忍不住談「洪荒之力」的翻譯。洪荒可以對應古希臘神話中的Chaos, 即天地未開的混沌狀態，洪荒之力可以說powers of the Chaos Gods, 戰錘遊戲裡就有Chaos Gods, 也稱為Dark Gods, 所以說powers of the Dark Gods 也行。或乾脆譯成powers of Chaos, 玄幻小說Percy Jackson系列裡就有這個說法。要不就簡單說my dark primordial powers, my dark primeval powers 我的原始邪惡力量, prehistorical太專業了一點。僅供大家一哂。
brick and mortar business
線上購物時代的實體店成為有特殊意義的名詞，實體店的說法就是brick and mortar business或store 紅磚灰泥店。據說這個詞出自狄更斯的小說《小杜麗》。例句: The divergence between brick-and-mortar businesses and online businesses has expanded in the 21st Century as more and more entrepreneurs and established organizations create profitable products known as web and mobile apps. 實體店和網上交易的區分擴大。
這段時間一直有人與我探討「雞湯文」怎麼說的問題，英語世界雞湯寫作文化博大精深，自然已經有一個常用詞來描繪：self-help books, 也可以說self-help mantras (咒語經文的意思)，比如: His deals in self-help mantras that promise to help you stay positive. 他販賣不少教人如何提高正能量的雞湯。也從朋友那裡看到一些略形象的表達方式，如warmed over nostrums/chestnuts, 就是隔夜回爐的假藥方/舊理。例: I'm tired of warmed over nostrums of personal power. 我已經厭倦不斷翻炒的強大自我雞湯文了。
前幾日有人問「笑點低」怎麼說，英語裡有一種說法，low laughter threshold, 就是笑的門檻或臨界線比較低，如: That joke clearly passed my laughter threshold, which is not very high. 門檻還有類似搭配，比如pain threshold: I tried to raise my threshold of pain, so I wouldn't easily get hurt.我曾想提高自己的忍痛能力。忍痛能力還可以說pain to lerance. He has a high tolerance of pain.
說一個人進入成熟期可以說come into one's own, 如: He fully came into his own as a painter at 40, when he learned to undo all the influences he had received from the masters. 褪去影響，他找到了自己的風格 (也就是成為自主的人)。當然也可以說found my own voice 或style之類的, 但come into one's own比較動人。我想說I think I've finally come into my own as a person, but it's never too late to realize who you're meant to be.
有人問「見風使舵」怎麼說，可以說He's a mean, timeserving man. 一個卑鄙趨炎附勢的人，或者說She's an opportunist who places expediency above principle. 她是個機會主義者，不問對錯，只求有利。如果在某件具體事情上騎牆觀望，那就是He's on the fence about this. 另外，表示「搖擺」是waver between A and B.
說到眾聲喧譁的新媒體，自然會想到Twitter網站。twitter原為鳥叫，也指各種高音調噪音。沃爾夫在1939年評論集Reviewing裡說過the present discordant and distracted twitter （當今紛擾嘈雜而心不在焉的喧譁）。也可以說I heard the panopoly/cacophony of voices on social media. 社交媒體上眾說紛紜。
突然想起through the grapevine這個詞組，就是道聽途說，小道消息，經常聽人說 I heard through the grapevine that you're moving to a new job等。也可以說I received the news by word of mouth（聽別人說才知道）。當然word of mouth 也有口碑的意思: became popular by word of mouth 經由口碑流行
這幾天看網上討論翻譯「吃一塹長一智」, 比較簡單的當然就是Every mistake is a lesson learned /Every mistake is a learning opportunity/Every fall is a wake-up call（每一次跌倒都是一次警告）。然後還有相近的英語表達 Once bitten twice shy（一次被咬心存餘悸），A burnt child dreads fire 也差不多。 看到有人翻譯成A fall in the pit is a gain in your wit, 感覺在當代英語中略奇怪，或許可以修正為 A stumble prevents a fall 等。
lowlifes/riffraff/hooligans
昨天翻了一下Columbia Companion to Modern Chinese Literature (2016), 看到介紹王朔的一節，貼兩段在下面。流氓地痞就是lowlifes, riffraff, hooligans, slackers。還可以說loafers, drifters, no-goods等, 都是遊手好閒的小混混。They live a life of drifting, slumming, conniving and scamming 飄浮遊蕩，無家可歸，騙一點是一點。slack off本來是鬆懈:He never slacked off on work, 口語也可以表示無所事事 It was sad to see him slack off.
platitudes/bromides/cliches
說某種看法是陳年老調有很多：platitudes, bromides, 當然還有cliches, 比如: He was reduced to a bumbling old man who mouthed platitudes about home. 他蛻變為一個滿嘴陳腐論調的老人。也可以說stock notions: The stock notions of how humans think must all be dismantled. 關於人類如何思考的陳舊觀念必須推倒。當然說stereotypical ideas也行
在所有表示兩肋插刀或赴湯蹈火的說法中，還是比較喜歡go out on a limb, limb是指樹上的小枝杈，連在一起就是為了支持某人或主張某事寧願攀上容易折斷的小枝條。如: He went out on a limb and defended me against his boss. /She went out on a limb for me. 同樣當然也可以說I'd go through hell/kill myself/take a bullet if it makes you safe.
這是一個我們所見不多但很實用的表達,字面是又用腰帶又用背帶，表示某種措施不一定必須，是為了安全和萬無一失。比如，有個朋友寫了篇論文，裡面有個小注釋，他稱之為belt-and-braces footnote, 為了小心而加，所以希望可以不用很多research就搞定。相對應的「不可或缺的注釋」就是indispensable footnote。
剛看文章，有一句 He lobbed literary spitballs from afar, hoping to catch someone's attention. spitball就是小紙團(在棒球比賽中指沾上了唾液和汗水的球), 這裡指用文學作品向他人發起微弱的攻擊。如果是發起猛烈攻擊，就要說 lobbed cannonballs at each other 了。話語分裂時代這個詞組太有用。
（金雯，復旦大學外文學院副教授，美國西北大學博士，2006-2013年在哥倫比亞大學教授核心課程「西方文學史」，「美國文學史」和「亞裔美國文學史」。也可關注金教授的微博或豆瓣（莫水田）獲得更多的信息。）