时间:2018-12-18 作者:英语课 分类:TED演讲视频集


英语课

   所谓pun,通常是指利用一个单词的两个含义,或者利用两个特定的单词,达到“一语双关”的目的。例如在下面这句话里,其中的grave有两个含义,一个是“严肃的”(形容词),一个是“坟墓”(名词),因此这句话的意思是:他不是一个严肃的人,除非他躺到坟墓里,才能严肃起来。再比如下面第二句话,其中的pray(祈祷)和prey 1(捕食),发音相同,外形相似,因此这句话的意思是:他们今天为你祈祷,明天就会加害于你。这就是两个典型的 pun.


  ①He is not a grave man until he is a grave man.
  ②They pray for you today and prey on you tomorrow.
  国外一个网站评选的2003年十大pun,下面是其中的三个例子,如果您能看懂、听懂,肯定会觉得pun很有意思。
  ①He drove his expensive car into a tree and found out how the Mercedes bends.
  他违章超速驾驶,结果将昂贵的名车撞到树上,他终于看到他的奔驰车(Mercedes)是怎样撞弯(bends)的。这句话的幽默之处是将Mercedes Benz(奔驰车)中的Benz,故意改写成bends.
  ②Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.
  这句话乍一看,好象是说:时光像箭一样飞逝,水果像香蕉一样飞逝。其实这句话后半部分的真正意思是:果蝇喜欢吃香蕉,也就是fruit flies/like/a banana.
  ③A bicycle can't stand on its own because it is two-tyred.
  这句话的表面意思是:自行车自己站不起来,因为它只有两个轮胎(two-tyred)。而这句话的另外一个意思是:这辆自行车被它的主人骑了很长时间,它现在太累了(too tired)。
  怎么样,pun是不是很有意思?我下面再列出三个pun,但不告诉您意思,请您自己琢磨一下。如果您能琢磨出来,那说明您的英语水平已经很高了。
  ①She wore a new hairpiece every day and was considered a big wig 2.
  ②Old math teachers never die, they just become irrational 3.
  ③When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.

1 prey
n.被掠食者,牺牲者,掠食;v.捕食,掠夺,折磨
  • Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
  • The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。
2 wig
n.假发
  • The actress wore a black wig over her blond hair.那个女演员戴一顶黑色假发罩住自己的金黄色头发。
  • He disguised himself with a wig and false beard.他用假发和假胡须来乔装。
3 irrational
adj.无理性的,失去理性的
  • After taking the drug she became completely irrational.她在吸毒后变得完全失去了理性。
  • There are also signs of irrational exuberance among some investors.在某些投资者中是存在非理性繁荣的征象的。
标签: 英语写作
学英语单词
(5) flitch
architectural aesthetics
argentinid
azimuth calibration
bactofugation
be in no position to do
bead electrode
beet-planter
bkcy.
black insulating tape
body proportion
braeheid
brown lead ore
by bidder
california personality test (cpt)
cargo ship safety radiotelegraph certificate
carry-forward
Castanheira
Cie. Compagnie
coai-tar product
custom footer
data record
double reaction theory
elytras
eroticization
fencing stick
flatten in
front wheel drive
fumitory
gelatine liquefication
Geneva mechanisms
gilled radiator
globar resistance heater
granite board
Greek Fathers
halde
hoam
homogeneous grammar
HTTP download
hunger strikes
ichthyobodoes
impaired area
iterative target transformation factor analysis
judications
koepp
language transformation
lasing fibre
Lemsford
letter of admission
lost on sale
madbury
major scale
membership agreement
monaurally
monotonic reasoning
Nankinella
nonyl-
ntwf
pagan (bagan)
parochialic
postethical
precomplier
prefix unary operator
property-led
pseudo-random test spec
Quattron
radioisotope smoke alarm
Rheinwaldhorn
risk characteristics
saw at
schadenfreudes
separated completion
shaped character printer
she-hes
single cycle key
spark-proof instrument
sporophytic embryony
stationary language
STH cell
stinkards
Tanakaea omeiensis
tangolunda
ten stage continuous separation extractor
thermal energy balance
tiral trench
trachelomonas acuminata amphora
ultrasonic machine
unmidwifed
vesicular cowpox
Villa Literno
warsh
water absorption power
wes-kaap
what's the problem
withdrawal and borrowing
wortmann
Y-intersection
yap
ywyl
zonally symmetric circulation