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【摘要】美国人说话时，总会很自然地说出一些固定习语——我们中国人称之为“成语”。大多数英语学习者听到这些话都是一头雾水；要么就不懂装懂，傻乎乎地跟着人家笑。能够用成语与外国人交流，绝对是一大挑战！因为它具有挑战性。无疑，学会熟练使用成语总是会令人感到震惊并留下深刻的印象。先从英语习语的特点和分类入手，探讨英语习语翻译的方法主要有直译法、套译法、意译法还有加注法，还探讨了运用这些翻译方法时的几个注意点。在此基础上，我们通过搜集资料去发现现存的英语习语翻译的问题有哪些，并对其进行比较研究提出相应的对策。一方面，读者可以对英语习语的翻译有进一步的认识与方法研究；另一方面，读者在生活中与美国朋友聊天时或看电影时都能够很好的运用到这些习语。
【关键词】美式习语语境实用性翻译策略I Introduction
Idiom is the essence of a language and the crystallization of human wisdom.Skilled，skillful，freely in daily communication in the use of idiom will be for you to win a lot of envy and admiration eyes. These native idioms thoroughly come into blood. Let your English icing on the cake， transcendental and free from vulgarity.
II Body
1.The characteristics of English idioms
The translation of English idioms refers the essence of language extracted by the people in the long term social practice. The essence of English idioms is generally refined in popular language.The characteristics of the translation of English idioms are short，concise and the rich ethnic cultural characteristics. In its broad sense，English idioms include idioms、proverbs、motto、proverbs、allusion、idioms and proverbs. English idioms have the form and characteristic of fixed， integrity，non-grammar，history，culture，ideology and art.Idioms as a special form of language，compared with the general language form，there are different characteristics.
（1）Nationality of idioms.Idioms are closely linked with geographical environment、historical background、economic life、customs、religious beliefs、psychological status、values and so on.It can clearly reflect a nation’s cultural characteristics. With a people of the earth may live in the world， some experience and consciousness are similar.
One of the typical manifestations of the nationality of idioms is that the same or similar figurative meaning but different objects of metaphors.
Another one of the typical manifestations of the nationality of idioms is that the same metaphorical image but different metaphorical meaning or not identical.
（2）Folk character of idioms. Most of the idioms of every language in this world come from folk.England is an island surrounded by sea，so most of idioms are related to sailing and fishing.Inland mountainous area people lived by hunting all their lives，many idioms，the extension of idioms included， are associated with them.As the housewife said：“A stitch in time saves nine.（一針及时省九针。）”
（3）The metaphor of idioms are important means of rhetoric in the language.The metaphor is the main means of rhetoric. In rhetoric，metaphor can be classified as simile、metaphor、metonymy and synecdoche. 2.The nowadays existing questions of the translation of English idioms
Idioms is with the characteristics of incisive、vivid、beautiful、image、popular、implied meaning profundity in the language.The application of idioms has special and importance place，the English idioms are difficult to understand and they don’t know how to translate the idioms when Chinese students are learning English. the main reason lies in not enough to master the characteristics of English idioms.English idioms， with rich and colorful，has a long history.Master them flexibly and apply them to the language，it will make the language lively and image.In view of this， if we want to do good translation of idioms，the first thing is to grasp the features of English idioms，we should avoid rote or take the words too literally.The translation problems of English idioms are mainly the following three points：
（1）The misuse of literal translation
①John likes to pat himself on the back.约翰喜欢捶自己的背。（正确译法：约翰喜欢自吹）
②It happened that I had to answer the call of nature.碰巧我现在得对自然的召唤做出答复（正确译法：碰巧这时我想解手）
③He kissed the hare’s foot.他吻了兔子的脚。（正确译法：他迟到了。）
（2）Making misunderstanding from the literal or figurative meaning to associate
①It is a good horse that never stumbles.好马也有失蹄时。（不宜译成“良马不失蹄”）
②It is a good man that never stumbles， and a good wife that never grumbles.好丈夫也有过失，好妻子也会唠叨。（不宜译成“从不失足的丈夫是好丈夫，从不唠叨的妻子是好妻子”）
③It is an ill bird that fouls its own nest.再坏的鸟也不至于弄脏自己的窝。（不宜译成“弄脏自己的窝的是坏鸟”）
④Time and tide wait for no man.时光如潮水，不等任何人（不宜译成“时光和潮水不等人”）。
（3）To avoid the use of Chinese idioms of national characteristics when borrowing an equivalence
①Beauty lies in lover’s eyes.情人眼里出美人。（不宜译成“情人眼里出西施”）
②Many heads are better than one.一人不及众人计。（不宜译成“三个臭皮匠，顶个诸葛亮”）
③Never offer to teach fish to swim.不要教鱼儿游泳。（不宜译成“不要班门弄斧”）
（4）Choose one kind of translation according to the context
①ake care of the pence， and the pounds will take care of themselves.积少自然成多。/小事谨慎，大事自成。
②One swallow does not make a summer.一燕不成夏。/轻率推论必成大错。/一关渡过并非万事大吉。
③Still water runs deep.静水流深。/外表淡漠而内心深情。/沉默着深谋。
3.The strategy of the translation of English idioms
The four translation methods of English idioms： literal translation、borrowing an equivalence、paraphrase、annotation.
