有一个英语谜语:When can a person become two persons? (一个人什么时候能变成两个人?)答案是:When one is so angry that he is beside himself. 或 When he doubles up with laughter. 如果将这个谜底翻译成汉语,则是:当他气极了或是笑得直不起腰的时候。读者可能会纳闷:这个谜底完全是答非所问吧?
谜底: When he makes his maiden speech. “maiden speech”意思是“处女演讲”,也就是“第一次发表的演讲”; maiden有“姑娘”的意思。
2. When is a very angry man like a clock fifty minutes past twelve?
谜底: When he is just going to strike one. “strike one”是敲响一点钟,12点50分离一点钟只有10分钟,因此“strike one”可引申为“打一个人”。
3. Why shouldn’t you believe a man in bed?
谜底: Because he is always lying. 这里的lie实际上是两个同形异义词,一个是规则动词,意为“说谎”(lie, lied, lied,lying);另一个是不规则的不及物动词“躺”(lie, lay, lain, lying)。注意,容易与之混淆的还有一个不规则的及物动词“放”(lay, laid, laid, laying)。如今在美国,不少公司的入职考试经常将这三词作为考试的内容。
4. When did the blind man suddenly see?
谜底: When he took up a hammer and saw. 这个句子中运用的双关与前几个不同,saw是动词see的过去时,同时saw也可作名词,意为“锯子”,亦可用作动词“锯”。因此,谜底中“a hammer and saw”是指一组工具(所以只有一个冠词,犹如“a cup and saucer”带托碟的茶杯),意思是“拿起一把锤子和一把锯子”。也可以将saw看成是和took并列的谓语动词,全句解释为“他拿起一把锤子,这时眼睛突然看得见了。”这里的and引导出时间状语,有“just then”或“at that time”的意思。
5. How would a greedy man punctuate “I saw a one-hundred-dollar bill on the sidewalk?”
谜底: He would just make a dash after it. 这一句的双关在dash一词上,dash可指“破折号”,此外dash还有“冲刺”的意思,“百米赛跑”是“100-meter dash”。原句中“make a dash after it”是指“(那个吝啬的人)朝那张百圆大钞猛冲过去”。