放屁、撒尿、拉屎的英文

阿嫣

关於屁、尿、屎一类的话，以前只有吴稚晖先生, 大胆地形诸笔墨, 一般文人雅士, 都不敢挂齿, 认为粗鄙、太不雅了。

        其实, 尽管不说, 谁都不能没有此作为; 说来虽不堪入耳, 学习英文的人, 不妨知道。

        一些汉英字典， 把放屁译成break wind ，撒尿作pass urine和make water，至於拉屎，则译为go to stool。

        在卑语中，撒尿还可以说piss，或者pump ship，但, 很少听到外国人这么说，在书报上也很少见。

        外国人到底是这样说的呢？

        现举一些文人笔下, 描写屁、屎、屎的例子:

        Craxi and Borth were alone quite drunk.

        When the fat Craxi saw the Major, he said to Borth: “Shall we relieve on the leg of Mister Major?”

        Borth said: “Have you any left?”

        Craxi said boastfully, beating himself on the chest: “I could relieve myself for two hours, and I would still be able to pass wind for fifteen minutes. Shall we do it on the leg of the Mister Major?”

        - John Hersey: A Bell for Adano.

        只剩下克拉西和鲍斯两人在那里, 己经喝得烂醉了.

        当那肥胖的克拉西看见了少校的时候, 他就对鲍斯说: “我们撒一泡尿在少校先生的脚上好吗?

        鲍斯说: “你还有尿好撒吗?”

        克拉西拍着胸脯, 大吹大擂的说: “如果我要撒的话, 我可以一连撒两个钟头不停, 撒过了尿之后, 我还可以放十五分钟的屁. 我们要不要在少校先生的脚下来一下?”

        以上对话中所谓的relieve nature (解放自然), 就是因为大小便是人生不可免的事, 有时说得更明白一点, 则为answer nature’s call或answer the call of nature (应付自然的要求), 即是说我们要大小便是出於自然, 我们无法支配它的.

        再看一个例子:

        The next morning, Tuesday, Ligget got awake with an average hangover, the kind that reminded him of mornings after football games and boat races, except that after a night’s drinking like last night’s he could not count on partial recovery within a few minutes after answering the call of nature, and after a day of strenuous athletics nature does not always call, at least not before he was at top form. - John O’Hara: Butterfly 8.

        第二天, 星期二的早上, 李格特醒来的时候, 照例带着几分宿醉, 使他想起在足球比赛和划船比赛之后的第二天早上的情形, 除非是像昨夜那样喝了一夜的酒, 他才不能够在拉过屎之后就恢复一半的精神, 而在激烈地运动了一天之后, 第二天早上便不一定拉得屎出来, 至少在他完全恢复以前是拉不出来的.

        除此之外, 又可说nature necessity (自然的需要), 或是certain necessary functions of the body (肉体上某种必要的作用), 如以下几个例子:

        She thought I had gone there out of a nature necessity, but it was not true. – Sherwood Anderson: A Story Teller’s Story.

        她以为我是要到矮树后面去解手的, 其实不然.

        When pressed by a nature necessity, they relieved themselves in the open street without regard to the passers-by. – Maugham: Don Fernando.

        当便急的时候, 他们也就顾不得被过路的人看见, 只好当街拉屎了.

        There was the yard without any grass and at one side, by a high board fence, a long wooden shed into which we went to perform certain necessary functions of the body. – Sherwood Anderson: A Story Teller’s Story.

        那院子里没有长一点草, 在以高的木板隔开的一边, 有一个长的木造搭棚, 我们就到那里面去大小便.


(摘自钱歌川著《英文疑难详解续篇》