巧识双关避歧义，急转脑筋解字谜  


四川省大竹中学 钟道斌
  英文双关语pun也叫paronomasia，意即 “play on words”或 “wordplay”，相当于汉语中的文字游戏，是一种常用的修辞手法。英语中有不少语汇具有多义或多音特征，如果在交际中恰到好处地利用一词多音或多义现象，语含双关，诙谐调侃，使对话妙趣横生，意味深长，会让人在一笑之后感受机智和幽默。对我们学习英语的中国人来说，要掌握地道的英语，不但要了解英语国家文化及风土人情，还要学会理解他们生活交际中的幽默。而掌握并学会使用一些常用的双关语却是培养幽默感的一条重要途径。同时，在交际中要注意随时随地用心揣摩对方，否则就可能误入歧义，闹出啼笑皆非的笑话。有一个著名的幽默故事，说的是一个旅客打电话到机场售票处问讯有关航班的事情：
passenger:  hello! can you tell me how long it takes to get to los angeles from new york?
assistant:   just a minute……
passenger:  thank you very much
  旅客满以为得到了答案，还没等对方说完就连声称谢挂断电话，而我们知道他并没有得到真正的答案。众所周知，口语中 “just a minute” 和 “just a moment ”一样，相当于 “will you please wait a minute?”不难看出，售票员当时很忙，随口说“just a minute”本意是叫旅客稍等片刻，或许她要去查询一下再回答，可这名旅客却反常规理解为“only a minute”了。此属于言者无意双关，听者偏走歧义。稍有常识的人就该知道，再快的飞机也不可能一分钟从纽约飞到洛杉矶啊！这个笑话或许是有意编造，有点夸张，但的确能让人会心一笑。人们在日常交际和社会活动的诸多层面广泛使用双关语，尤其是在waiters 和customers之间有不少这方面的经典对白。现在很多广告商也特别注重在商品广告词中运用双关语，既要引起人们注意，又要让人产生联想，从而达到含蓄幽默，新颖别致的广告宣传效果。双关语可以分为语音双关，语义双关，语法双关，成语及俚语双关。下面分类介绍有关这方面的知识。
  一. 语音双关 语音双关是用拼写相似，发音相同或相近的词构成的。
1. customer: what's this?
  waiter: it's bean soup.
  customer: i don't want to know what it's been; i want to know what it is now.
2. on sunday they pray（祷告）for you and on monday they prey（掠夺 ）on you.
很多广告词里含有语音双关，因为此类双关具有风趣、幽默、俏皮、滑稽的语言风格，能增强广告的说服力和感染力，从而给消费者留下深刻的印象。请看下面这则助听器广告：
trust us. over 5000 ears of experience.
相信我们吧。历经5000多只耳朵的检验。
这则广告说明了该产品已经接受了众多消费者的检验，但广告词里ears和years谐音，暗示了该产品还有悠久的历史。
再看一则海滨浴场的广告：
more sun and air for your son and heir.
这里充足的阳光和清新的空气等待着您的子孙后代的到来
本广告制作者巧妙地运用了sun-son, air-heir这两对谐音字，使广告语言和谐悦耳，读来朗朗上口，风趣幽默。
  二. 语义双关 利用词语或句子的多义性在特定环境下形成的双关。交际中利用词或语汇的多义现象，反常规理解，常令对方措手不及，不知如何应对。
customers和waiters常用语义双关互相揶揄，刁难或奚落对方。
1. customer: do you serve crabs here?
  waiter: sure, sit down. we serve anybody.
serve既有“提供...的服务，上菜”之意，也有“为...服务，招待”的意思。顾客本来是问有没有螃蟹这道菜，可侍者利用serve之双关意，作了一个幽默回答.
2. customer：have you got chicken's legs?
  waiter:  no, sir. i always walk this way.
和上一个对话一样，顾客本是想问有没有鸡腿卖，可侍者似乎很敏感,害怕顾客奚落自己走路的样子像鸡那样, 不想在语言方面吃亏于是就巧用双关作了一个保护自己不受伤害的回答。
3. customer: what's wrong with these eggs?
  waiter:   don't ask me, sir. i only laid the table.
