[英中] 台大譯研所101考古
原文：
By using stale metaphors, similes, and idioms, you save much mental effort,
at the cost of leaving your meaning vague, not only for your reader but for
yourself. This is the significance of mixed metaphors. The sole aim of a
metaphor is to call up a visual image. When these images clash — as in The
Fascist octopus has sung its swan song, the jackboot is thrown into the
melting pot — it can be taken as certain that the writer is not seeing a
mental image of the objects he is naming; in other words he is not really
thinking.
A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at
least four questions, thus: What am I trying to say? What words will express
it? What image or idiom will make it clearer? Is this image fresh enough to
have an effect? And he will probably ask himself two more: Could I put it more
shortly? Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly? But you are not obliged
to go to all this trouble. You can shirk it by simply throwing your mind open
and letting the ready-made phrases come crowding in. They will construct your
sentences for you — even think your thoughts for you, to a certain extent —
and at need they will perform the important service of partially concealing
your meaning even from yourself.
（全文：http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit）
我的譯文：
使用陳腐的隱喻、明喻及成語，雖替自己省下了不少精力，代價卻是把意思弄得晦澀不
明，無論讀者或自己都看不懂。隱喻混合使用的重大性就在這裡。隱喻的目的僅有一個：帶
出一個視覺意象。當這些意象互相衝撞－－好比在「法西斯章魚唱了一曲天鵝之歌，軍靴被
丟進了大熔爐裡頭」這句話中，作者肯定無法在腦海中看到他所要指涉的意象；換句話說，
他並非是透過聯想寫下這段文字的。
一個嚴己的作家在寫每一句話時，至少會問自己四個問題：一、我想說什麼？二、我
要用什麼字句表達之？三、有哪些意象或成語能使之更加清晰？四、這個意象夠不夠清楚
？能發揮效用嗎？或許，他還會再多問兩個問題：一、我能簡單扼要地表達出來嗎？二、
我有沒有用了什麼可避免掉的陋字？但，你大可不必讓這些問題困擾自己。你可以打混摸
魚，儘管讓那些早已被創造的詞語湧入你開放的腦袋裡即可。它們會替你造出句子－－甚
至在某種程度上，替你思考－－需要的話，它們甚至能部分地隱藏起某些你想傳達的意義
，連你自己都尋不著呢。
不好意思，又來麻煩各位大大指教了！
我知道我的翻譯很粗陋，希望各位多鞭>"<
也想知道各位遇到同樣的文字會怎麼翻呢：）？
--
這個世界的美麗與哀愁。
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 118.170.219.117
※ 編輯: oliviawind 來自: 118.170.219.117 (07/09 21:06)
推
07/10 12:27, , 1F
07/10 12:27, 1F
→
07/10 12:28, , 2F
07/10 12:28, 2F
→
07/10 12:29, , 3F
07/10 12:29, 3F
謝謝...完全沒發現，真是糟糕啊>"<
※ 編輯: oliviawind 來自: 1.165.66.208 (07/10 19:03)
推
07/10 22:06, , 4F
07/10 22:06, 4F
原本是想成「使用隱喻可以省下許多力氣，也不會使意義模糊（因為有明確的意象）」，
不過現在看來的確是錯誤的解讀>"<
※ 編輯: oliviawind 來自: 118.170.138.57 (07/10 23:29)
修改完畢，但是仍然不太確定最後兩行的意思有沒有理解錯誤...
※ 編輯: oliviawind 來自: 118.170.222.138 (07/14 00:00)
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