1、有关婚姻的词语 1979年8月14日上海文汇报关于钱圩公社党委按照法律办事“的一那么通讯指出：在婚礼咨询题上，由于几千年封建适应权力的阻碍，过去钱圩公社存在着两种情况：一是未婚先孕，二是“。这未婚先孕“英语该如何译呢？依然先从未婚先孕“的直截了当缘故说起吧。旧社会有的人有婚前性生活“的行为，即所谓先奸后娶“，亦即英语的premarital sex. premarital sex “这种不文明行为引起的不文明结果确实是未婚先孕“：premarital pregnancy“。有同志咨询：为什么不用extramarital pregnancy“，而用premarital pregnancy“译未婚先
2、孕“呢？答复是extramarital“多指已婚女子含义比premarital广，而 premarital pregnancy“多指未婚女子，且孕后依然可婚的更紧扣原文。未婚先孕“者假设符合婚姻法关于结婚的规定，所以势必抓紧结婚。这种奉子女之命“的婚姻，英语有个现成的词儿shotgun marriage.下例中的shotgun wedding正是这种婚姻的婚礼。请看，连伴郎都没有，多狼狈啊：One morning there was a shotgun wedding with nobest man封建适应权力在婚姻方面的反映便是溺杀女婴“、童养媳“，包办婚姻“、索取财礼“、男尊女卑“、纳妾“
3、和卖淫；等等一请看下例中的黑体局部：It is impossible to consider the physical and emotionalaspects of individual sexual attitudes and behaviour without considering some of the history of female infanticide，bound feet，child marriage，arranged marriage，dowry，wifely subjugation，concubinage and widespread prostitution.上文我
4、们已经指出了 extramarital“的含义比premarital广，这里还能够得到进一步说明：上例中的concubinage必涉及 extramarital sex，却不能说是premarital sex“。但是，上例中虽提到了指童养媳“的child marriage却没有提到另一种不文明的婚姻陋习“早婚。早婚早在拿破仑时代就遭到否认了。请看下例：Early marriage must be discouraged to keep the birthrate down.早婚“与否的标准，取决于各国法律所规定的能够结婚的年龄“，即英语marriageable age或marriage age
5、“：未满法定结婚年龄结婚者为早婚。我国新婚姻法对早婚而倡导晚婚。这晚婚“，英语确实是late marrmge，请看：Marriage is based On comradeship，and late marriage is encouraged so that people dont make rash mistakes in choosing a partner.China No一般法律只规定满多少岁能够结婚，至于男女双方一定要年龄一样与否以及最多能够相差几岁，那么是不加规定的。因此事实上各种情况都有。其中，男方年龄超过女方非常多的，姑称之为老夫少妻“式婚姻吧，英语叫做May-toDecem
6、ber marriage，请看：Firmly fixed at the center Of Cannons personal life is her 13-year-old daughter，Jannifer，the product of herMay-to-December marriage to Gary Grant，which endedin a stormy divorce and custody battle.严格地说英语May-toDecember marriage中的May系指女方、“December系指男方。因此用它译红颜白发“也许更适宜。反之，假设女方年龄比男方大许多，那么这
7、种老妻少夫“式的婚姻，该译做December-May marriage了吧。这种双方年龄悬殊的婚姻，大半好似上例所示，其终于ended in a stormy divorce，是缺乏为奇的了。说到divorce“，就令人联想到美国的一种离婚旅行离婚“；而说到旅行离婚“，又令人联想到旅行结婚“。同汉语旅行结婚“相当的英语大概要算honeymoon了特别是作为新婚休假旅行“解的honeymoon.至于什么叫旅行离婚、旅行离婚“的英语原文是如何说的以及美国旅行离婚“的来龙去脉，请看下例，特别是黑体印刷的局部The Federal system gave rise to the practice Of
8、migratorydivorce，with people traveling around the Republic to take advantage Of liberal statesrsquo;laws.But Nevadawas determined to crush the competition.In 1931，it enacted a six-week residency requirement for divorce，and 1egalized gambling to boot.The marriage，so to speak，of divorce and gambling p
