中英之鑒 中式英語(yǔ)之鑒367

[誤] Do you think you could write something out of nothing? You cannot make a meal without rice. So gather some information first!

[正] Do you think you could write something out of nothing? You cannot make bricks without straw. So gather some information first!

注：米飯對(duì)西方人來(lái)說(shuō)并不那么重要，所以把“無(wú)米之炊”直譯成英文他們是無(wú)法理解的。英語(yǔ)中地道的說(shuō)法是拿 “磚”和“稻草”做比喻，而且據(jù)說(shuō)還有來(lái)自《圣經(jīng)》的典故呢。