“小三兒”這個詞近幾年特別火,熱播電視劇里有生動表現(xiàn),反腐風暴中有搶眼表現(xiàn),于是呢,愛好英語的同學們就開始熱議,這個詞到底用哪個英文詞來表達比較合適。今天,我們就來看看英文中表達類似意思的詞都有哪些。
Mistress
Mistress是比較正式的表示“情婦”的用法,這個詞比較有歷史感,路易十五的情婦Madame de Pompadour還以智慧和風情著稱。現(xiàn)在多用來指婚外情,“a woman who has an ongoing extramarital sexual relationship with a man”。
例句:
Genji, when still very young, has a passionate affair with his father's mistress. (New Yorker)
源氏年輕時和父親的情婦愛得不可自拔。
Former U.S. military commander and CIA director David Petraeus will appear in federal court in North Carolina on Thursday to face sentencing for allegedly leaking secrets to a mistress who was writing his biography. (AP)
美國前指揮官、CIA主任David Petraeus周四在北卡羅來納聯(lián)邦法庭受審,面臨向為其寫傳記的情婦泄露機密的指控。
Paramour
Paramour來自法語,by love的意思,曾經(jīng)被女性用來表示基督,男性用來表示圣瑪麗,后來這個詞漸漸失去了宗教意味,變成了“小甜心”,最后還有了“小三兒”、“傍尖兒”的意思。相比于mistress,這個詞比較溫和,更強調(diào)婚外情中“情”的那個方面,也用來表示“情夫”。
例句:
The authorities were apparently planning to transfer his paramour to another correctional facility.
當局顯然計劃把他的情婦轉(zhuǎn)到另一個勞教機構(gòu)中去。
kept woman
An adulterous woman; a woman who has an ongoing extramarital sexual relationship with a man.可以理解為被已婚男人包養(yǎng)的女人。
例句:
She has never seen the film, but knows that presenting becoming a kept woman as a viable career option is a risqué (傷風敗俗的) business. (Washington Post)
她沒看過這部電影,可她知道把給人做小三當成一種人生選項是傷風敗俗的事。
fancy woman
和Kept woman一樣,fancy woman可以更準確的翻譯為“被包養(yǎng)的人”,通常有道德水準存疑的色彩??蒮ancy man的意思略有不同,fancy man可以指“情夫”,也可以泛泛地用來說“帥哥”,甚至“同人”。fancy woman和fancy man的不同感情色彩也暗示了性別不平等存在于語言深處。
doxy
doxy可以用來簡稱orthodoxy(宗教教條),可更多情況下有著完全相反的用法,“小蜜”、“小狐貍”,差不多就是這個意思,沒有mistress那么正式,有豐富的感情色彩。
courtesan
歐洲王室和貴族們包養(yǎng)的情婦。
和concubine一樣,courtesan是個“古香古色”的詞,因為住在宮廷,所以和court看起來很像,實際上,隨著民主化的發(fā)展,這種職業(yè)正在式微,但也并未消失,現(xiàn)在典型的courtesan,主要是生意,無關感情。
例句;
Dutch exotic dancer, courtesan, and accused spy who was executed by firingsquad in France for espionage for Germany during World War I.
她生前曾是一名荷蘭脫衣舞娘、情婦、間諜,最終因在一戰(zhàn)期間為德國做間諜而被法國行刑隊處死。
concubine
實際上,用concubine表示“小三兒”是不確切的,更準確地說,concubine是“小妾”或“妃子”,楊貴妃和甄嬛都曾是concubine,這沒什么拿不上臺面的,制度使然。在這個意義上,concubine本身不承擔道德義務,倒是某種前現(xiàn)代制度的犧牲品。
例句:
The Islamic State vowed to kill all the men and make concubines of the women. (Washington Post)
伊斯蘭國號稱要殺死所有男人,讓女人為妾。
Persian King Darius III also had several wives and kept a stock of 360 royal concubines “for his own personal use.”
波斯國王大流士三世有數(shù)個妻子,和360個妃子供自己享樂。
home wrecker
One who comes into your life, and screws it all up. This involves stealing your boyfriend/girlfriend, puppy, your friends, until they pretty much take over your entire life.搶走你男人的女人。
That home wrecker stole my man!!
那個女人搶走了我男人!
I am Jackie, you are Marilyn
我是正房,你是小三兒。
這個說法有點意思,Marilyn招誰惹誰了,怎么就小三兒了呢。這背后有個典故,Jackie是美國前總統(tǒng)肯尼迪的夫人Jacqueline Kennedy,聰明又優(yōu)雅;不說也知道了,Marilyn就是Marilyn Monroe,甜美誘人的夢露,夢露就是傳言中肯尼迪的小三兒,于是Jackie和Marilyn的形象也刻板化為正房和小三兒了。
hanky-panky
本意是偷雞摸狗的小伎倆,引申為不合法的兩性關系,也用來泛指男女間卿卿我我的事。
We do not allow any hanky-panky around here.
在這里,我們不允許任何胡來的事。
play the field
腳踩兩只船,玩弄別人感情??赡苓@不違法,但沒道德。一個腳踩兩只船的人怎么說?Two-timer。
She's not interested in marriage at this stage, so she's quite happy to play the field.
她目前還不想結(jié)婚,所以樂得腳踩兩只船。
Fling
短期的同居關系,比一夜情要長,又沒有婚外情那么嚴肅。
It was just a fling with David... I don't expect it to go into a relationship.
我和大衛(wèi)只是玩玩而已,沒想跟他談戀愛。
fornication
很正式的詞,表示通奸。
The policy also mandated disciplinary action for sexual assault, incest, adultery and fornication. (Reuters)
該政策還對性侵、亂倫已經(jīng)通奸等行為采取懲戒處分。