  侍者言下之意 “ i don’t lay eggs”，鸡蛋有问题去找下蛋的母鸡吧。lay含双关“下蛋，摆放”
4. waiter: how did you find the fish, madam?
customer: quite by accident. i moved a few peas and there it was.
交际中 how did you find…? 是问对方对某事或人的评价，而此处顾客却装糊涂，反常规理解为对方在问自己“怎么发现鱼肉的”，似乎对菜肴有意见，鱼肉份量太少不易被看见。
5.customer: what's that fly doing in my soup?
  waiter:   swimming, i think.
6. customer: waiter. will the pancakes be long?
waiter:  no, sir. round.
long含双关“长时，长形”
7. a: you missed school yesterday, didn't you?
b: no, not a bit.
miss 双关意为“错过，思念”
语义双关与谐音双关有异曲同工之妙，在广告中运用得也非常广泛：
1. a deal with us means a good deal to you
和我们做买卖您会获利多多。
这句广告词的妙处在于很好地利用了deal的双关含义，a good deal 可解为“一笔好买卖”或“许多”，在这里构成一个绝妙的双关。
2. spoil yourself and not your figure.
    不增体重，尽情吃吧。
这是一家经营冰淇淋的广告标题，这种冰淇淋是专为节食者生产的。spoil oneself意为“尽兴”；而spoil one’s figure则意为“破坏了体形”。这则广告通过一语双关，使减肥者在轻松幽默的语气中很自然地接受该广告从而产生购买欲望。
3. i’m more satisfied. 摩尔香烟，我更满意
   ask for more.  再来一支，还吸摩尔
这是摩尔香烟在广告语中树立的两个双关典范。广告巧妙地使用more一词的双重意义：本意“更加，更多”；大写之后，则变成了品牌名称。这两则广告使人们轻松记住了商品的品牌，同时又给人留下了一个好印象。
  三 语法双关 指由于语法方面的问题产生的双关，如省略结构、某词或词组具有两种以上语法功能等。
可口可乐公司有则广告词如是说：
coke refreshes you like no other can.
没有别的饮料能像可口可乐那样令您神清气爽。
口语中把coca cola称作coke,  can既可理解为名词“罐，听”，又可看成是情态动词“能”，全句可理解为coke refreshes you like no other (can, tin) can (refresh you)。 这则广告诙谐机智，使商品连同这一广告词一同深深印在读者记忆里。
  四. 成语及俚语双关  这类双关常引用一些人们耳熟能详的成语，谚语或俚语，以人们原有的社会、文化知识为基础，以鲜明、独特的语言形式形成。
1. a mars a day keeps you work, rest and play.  
  一天一块mars牌巧克力，工作、休闲、娱乐都顺利。
  这是为一家巧克力厂家打的广告，这则广告让人们联想起两条非常熟悉的成语：an apple a day keeps the doctors away和all work and no play makes jack a dull boy，让人们从家喻户晓的成语中获得一个新的信息：mars牌巧克力，人人都需要。
2 you’ll go nuts for the nuts you get in nux.
  译文：nux坚果让你爱不释口。
  to go nuts是“去买坚果”，但它同时还是一句成语，意为“疯狂、发疯”。此处运用双关语告诉人们该坚果的吸引力无法抗拒。
  五 双关语和字谜
英语中很多字谜游戏的设计也多含双关，如果按常规去理解和思考，往往会百思不得其解。猜这类字谜的时候一定要注意思维角度，留意问题中的双关语，充分利用求异思维，联想词与词，字母与词之间的关系，结合单词的音、形、义以及字母的顺序、位置等多方面去思考。谜语总是由人精心设计的，因此有些谜底往往也是一个耐人寻味的双关语。仔细品味以下对白，感受语言文字的魅力。
1 a: what is the longest sentence in the world?
b：prison for life.
sentence: 句子，判决
2. a: what part of a clock is always old?
b: the second hand.(秒针，二手货)
3. a: how do we know the ocean is friendly?
b: it waves.(起波浪，挥手致意)
4. a: how many feet are there in a yard?
b: it depends on how many people stand in the yard.
yard: 码，院子    feet: 英尺，脚（复数）
5. a: which is the most shocking (powerful) city?
  b: electricity.
