拉丁语中的谚语Proverbs In Latin American Talk

 Proverbs are the popular sayings that brighten so much Latin American talk, the boiled-down wisdom that you are as apt to hear from professors as from peasants, from beggars as from elegantes. Brief and colorful, they more often than not carry a sting.

拉丁语中的谚语由广为流传的话组成,为其语言增彩不少。你可以容易地从人们那里听到这些简明扼要的智慧语句，无论是教授还是农民，无论是乞丐还是优雅的人。因为其表达的简明和丰富, 所以它们经常传达的不只是婉转。

 When a neighbor’s dismally unattractive daughter announced her engagement, Imelda remarked, “You know what they say, Senora: ‘There’s no pot so ugly it can’t find a lid.’” And when her son-in-law blustered about how he was going to get even with the boss who had docked his pay, Imelda fixed him with a cold eye and said, “Little fish does not eat big fish.”

 当邻居家一个丑得有点丢人的女儿宣布她订婚时,Imelda对Senora说, “你知道别人怎么说吗?Senora, ‘再丑的锅也找得到盖儿’” 而当她女婿怒气冲冲地说要去找克扣他工资的老板算帐，Imelda给了他一个白眼说, “小鱼是吃不了大鱼的.”

 One afternoon I heard Imelda and her daughter arguing in the kitchen. Her daughter had quarreled with her husband’s parents, and Imelda was insisting that she apologize to them. Her daughter objected. “But, Mama, I just can’t swallow them, not even with honey. They talk so big until we need something; then they’re too poor. So today when they wouldn’t even lend enough to pay for a new bed, all I did was say something that I’ve heard you say a hundred times: ‘If so grand, why so poor? If so poor, why so grand?’  

一天下午,我听到Imelda和她女儿在厨房争吵. 原来她女儿和公公婆婆吵了架, Imelda坚持要女儿向公公婆婆倒歉, 但是遭到了女儿的反对. 她女儿说:“ 妈妈,这口气我就是咽不下去.就是刷上蜂蜜也一样!他们总是说自己多富有,可当我们想从他们那里要些东西时,他们就变成穷光蛋. 今天他们连买一张新床的钱也不借够给我们. 而我只是说了你经常说的: ‘ 如果真那么富,又如何这么小气.’ 如果这么穷的话, 又为何那么摆阔.”

“Impertinent!” snorted Imelda. “Have I not also taught you, ‘What the tongue says, the neck pays for’? I will not have it said that I could never teach my daughter proper respect for her elders. And before you go to beg their pardon, change those trousers for a dress. You know how your mother-in-law feels about pants on a woman. She always says, ‘ What was hatched a hen must not try to be a rooster!’”

“这完全不相关!” Imelda愤愤地说. “我没教过你吗? ‘ 舌头说的话可是要脖子来承担的.” 如果早知道那样说会让你疏于对长者的基本的尊敬的话,我绝对不会说那样的话. 还有,你去倒歉之前,要把裤子换成裙子. 你知道你婆婆对穿裤子的女人怎么看吗? 她总是说: ‘生出来是母鸡就不要去做公鸡!’”

Her daughter made one more try. “But Mama, you often say, ‘If the saint is annoyed, don’t pray to him until he gets over it.’ Can’t I leave it for tomorrow?”

Imelda的女儿申辩了一句. “但是妈妈, 你不是经常说, “如果圣人被惹怒了, 要等到他气消了才能再去求他. “不能等到明天吗?”

“No, no and no! Remember: ‘ If the dose is nasty, swallow it fast.’ You know, my child, you did wrong. But, ‘A gift is the key to open the door closed against you.’ I have a cake in the oven that I was making for the Senora’s dinner. I will explain to the Senora. Now, dear, hurry home and make yourself pretty in your pink dress. By the time you get back, I will have the cake ready for you to take to your mother-in-law. She will be so pleased that she may make your father-in-law pay for the bed. Remember: ‘One hand washes the other, but together they wash the face.’”

“不行,不行,绝对不行. 记住, ‘如果药苦就要快点吞.’ 你知道吗?我的女儿啊,这件事是你做错了. 不过, ‘礼物是钥匙,可以打开对你掩上的门.’ 烤箱里正烤着一个蛋糕,本来是给Senora拿来做晚餐的.我把它给你.我会向Senora解释的.宝贝,现在你赶快回家换条粉红色的裙子,把自己打扮漂亮些.等你回来的时候, 蛋糕就该好了,你带回家送给你婆婆. 她会非常高兴的.这样就可能让你公公给钱买那张床.记住, ‘一只手洗另一只手,但是只有双手一起才能洗脸.’”