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“仙人跳”指“以从事淫秽活动为由头,一些男人的某种猎艳心理(一般是去找妓女),两人到某处,准备做些见不得人的勾当的时候,这时候,这个女的同伙,一般是一男性,突然出现在眼前,为了不让事情张扬出去,为求自保,好色男会把身上的钱给这对同伙,而他们则是达到敲诈的目的。”之所以被称为“仙人跳”是因为这种敲诈手段容易得手,设下的陷阱神仙也挑不出来。英语中与“仙人跳”对应的表述为badger game。根据《韦氏词典》,该表达意为“an extortion racket in which a man is lured by a woman into a compromising position and is then confronted with and blackmailed by the woman's accomplice posing as her husband or brother”,中了仙人跳的人就是victim of the badger game。定义中comprising这个词用的很“文雅”,本意为to expose to suspicion, discredit, or mischief。In a compromising position是一个固定的含蓄表达,意为have sexual relations,比如:He and his secretary were caught in a compromising position。
据《美国传统词典》,badger game来源于一种古老的放狗来猎杀獾(badger)的残忍娱乐,其中的badger扮演诱饵的角色,也就是“仙人跳”中的女子:
The term alludes to the much older sport of badger-baiting, in which a live badger was trapped and put inside a box and dogs were set on it to drag it out. The woman in the scheme is the "badger."
《卫报》一篇文章描述了badger game的场景:
Two scarily large dogs, "like something out of Harry Potter", were covered in blood and violently shaking a badger. The badger was emitting a distinctive chittering, the sound of a wild animal in great pain and distress. Several terriers raced around, snatching a bite as the dogs played tug-of-war with the badger.
“美人计”与“仙人跳”的区别在于其不一定是一种敲诈勒索的手段,比如《三国演义》中王允把貂蝉献给董卓就是美人计,而非仙人跳。“美人计”的一种译法可以是honey trap。根据《剑桥词典》,该表达有两个意思:一是something that is very attractive and attracts a lot of people,给出的例句为Istanbul is a honey trap for tourists;另外一个与本文关系更为密切的解释为the use of an attractive person to try to get information from someone,给出的例句为Police set up a honey trap to get him to confess to the crime。《牛津词典》对honey trap的定义更宽泛一些,不限于收集情报:A stratagem in which an attractive person entices another person into revealing information or doing something unwise。
虽然在美国《韦氏词典》中查不到honey trap,但这一表达也出现在美国主流媒体上,比如《华盛顿时报》的一篇文章:
But Hockney's deep distrust of Castro doesn't prevent him from journeying to Havana and falling into an old-fashioned honey trap. First, the wily Cubans slip a drug into his drink and then photograph him in the naked arms of a Cuban lovely.
虽然“仙人跳”和“美人计”可以译为badger game和honey trap,但需要注意的是这两个表达都不常见,比如在《华盛顿时报》与《卫报》中都没有搜索到badger game这一用法。 除准确外,翻译要也追求简明、直白,在使用典故和习语时需检查一下这些表达当今使用的频率如何,不要让读者去查字典。
回到“仙人跳”和“美人计”,为了便于读者理解,可在这些词语第一次出现时较详细解释一下,后文再出现时用trap、ploy或scheme等词代替。如果是在新闻标题中出现“仙人跳”或“美人计”,或可考虑将其统一简化译为trap of seduction。
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