久久亚洲国产成人影院-久久亚洲国产的中文-久久亚洲国产高清-久久亚洲国产精品-亚洲图片偷拍自拍-亚洲图色视频

您現(xiàn)在的位置: Language Tips> Columnist> Zhang Xin  
   
 





 
Sea change?
What does this headline – A sea change on immigration? – mean?
[ 2008-07-29 11:30 ]


Sea change?

Reader question:

What does this headline – A sea change on immigration? – mean?

My comments:

It means a major change in immigration policy.

Sea change is an idiom, referring to drastic change, fundamental change, a total about turn, a radical, dramatic, even mythical change, or in Chinese parley, 滄海桑田般的改變.

I don't usually explain English idioms with Chinese, as I see that as a poor habit (preventing one from thinking in terms of English when communicating in that language). But sea change is an exception. You see, it matches perfectly with the Chinese idiom, in both meaning and in terms of the mythical.

The English idiom is said to have been first used by none other than William Shakespeare.

In The Tempest, published in 1610, Shakespeare wrote:

Full fathom five thy father lies

Of his bones are coral made

Those are pearls that were his eyes:

Nothing of him that doth fade

But doth suffer a sea-change

Into something rich and strange

Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell

Ding-dong

Hark! Now I hear them – Ding-dong, bell.

The Chinese idiom 滄海桑田(literally, the sea changes into mulberry fields)is more ancient in origin, dating Shakespeare by another millennium. According to legend, 滄海桑田 first appeared in stories of Taoist immortals by Ge Hong (283-363) – To me, at any rate, all things immortal are Taoist in nature. It came up in a casual conversation between two of such immortals.

"It must have been five- or six-hundred years since I saw you last," says one, a woman known as Ma Gu. "As a matter of fact, since I became a fairy, I've seen the sea morph into mulberry fields and vice versa no less than three times. In fact, the last time I visited Penglai (a celestial mountain off the coast of Qingdao, where Olympic yachting events are to be held next month) I did not fail to notice that the waters were shallower than before. I won't be surprised if the East Sea turns into dry land once again."

"Indeed, impossible is nothing", echoes the other by the name of Wang Yuan, adding with a chuckle, "No wonder ancients often talk of whipping up a dust while riding horses in the sea. Now I see what it means."

Anyways, that's sea change. I told the stories, by the way, just for the sake of telling them, to show that I can tell tales (?vain, I know). I am not suggesting that you put "sea change" into 滄海桑田 any time you see it. You'll risking sounding silly if you do. And if you do, don't blame me for not having warned you first.

Now that I've satisfied my own vanity and warned you over translations, let's see a few more examples of "sea change" in the news:

1. A sea change for swimming

In the wake of Michael Phelps' success, his sport has entered the era of the 'professional' swimmer.

- Baltimore Sun, June 29, 2008.

2. In the not-so-distant past, every summer blockbuster had to have its own chartbusting theme song...

But, musicals like Mamma Mia! aside, recent blockbusters have been bereft of big-name ballads. From X-Men to Pirates of the Caribbean, there isn't a power chord in sight.

Most striking of all is the complete absence of rock music in the rebooted Batman franchise.

Hans Zimmer, who co-wrote the soundtrack for Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, says his vision of Gotham City has no room for the likes of U2, Prince and R Kelly.

"There was never any doubt that we were going to be songless," says the Oscar-winning composer.

"And, trust me, we were flooded with requests from every band in the world. I actually had to say no to some really interesting people."

Zimmer's decision, taken in collaboration with director Chris Nolan and co-composer James Newton-Howard, reflects asea-change in the way film-makers approach soundtracks.

- Where are the new movie themes? news.bbc.co.uk, 28 July 2008.

3. Nowadays, people write to Ehrenreich with their workplace horror stories. The most shocking in the new book came from an ex-employee of one large retailer, who told Ehrenreich that in 2003 the company held him captive for six hours and interrogated him for giving a colleague a discount on a videogame, before getting him to write a false confession and firing him. A former colleague alleged that such incidents were not unusual.

With Obama ascending there is hope of a sea change, although Ehrenreich remains characteristically cautious. She sees him "tacking to the right" and was disheartened by his choice of economic adviser, Jason Furman, "who was to the far right of the Democratic Party and made his reputation as a defender of Wal-Mart [one of her principal targets in Nickel and Dimed]. And so in a way, I thought, OK, I'm not going to pay [Obama] any attention for a while."

- America's last taboo, The Guardian, July 21, 2008.

我要看更多專欄文章

 

About the author:
 

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

 
英語點(diǎn)津版權(quán)說明:凡注明來源為“英語點(diǎn)津:XXX(署名)”的原創(chuàng)作品,除與中國日報(bào)網(wǎng)簽署英語點(diǎn)津內(nèi)容授權(quán)協(xié)議的網(wǎng)站外,其他任何網(wǎng)站或單位未經(jīng)允許不得非法盜鏈、轉(zhuǎn)載和使用,違者必究。如需使用,請與010-84883631聯(lián)系;凡本網(wǎng)注明“來源:XXX(非英語點(diǎn)津)”的作品,均轉(zhuǎn)載自其它媒體,目的在于傳播更多信息,其他媒體如需轉(zhuǎn)載,請與稿件來源方聯(lián)系,如產(chǎn)生任何問題與本網(wǎng)無關(guān);本網(wǎng)所發(fā)布的歌曲、電影片段,版權(quán)歸原作者所有,僅供學(xué)習(xí)與研究,如果侵權(quán),請?zhí)峁┌鏅?quán)證明,以便盡快刪除。
相關(guān)文章 Related Story
 
 
 
本頻道最新推薦
 
Walking in the US first lady's shoes
“準(zhǔn)確無誤”如何表達(dá)
英國新晉超女蘇珊大媽改頭換面
豬流感 swine flu
你有l(wèi)ottery mentality嗎
翻吧推薦
 
論壇熱貼
 
別亂扔垃圾。怎么譯這個(gè)亂字呀?
橘子,橙子用英文怎么區(qū)分?
看Gossip Girl學(xué)英語
端午節(jié)怎么翻譯?
母親,您在天堂還好嗎?

 

主站蜘蛛池模板: 国产精品久久久一区二区三区 | 亚洲日产综合欧美一区二区 | 香蕉成人 | 九九在线免费视频 | 亚洲精品午夜久久久伊人 | 一级待一黄aaa大片在线还看 | 久久精品毛片 | 草久在线观看视频 | 欧美性猛交xxx免费看人妖 | 国产亚洲精品一区久久 | 免费亚洲视频在线观看 | 永久免费91桃色福利 | 国产女人在线观看 | 亚洲国产精品久久精品成人 | 久久ri精品高清一区二区三区 | 性感一级毛片 | 真人真实毛片免费观看 | 亚洲综合久久久久久888 | 欧美亚洲视频一区 | 不卡精品国产_亚洲人成在线 | 国产精品日韩欧美在线 | 久久免费观看国产精品 | 午夜福利国产一级毛片 | 亚洲国产夜色在线观看 | 18女人毛片大全 | 亚洲精品久久一区影院 | 国产真实乱系列2孕妇 | 亚洲综合精品 | 国产欧美日韩精品a在线观看 | 国产高清视频免费在线观看 | 国产综合久久 | 日韩视频一区二区三区 | 一区二区在线播放福利视频 | 夜色福利久久久久久777777 | 欧美做爱毛片 | 特级毛片免费观看视频 | 亚洲香蕉一区二区三区在线观看 | 男女生性毛片免费观看 | 生活片一级播放免费 | 成人黄色免费观看 | 怡红院视频网 |