俗语:化干戈为玉帛
分类: 英语词汇
汉语中,“化干戈为玉帛”语出《淮南子·原道训》,常用以比喻争战者能舍弃纷争、追求和平。英语中,俗语“beat your swords into plowshares”可表达相同的意思。
由字面意“把刀剑打磨成犁头”,我们可看出俗语中的“sword”(剑)代指“战争”,而“plowshares”(犁头)则喻指“和平”。
“Beat your swords into plowshares”源于《圣经·旧约·以赛亚书》第2章第4节:“And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”意思是,大家要将刀剑打成犁头,把长矛制成镰刀,各国从此和平相处,不再打仗。
呵呵,照此典故推理,如果哪天布什愿意“beat their swords into plowshares”(化干戈为玉帛),说不定用来轰炸伊拉克的战斗机也能有更好的用武之地,被改制成民航客机造福为民呢。
看下面的例句:The prime minister would like them to beat their swords into plowshares and abandon all plans for war.(该国首相希望双方能够化干戈为玉帛,放弃所有的战争计划。)