英語中把代人受罪、替人「背鍋」的人稱為「scapegoat」，意思就是替罪羊，把家族中有辱門第的成員稱為「black sheep」，相當於中文裡的敗家子、害群之馬。可你知道為什麼替罪的、敗家的偏偏是羊，而不是貓、狗、豬、牛或者其他動物嗎？
Scapegoat
例句：
I don't think I deserve to be made the scapegoat for a couple of bad results. 我認為我不該為出現的一些不良後果充當替罪羊。
The word scapegoat was first coined by English Protestant scholar William Tyndale in his 1530 English translation of the Bible, according to a book written by David Dawson. Tyndale, who was deciphering Hebrew descriptions of Yom Kippur rituals from the Book of Leviticus, recounted a ceremony in which one of two goats was selected by lot. A high priest would place his hands on the goat’s head and confess his people's sins— thus transferring them to the animal—before casting it out into the wilderness to rid Israel of its transgressions. As for the other goat, it would be sacrificed to the Lord.根據大衛•達沃森的著作，scapegoat（替罪羊）一詞是英國新教學者威廉•廷代爾最先發明的，他在1530年的英譯版《聖經》中創造了這個詞。廷代爾將《利未記》中關於猶太人贖罪日儀式的希伯來文描述翻譯成英文，在這個儀式上，兩隻山羊中有一隻被命運選中。大祭司要把手放在被選中的那隻山羊頭頂，以寬恕上帝的子民犯下的罪行（這個動作表示把罪惡轉移到山羊身上），然後將山羊放生，從而幫以色列人贖罪。至於另外一隻羊，則將作為犧牲獻給上帝。
Tyndale coined the word scapegoat to describe the sin-bearing creature, interpreting the Hebrew word azazel or Azazel as ez ozel, or "the goat that departs or escapes." That said, some scholars have disagreed with his interpretation, claiming that Azazel actually stands for the name of a goat-like wilderness demon, whom the offering was meant for, or a specific location in the desert to where sins were banished, often thought to be a mountainous cliff from which the scapegoat was cast off and killed.為了詮釋希伯來語單詞Azazel（逃跑的山羊）的意思，廷代爾創造了scapegoat一詞，用來指代承擔罪行的生物。據說，有些學者並不贊同廷代爾的解釋，認為Azazel實際上是指一個存在於荒野間的酷似山羊的惡魔，而祭祀的山羊就是為它準備的。又或者Azazel指的是沙漠中某處可以洗刷罪惡的地點，人們一般認為是一處將替罪羊拋下來殺死的高聳峭壁。
Over the centuries, the word scapegoat became disassociated with its Biblical meaning, and it eventually became used as a metaphor to describe a person who shoulders the blame of any wrongdoing. 幾個世紀以來，scapegoat這個單詞已經和聖經裡的意思無關了，它最終用來指代承擔所有罪責的人。
至於black sheep，如果你以為是「黑色的綿羊」，那可就大錯特錯了。
Black sheep
例句：
As the owner of the factory I'm like the head of a family, and as such I can't allow any black sheep among my employees. 我在廠裡好比是一家之主，我不能容忍那種害群之馬。
In the English language, black sheep is an idiom used to describe an odd or disreputable member of a group, especially within a family. The term stems from the genetic effect in sheep whereby a recessive gene occasionally manifests in the birth of a sheep with black rather than white coloring; these sheep stand out in the flock and their wool was traditionally considered less valuable.在英語中，black sheep這個習語用於形容群體中格格不入或者聲名狼藉的成員，尤其是家族中。這種說法來自於綿羊的一種遺傳效應，有些新生綿羊因發生隱性遺傳長成了黑色，而不是白色，這些羊在羊群中格外扎眼，而它們的羊毛通常沒有什麼價值。
Black wool was considered commercially undesirable because it could not be dyed. In 18th and 19th century England, the black color of the sheep was seen as the mark of the devil.由於黑色的羊毛無法染色，因此沒有什麼商業價值。在18世紀至19世紀的英格蘭，黑色的綿羊被視為魔鬼的象徵。
In modern usage, the expression has lost some of its negative connotations, though the term is usually given to the member of a group who has certain characteristics or lack thereof deemed undesirable by that group.在現代用語中，關於black sheep的一些負面含義已經消失，不過，這個習語還是經常被用來形容群體中因具有某種特殊特徵或缺陷，而不受該群體歡迎的成員。
英文來源：mentalfloss.com翻譯&編輯：董靜審校：yaning