标题 | Writing’s on the Wall:不仅是一首歌那么简单 |
范文 | 周文博 提到writings on the wall或者the writing on thewall,学生们首先想到的可能是电影《007:幽灵党》的主题曲Writings On the Wall:…For you I have to riskit all/Cause the writing's on the wall… 1.The writing on the wall的渊源 事实上,The writing on the wall是一个常见于新闻报道或文学读本的谚语,其渊源可以追溯到圣经中的《旧约·但以理书》:伯沙撒王是新巴比伦王国的最后一位统治者,平日里悖逆放荡,亵渎上帝,有一次他在宫殿里设摆盛筵,饮酒作乐,并在席间赞美金、银、铜、铁、木、石所造的神。 2.《圣经》对The writing on the wall的具体描述 圣经中是这样描述的: 5:5 Suddenly the fingers of a human hand ap-peared and wrote on the plaster of the wall.Hear the lamp stand in the royal palace.The king watched the hand as it wrote. (伯沙撒王张皇失措,惊恐万分,后来王后想起了被虏的犹太人中有一位聪慧的预言家但以理。但以理指明了这只手所写的文字是上帝对他的警告……) 5:24 Therefore be sent the hand that wrote the in-scription. 5:25 This is the inscription that was written:MENE,MENE,TEKEL,PARSIN 5:26 This is what these words mean:Mene:God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. 5:27 Tekel:You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. 5:28 Peres:Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians. (伯沙撒王听完之后表示惊奇,对但以理进行了封赏,但并没有采取任何实际行动,巴比伦国果然很快就被玛代人和波斯人所灭,上帝的话得到了应验。) 3.The writing on the wall在现实中的表达方式 我们不难看出,“the writing on the wall”的实际意义是“a sign or warning of impending disaster that something bad will happen”(迫在眉睫的凶兆;不祥之兆)。英语中这个短语有以下几种表达方式: 1)The writing is on the wall(for something) 例句:To be honest,the writing has been on the wall for her business for a long time.事实上,她经商不景气的坏兆头已出现一段时间了。 2)Somebody sees/reads the writing on the wall 例句:I saw the writing on the wall and resigned my job before 1 was fired.我看到了不祥之兆,因而在被解雇前就辞去了工作。 31 Something is the writing on the wall 例句:The huge increase in the rent is the writing on the wall for many small businesses.房租的大幅度上漲对许多小企业来说是个不祥之兆。 看完了上述解释,我相信学生们今后在阅读中,读到含有the writing on the wall的句子时,就一定不会再按字面将其理解为“墙上的文字”了。 4.总结 英语学习中我们会碰到很多英语谚语,学生们在记忆与运用时常犯的错误就是按照字面意思机械理解,从而屡屡出错。其实很多谚语有着丰富的文化背景,如能深入了解其出处,不仅可以加深印象,更能充实自己的文化素养。 |
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