说一个人 owlish 究竟是什么意思？

回答

猫头鹰在西方文化之中是聪慧的象征，是雅典娜的使者，说一个人像猫头鹰，简单的说就是有智慧。浑身上下每一个毛孔都滴着历史与文化的网游《魔兽世界》之中，名字里带“夜枭”的物品都会加智力属性，就是因为这个。

此外日本文化里猫头鹰也是好鸟。

回答

这个问题也让我十分困扰。

Owlish —— 字面意义自然是像猫头鹰一样，但我印象中的猫头鹰始终不是一个正面的形象。我小时候我姥姥讲过得故事让我觉得猫头鹰是阴森邪恶的动物，叫声也让人毛骨悚然。

朗文给 owlish 的解释是：looking like an owl and seeming serious and clever。让我困扰的是为什么会有 clever 的涵义。

牛津有如下的解释：：

owl bird of prey that flies at night and feeds on small animals, eg mice, and is traditionally regarded as a symbol of wisdom 鴞, 猫头鹰（传统上认为是聪明的象徵）.

wise as an owl very wise 非常聪明

owlish adj of or like an owl; (trying to look) solemn and wise （似）猫头鹰的; （装得）严肃而聪明的:Her new glasses make her look rather owlish. 她戴着新眼镜看上去很文气. owlishly adv: owlishly earnest 严肃认真的.

看过字典之后我好像懂了一点，但是仍然有一千一万个困惑 —— 猫头鹰为什么聪明啊，为神马，为神马？猫头鹰是仅次于乌鸦的让人瘆得慌的鸟类啊！

看一下 Google 图片搜索的 owlish 一词的人脸搜索结果吧，或许对你有帮助
http://www.google.com/search?q=owlish&um=1&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=lnt&tbs=itp:face

前几天我还读到了一个句子，里面的 Jiang 就是我们的那位：

A competent amateur flautist with large owlish glasses and trousers often hitched well above his navel, Mr Jiang’s …

回答

面孔严肃，表面聪慧的。

这种问题应该去查字典或者直接网络搜索吧，不该来这里问。

回答

柯林思的解释：

owlish

An owlish person looks rather like an owl, especially because they wear glasses, and seems to be very serious and clever.

● With his owlish face, it is easy to understand why he was called ‘The Professor’.

Tags: 文化翻译 英译中 英语翻译汉语

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