6. a: what is the worst kind of fish?
  b: selfish.
7. a: who is standing in the middle of china?
  b: i.
8. a: what occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a hundred years?
  b: the letter “m”.
9. a: what month do soldiers hate?
  b: march.（三月，行军）
10. a: which travels faster, heat or cold?
   b: heat, because it’s easy to catch cold.（感冒）
考考你的智慧
结合上面所讲，利用你的智慧及双关语方面知识，思考并回答下面这些问题：
1. how can you change a boy into a girl?
2. why is the letter “t” like an island?
3. why is the letter “t” so powerful?
4. what is the longest word in english?
5. what word starts with “t”, ends with “t”, and is filled with “t”?
6. what word starts with “e”, ends with “e”, but only has one letter?
7. what do people do in clock factories?
8. who earns a living by driving his customers away?
9. what two things can't you have for breakfast?
10. there was an airplane crash, every single person died, but two people survived. how is this possible?
11. if you have it, you want to share it, but if you share it, you don't have it. what is it?
12. what is the beginning of eternity（永恒）, the end of time and space; the beginning of every end and the end of every place?
13. what is that you ought to keep once you give it to someone else?
14. what part of london is in france?
15. what is that which has a mouth , but never speaks, and a bed, but never sleeps in it?
16. if all the letters were invited to a tea party, what letters would be late?
17. if you drop a white hat into the red sea, what does it become?
18. why is an empty purse always the same?
19. what kind of dog doesn’t bite or bark?
20. what book has the most stirring（搅拌的，动人的）chapters(章节)?
21. what is the smallest room in the world?
22. what kind of water should people drink in order to keep healthy?
23. why should the library be the highest building in the world?
24. what are the strongest days?
25. why is the letter “r” like christmas?
26. at what time of day was adam born?
27. what day of the week is the best for having the fried foods?
28. what keys won’t open doors?
29. when is a blue book not a blue book?
30. why do birds fly south for winter?
31. what is there between sea and sky?
32. what goes up but never comes down?
33. why is u the happiest letter?
34. what five-letter word has only one left once you take two away?
35. my uncle hasn’t slept for several days, but he isn’t tired at all, why?
36. when can you run as fast as a horse?
37. why did the man put wheels on his rocking chair?
38. if you cut off the head of a fox, it won't die and will become a big animal. what is the big animal?　
39. what grows when it eats, but dies when it drinks?
40. what goes up and down without moving ?


key
1. add the letter “y” to the end of “lad”(lad-lady).
2. because it is in the middle of “water”.
3. because it can make a star start.
4. smiles, because there is a mile between the two s’s.
5. teapot.
6. envelope.
7. they make faces every day.
8. a taxi-driver.
9. lunch and supper.
10. the people who survived were married ones, not single ones.
11. a secret.
12. the letter “e”.
13. your promise.
14. the letter “n”.
15. a river.
16. the letters u,v,w,x ,y and z. they all come after t （它们都在t之后；它们都为tea而来）
17. a wet hat.
18. because there is no change in it. （change:零钱，变化）
19. hot dog.
20. a cook book.
21. mushroom. 蘑菇
22. well water. （well:井，健康的）
23. because it has the most stories.（story:故事，楼）
24. saturday &sunday, because all the other days are week（weak）days .
25. because it comes at the end of december. （r这个字母正好排在december的末尾。除此以外，答案还有一个意思，christmas在the end of december的时候到来, 因此构成了一句双关。)
26. just before eve. ( eve 是一语双关，一是解“晚间”， 一是解“夏娃”。)
27. friday (同fried谐音)
28. monkey, donkey, turkey
29. when it is read (这里read属于过去分词，与red同音)
30. it is too far to walk
31. and
32. your age
33. because it is in the middle of fun
34. stone
35. because he sleeps at night.
36. when i am riding on horseback.
37. because he wanted to rock and roll. （to rock and roll是跳摇滚舞。但在这儿，摇rock 的是rocking chair，滚roll的是 wheels，构成双关）
38. ox
39. a fire.
40. stair

楼上的联想力不错，5000个月也有400多年了。