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終于, 要進(jìn)入“過(guò)年倒計(jì)時(shí)”了! 辭舊迎新之際, 小編想問一個(gè)問題: “牛年”用英語(yǔ)怎么說(shuō)呢? cow year? 不對(duì)! 千萬(wàn)不要這么說(shuō)! 首先我們要知道的是 “生肖年”的英語(yǔ)表達(dá)方式是 year of the + 動(dòng)物名 比如鼠年說(shuō)成 rat year是不符合英語(yǔ)的表述習(xí)慣的 而應(yīng)該叫做“Year of the Rat”
“?!蔽覀冇媚膫€(gè)單詞呢? 英語(yǔ)里有 cow /ka?/ n. 奶牛,母牛 calf /k?f/ n. 小牛;牛犢, (海豹、鯨等大哺乳動(dòng)物的)幼崽 bull /b?l/ n. 公牛 cattle = cows and bulls 牛 buffalo /?b?f?l?u/ 水牛;野牛 …… 而英語(yǔ)里選擇了把“牛”年翻譯成 ox 這個(gè)詞 An Ox is used for manual labor like drafting or hauling. Oxen can be both male and female but are mostly cows or steers. Ox是用來(lái)做牽引力等體力勞動(dòng)的牛。Oxen(ox的復(fù)數(shù))有公的也有母的,但主要是母?;蜷幣!?/p> Now the funny part, all these terms can be used for different animals, as these terms are not bound to the bovine family. It’s for example, common to say an Buffalo-bull, or an Elephant-bull. The only exception is the term “Ox”, mainly because we only use bovine animals for this purpose. 有趣的是,所有這些術(shù)語(yǔ)都可以用于不同的動(dòng)物,因?yàn)檫@些術(shù)語(yǔ)并不局限于牛類。例如,我們說(shuō)“公水牛”或“公象”。唯一的例外是“Ox”這個(gè)詞,主要是因?yàn)槲覀冎挥门?苿?dòng)物來(lái)做這種勞動(dòng)。 The Ox (牛) is the second of the 12-year periodic sequence (cycle) of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. 牛作為十二生肖的第二個(gè)動(dòng)物出現(xiàn)在生肖與中國(guó)日歷中。 The Chinese term translated here as ox is in Chinese niú (牛), a word generally referring to cows, bulls, or neutered types of the bovine family, such as common cattle or water buffalo. The zodiacal ox may be construed as male, female, neuter, and either singular or plural. 中文這個(gè)術(shù)語(yǔ)中的牛翻譯做ox,通常指的是母牛、公牛、或閹割牛,如常見的牛和水牛。黃道帶上的??梢员焕斫鉃樾坌?、雌性、中性,以及單數(shù)或復(fù)數(shù)。 例: This is the year of the ox in China. 今年是中國(guó)的牛年。 如果想表達(dá)“牛年是我的本命年”,怎么說(shuō)呢? 本命年的英語(yǔ)是 animal year或者是 zodiac year zodiac /?zo?di?k/ 是生肖的意思 所以可以這么說(shuō) The year of the ox is my zodiac year. 牛年是我的本命年。 如果想問別人是什么生肖的,可以怎么說(shuō)呢? What is your Chinese zodiac/animal sign? 你屬什么? My Chinese zodiac/animal sign is Pig. 我屬豬。 |
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來(lái)自: 昵稱14934981 > 《外語(yǔ)知識(shí)》