剛才我在一個英語學習論壇上，看到有一篇「中翻英」的短文，譯的很不錯，只是其中的一句話有點問題。這句話是as stupid as a pig(像豬一樣愚蠢)，您看出問題了嗎?在漢語中，我們確實經常說「蠢豬」這個詞，來形容某個人很笨，因此在一般中國人的感覺中，豬就代表愚蠢。但在西方文化中，代表愚蠢的動物並不是豬，而是驢，因此這句話應當翻譯成as stupid as an ass。寫到這裡，我想順便再多說一句，在西方文化中，豬不僅不代表愚蠢，有時甚至還代表快樂，比如as happy as a pig(像豬一樣快樂)，因此我們有必要在這裡為豬先生平反昭雪(笑)。
通過這個小例子，我們可以看出，在翻譯這種與動物有關的比喻性句子 (metaphoric sentence)時，我們一定要考慮西方文化的因素，避免用中國人的習慣說法代替西方人的習慣說話。由於這個問題並不是一個很重要的問題，一般的英語教科書上很可能沒有介紹，因此我特意收集了一些常用的形容詞與動物的搭配，供初學者朋友們參考，請看：
as blind as a bat (像蝙蝠一樣盲目)
as hungry as a bear (像熊一樣飢餓)
as busy as a beaver (像河狸一樣忙碌)
as busy as a bee (像蜜蜂一樣忙碌)
as songful as a bird (像鳥一樣動聽)
as angry as a bull (像公牛一樣憤怒)
as changeful as a chameleon (像變色龍一樣多變)
as bald as an eagle (像鷹一樣禿頂)
as sly as a fox (像狐狸一樣狡猾)
as tall as a giraffe (像長頸鹿一樣高)
as silly as a goose (像鵝一樣愚蠢)
as fast as a hare (像野兔一樣快)
as playful as a kitten (像小貓一樣喜歡嬉戲)
as gentle as a lamb (像小羊一樣溫和)
as brave as a lion (像獅子一樣勇敢)
as stubborn as a mule (像騾子一樣頑固)
as wise as an owl (像貓頭鷹一樣聰明)
as quick as a rabbit (像兔子一樣快)
as slow as a snail (像蝸牛一樣緩慢)
as graceful as a swan (像天鵝一樣優美)
as slow as a turtle (像烏龜一樣緩慢)
as hungry as a wolf (像狼一樣飢餓)
最後我還想再補充一句：上面的搭配，並不是固定不變的，比如bull(公牛)這種動物，經常跟angry(憤怒)搭配，但它也可以跟mad(瘋狂)、strong(強壯)等搭配，因此初學者朋友們千萬不要搞教條，一定要靈活運用。