词汇大师(Wordmaster)--Proverbs in American English,Part2

Broadcast: November 17, 2004

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster we have part two of our look at proverbs in American English.

RS: We continue our conversation with Wolfgang Mieder, a professor of German and folklore¹ at the University of Vermont, and a widely published expert on proverbs.

AA: And there are certainly lots of them, although there are also many proverbs that different cultures have in common. So is this a case where "great minds think alike"?

WOLFGANG MIEDER: "If you look back in history and you compare the proverbs let's say of Germany, England, and also including the United States, France, Russia, Italy, Spain, you'd be surprised how many absolutely identical proverbs there are. The reason why that is, is that many of our everyday proverbs actually originated in Greek and Roman antiquity².

"I'll give you an example. 'Big fish eat little fish' is a proverb that goes back, way back, into Greek antiquity, and then it was translated in Europe from language to language and it wound up in England, and of course the immigrants brought it to the United States."

RS: Professor Mieder says the Bible is the second major source for proverbs that cross national boundaries.

WOLFGANG MIEDER: "I'll give you an example: 'Man does not live by bread alone' is absolutely identical in France, it's identical in Germany, it's identical in Poland. So that's the second major group. And the third one is Medieval Latin. If you take the proverb 'strike while the iron is hot,' we know it started in the Middle Ages, in Latin, and they used proverbs at that time to teach youngsters foreign languages, in other words Latin and French or Latin and German and so on."

RS: "Speaking of learning languages, how useful are proverbs in learning American English or any other language?"

WOLFGANG MIEDER: "Oh, oh, extremely important. You know, those instructors³ who, let's say -- or students who study to become teachers of English as a second language -- are very interested in teaching some of the colloquial⁴ language like proverbs and phrases. And we are now doing studies where, through questionnaires -- thousands of questionnaires -- we have established which proverbs, let's just say in the United States, are the most popular."

AA: "And could you tell us the top five?"

WOLFGANG MIEDER: "Well, I will not say that these are exactly the top five, but I'll give you some examples."

AA: "OK, great."

WOLFGANG MIEDER: "Well, 'strike while the iron is hot' is certainly one. 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder' is one. 'New brooms sweep clean' might be one."

AA: "Now that's an old one. I haven't heard that one in a while."

WOLFGANG MIEDER: "That's actually a Medieval Latin one that was translated into all of those languages as I mentioned. Let me give you some new American ones that one ought to know. 'It takes two to tango.' That started in 1952 with Pearl Bailey's famous song 'Takes Two to Tango.'"

MUSIC: "TAKES TWO TO TANGO"/Pearl Bailey

WOLFGANG MIEDER: "And then there is 'a picture is worth a thousand words.'"

RS: "Well, that had to start with modern photography."

WOLFGANG MIEDER: "That started in 1921 with an advertising⁵ campaign."

RS: "That was what I was going to ask you. What's the difference between a proverb and advertising jargon⁶ -- "

AA: "Or slogan."

RS: " -- or slogan? Can an advertising slogan morph it's way into becoming a proverb?"

WOLFGANG MIEDER: "You're catching⁷ on beautifully. [Laughter] Yes, if an advertising slogan has a certain amount of wisdom to it or generality or truth, then advertising can become a proverb. In fact, I would say that one of the most important sources for modern proverbs is advertising."

AA: Wolfang Mieder is a professor at the University of Vermont.

RS: If you have a favorite proverb, send it to us! Our e-mail address is。。。。。。。And you can visit us online at voanews.com/wordmaster. With Avi Arditti, I'm Rosanne Skirble.

MUSIC "Takes Two to Tango"

 

1 folklore   

n.民间信仰，民间传说，民俗

参考例句：

• Zhuge Liang is a synonym for wisdom in folklore.诸葛亮在民间传说中成了智慧的代名词。
• In Chinese folklore the bat is an emblem of good fortune.在中国的民间传说中蝙蝠是好运的象征。

2 antiquity   

n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹

参考例句：

• The museum contains the remains of Chinese antiquity.博物馆藏有中国古代的遗物。
• There are many legends about the heroes of antiquity.有许多关于古代英雄的传说。

3 instructors   

指导者，教师( instructor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The instructors were slacking on the job. 教员们对工作松松垮垮。
• He was invited to sit on the rostrum as a representative of extramural instructors. 他以校外辅导员身份，被邀请到主席台上。

4 colloquial   

adj.口语的，会话的

参考例句：

• It's hard to understand the colloquial idioms of a foreign language.外语里的口头习语很难懂。
• They have little acquaintance with colloquial English. 他们对英语会话几乎一窍不通。

5 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

6 jargon   

n.术语，行话

参考例句：

• They will not hear critics with their horrible jargon.他们不愿意听到评论家们那些可怕的行话。
• It is important not to be overawed by the mathematical jargon.要紧的是不要被数学的术语所吓倒.

7 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。