:
1. MTA Metropolitan Transit Authority 紐約市大眾運(yùn)輸系統(tǒng)管理局的縮寫。
2. Avena 81歲高齡鞋匠,自1922年以來,承租鐵路橋下一窄小店面謀生,MTA突于1996年八月多次下令驅(qū)逐Avena,要收回該店面土地,致引起公憤。
4. bastard 討厭的東西,困惱、麻煩的工作或差事
A. Be careful how you handle those barrels of toxic waste.
處理那些裝有毒性廢物的桶子要小心。
B. You drop those bastards,and we’re in big trouble.
那些討厭東西一掉下來,我們麻煩可就大啦!
A. We really shouldn’t do this job without the proper tools.
缺少應(yīng)有的工具,就不應(yīng)該承包這個(gè)工程。
B. It’ll be a bastard of a job without them,that’s for sure1.
沒有那些工具,工作一定會(huì)麻煩的。
注:
l…that’s for sure (口語)一定的。用來肯定前面或后面所說的話。
5. bastard 費(fèi)勁的工作
A. Let’s stop here and take a break.
就在此刻停一停,休息一下吧!
B. This hill is a real bastard,isn’t it?
[爬]這個(gè)山坡可真費(fèi)勁,不是嗎?
6. bastard 使人不愉快的意外情況
A. I found out I owed more income taxes than I originally estimated.
我發(fā)現(xiàn)我欠的所得稅比原來估計(jì)的要多。
B. Ain’t1 that a bastard!
多么令人不快啊!
注:
1. ain’t 教育程度低者用此字當(dāng) am not,are not,is not;have not,has not, do not, does not,did not,系非正式(non-standard)英文。在文章及演講中,使用 ain’t 以加強(qiáng)語氣或引起注意。以撰寫通俗不拘禮的文章見稱的美國記者及專欄作家亦時(shí)而用之。此外,也出現(xiàn)于通俗歌詞及英文格言之中,如Ain’t she sweet?(她很甜,不是嗎?),又如 If it ain’t broke,don’t fix it. (沒有壞掉的東西何必修理。)
Bastard,Bastards 當(dāng)名詞時(shí)——前加形容詞poor,表示“憐憫”之意;加you (old)時(shí),表達(dá)“善意”的戲謔
1. poor bastards 表示“憐憫”之意
A. They were all killed in the plane crash! All of them!
飛機(jī)墜毀,人都死了!無一人生還!
B. The poor bastards1 never had a chance.
可憐的家伙,竟無逃生的機(jī)會(huì)。
注:
1. poor bastards 憐憫“空難、火災(zāi)、山崩、沉船、地震”等意外災(zāi)難中對(duì)受難者同情的稱呼。
2. you old bastard 表達(dá)“善意”的戲謔
A. Tom,you old bastard,you haven’t changed a bit since I last saw you!
湯姆你這個(gè)老家伙,你還是老樣子啊!
B. Only older and a lot grayer, that’s all!
只是年齡徒增,頭發(fā)又白了許多罷了!
Bastard 當(dāng)形容詞時(shí)——后隨名詞,表示:“雜湊的,變型的,或代表性不足的”;“偽造的,次等的(inferior),近似的(resembling to some degree),有……模樣的(having the appearance of),雜種的(of questionable origin),異常的性質(zhì)、形狀、比例或大小的”。(+ ly)表示“卑劣的,滿懷惡意的”。
1. bastard 表示“雜湊的、變型的、偽造的”
A. A lot of bastard words appear in comic books.
漫畫書中出現(xiàn)的英文雜湊單字很多。
B. It’s hard for me to learn them all.
對(duì)我來講,就不容易全都記得。
A. What you’re looking at now is a bastard strain of the bacteria.
你們現(xiàn)在看到的是該細(xì)菌的變型菌。
B. Will it more or less resistant to our company’s new antibiotic?
對(duì)本公司的新抗生素來講,該菌的抵抗力是強(qiáng)還是弱?
A. This statue is a bastard Rodin.
本雕像是羅丹原作的仿制品。
注:
Auguste Rodin(1840-1917) 羅丹,是法國名雕塑家。
A. That building is done in a bastard Greek style of architecture.
那棟樓宇表現(xiàn)出仿希臘建筑的款式。
A. The home products catalog lists hundreds of bastard sizes of window frames,bolts and other hardware.
該家庭用品目錄列出數(shù)百種有特殊規(guī)格的窗框及門閂等五金產(chǎn)品。
A. Science uses the word bastard to describe something of inferior or questionable origin,of abnormal or irregular shape or size,or of unusual make or proportions,etc.
科技界用 bastard 一字來表示劣等物件或雜牌,或有畸型具特殊規(guī)格(零星規(guī)格)者,或具不尋常的性質(zhì)、形狀、比例及大小者,等等。
2. bastardly 卑劣的
A. The outside world hardly ever hears about all the bastardly acts that go on behind prison walls.
監(jiān)牢里發(fā)生的諸多卑劣行為,鮮為外人所知。
Bastard 當(dāng)及物動(dòng)詞——加后綴“-ize”,表示“貶抑,使變質(zhì)”
A. They bastardized the song,burned1 new CDs,attached new labels,and sold it underground2.
他們將歌詞刪改,灌新的光碟,貼上新標(biāo)簽,偷偷地賣。
B. The fine is stiff if they get caught.
萬一被抓到,要受重罰。
注:
1. 灌唱片叫“cut a record”,灌光碟叫“burn a CD”。
2. underground 此字之形容詞與副詞同一拼法,此處為副詞,作“秘密地,暗中地,偷偷地”解。
…like a bastard 強(qiáng)化“情況、事態(tài)”,有“真……”或“可……”之意,表達(dá)遺憾或無奈等負(fù)面心情。
A. It snowed like a bastard in the Midwest this winter.
今冬美中西部暴風(fēng)雪可大哪!
B. We had a mild winter in New York.
我們?cè)诩~約卻享受了個(gè)暖和的冬季。