9、roduced a growth industry.一Newsweek，M178-96请留意：上例末句中的marriage“可不是结婚“，而是结合“。这句的意思是：内华达把离婚业“和赌博业“两者结合“起来，从而构成了它所特有的一种新兴实业“。离婚，有才能的一方要向有需要而又无才能的对方支付抚养费旧时汉语做赡养费“。这种抚养费即赡养费，如众所周知，便是alimony.不用说， alimony的前提是夫妇关系。假设只是所谓“朋友pals关系，那么双方在完毕朋友“关系时，所以谈不上谁给谁alimony的咨询题。但当前的美国男女，关系复杂不结婚也不预备结婚而公然同居者大有人在。这种关系终止时，alim
10、ony虽谈不上，而一方却要对方给一笔钱，那又如何办呢？这笔钱英语如何说好呢？好办得非常：双方虽非夫妇，也总算朋友“pals了一阵；虽无离婚夫妇间的alimony可谈，却有 朋友“的抚养费“即朋友“十抚养费“：=pal+alimony“=palimony能够争取。这个由此产生的交融词palimony 近年来颇为引人注目，姑举三例：Michelle Triola Marvin filed a breachcontract claim against actor Lee Marvin for half Of his $3.6 million earnings during the period of
11、 six and a half years when they lived together，but were not married.Ms. Marvin said the actor had expressed the intention of sharing his assets with her；therefore，she argued，at the dissolution Of their relationship she deserved a property settlement comparable to that due a wife.In a 1976 landmark c
12、ase，the California Supreme Court overruled 2 lower courts，deciding that Ms. Marvin had the right to sue for payment of such “palimony。Palimony，the term for sharing money after an unmarried couple have split， survives the Lee Marvin caseNot since the Lee MarvinPalimonyease has a Hollywood courtroom d
13、rama attracted such attention. 如前所述，这种尚未结婚也不打算结婚而又经常公然一起同居的男女在美国大有人在。这种人的存在给英语造成了一定的困难：既不能称之为fiance e，又不能名之以“boygirl friend！终究如何称呼是好呢？有说“live-in boygirl friend的，有说chamber-mate的，大概都不贴切。这确实是下例中提出来的“语言难题linguist problem。美国人口调查局总给了这种人一个比较确切的名称“合用住所的异性伙伴。请看：How to handle the linguistic problem of what to
14、 call the person with whom ones daughter lives？The Census Bureau call themPartners of the Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quartersor PossLQs.TiA woman from Dallas took her PossLQ home for the weekend recently to meet her parents.从最后一例来看，PossLQs们在父母面前居然如此大模大样，社会风气可见一斑。却说源于公文的PossLQ在日常语言中使用终究不大方便。因此有些父母就把
15、子女的PossLQ称做“fiend-inlaw以区别于son-inlaw和daughter-inlaw云。以上虽说了那么些有关婚姻的词语，对订婚“却只字不谈，未免失责。为此，特补充如下。订婚“通常叫做engagement，那是一般用语。在汉语法学术浯中，那么除“订婚之外，多作“婚约如“解除婚约中的“婚约。汉语中虽有“解除婚约，却未闻有说“解除订婚的。订婚“也好，婚约“也好，既有订“、有约“，顾名思义，所以是一种契约是婚姻的预定“，即男女双方预先商定今后结婚。如众所周知，英语是 marriage.但千万不要把“婚约译成“contract of marriage、marriage contract“或marital contract那都是“结婚！那么，婚约“的英语是什么呢？contract to marry“是也。不信，请比较以下三个实例例1为我国新婚姻法的第二章结婚“的英译；例2、3均见于You and the Law一书：1.ChapterMarriage ContractChinas Marriage Law，Peking Review2. The fact that none of these considerations may be mentioned at the time Of marriag