（1）直譯法（literal translation）
The literal translation， as the name suggests， is not in violation of the language specification and under the condition of not causing the wrong associations. The methods of retaining the metaphor、image、national and local color. saying simply is to retain the original cultural image， or according to the literal. Although the Chinese readers might not be familiar with some English idiom metaphor and image.but it has a strong political sense in a certain article，Or it has the obvious western nations，places，history and other colors，this kind of idiom can be translated with the literal translation. for example：the idioms“crocodile tears”can be literally translated into“鳄鱼的眼泪”，Chinese retained the imagery of the crocodile tears，Chinese had no such expression method.，“crocodile tears”is not an image in Chinese culture. Reading this idioms， chinese also won’t consider it has something to do with hypocrisy，but in fact，Chinese accept the translation.This method not only retains the colloquial local， image and dialect， also can keep the original source language expression，often also can enrich the target language and culture. for example： On the strategy of the translation of the English idioms， the premise is to comply with the different standard of translation， from Yan Fu’s“信、达、雅”，Fu Lei’s“重神似不重形似”，to Mr. Zhang Peiji’s“忠实通顺”，and then to Zhai Qiubai’s“等同概念”.We can see，these proposition are mutual influence，mutual influence，mutual complement，perfect continuously，although the emphasis is different. But the translation must be faithful to accurately express the meaning of original text.express faithfully the original text from the three aspects of literal meaning and image meaning and implied meaning. But not every idiom has three meanings， some may only have literal meaning but no image meaning. some may have both literal meaning and image meaning but no implied meaning. This requires us to understand the literal meaning of the idiom， but also to understand the image meaning or implied meaning of the idioms in the sentence so that it helps us translate better. The two countries people have a lot in common， which is the basis of the translation. when the two countries use the same kind of animal to express the same or similar image， we just use literal translation，For example，with a“pig” to indicate that“obesity”，with a“ship” to indicate that“meek”.For example，“as fat as pig”can be translated into“跟猪一样肥”。“as gentle as a lamb”can be translated into“跟羊一样温顺”。“dark horse”refers the not renowned candidates win exceeding one’s expectation，in Chinese，we call it“a dark horse”.The literal translation method can accurately express the original cultural connotation and narrow the gap between the two languages， but if you use the wrong words，it can lead to misunderstanding and cause confusion. For example：“white elephant”，it can’t simply translated into“白象”，because it does not have any culture connotation， we should consider another translation strategy.When there exist differences between English and Chinese，we can consider the paraphrase.such as“white elephant”should be translated into“waste，big but useless things”.paraphrase can accurately express the original meaning.As to borrowing an equivalence，under different cultural backgrounds，people use different animal image to express the same or similar figurative meanings，in this case， we can choose borrowing an equivalence. For example，“cattle”in Chinese is a kind of Strong and widespread use of animal，but also a good helper for a farmer field work. while in the UK，“馬”plays a similar role.but the use of borrowing an equivalence is very limited，only when the two countries understand the idioms very well can we freely use them.As to the problem of the idiom with a variety of translation，we should read the article carefully and understand the context of the passage and decide the most suitable one. For example： He who laughs last laughs best.谁笑到最后，谁笑的最好。（鼓励）/不要高兴得太早（警告）。
Dialogue one：
a：Hey！jerry，I’ve good news to tell you.
b：what？
a：I’ve got the first place in the mid-term exam.
b：How awesome！ he who laughs last laughs best.
Dialogue two：
a：Black， teacher said tomorrow will be a holiday. we can go to play football.
b：He who laughs last laughs best， it’s possibly going to rain tomorrow.
We can see from the two dialogue，the idioms of the first group indicates encouragement，the idioms of the second group indicates warning.
4.the attention points to use these translation methods
The four translation methods of idioms is mutual connected， to select the best method for the complete translation of idioms. In the use of above several translation method should pay attention to the following points：
（1）.Reserve race color
It has many idioms in English and Chinese which reflect the respective national and local color， we should pay attention to the preservation of this feature when translation， don’t put the Chinese national or local to the translation. For example：“Two heads are better than one”可译成“人多智慧大”，can’t be translated into：“三个臭皮匠，顶个诸葛亮”.Because Zhu Geling is a historical character in china，It will appear the phenomenon of foreigners speak Chinese if translate like such，It will form the contradictions with the original context，so It is good to use paraphrase.Another example：“Talk of the devil and he is sure to come.”is better translated into“說到魔鬼，魔鬼就到”than“说曹操，曹操就到”，because this is more in line with the western National color.
（2）Simplify the translation of idioms
Sometimes an idiom is used in the contracted form，so we must be familiar with the commonly used idioms and pay attention to its simplification，so we can simplify the translation of idioms。An example：“If you run after two hares， you will catch neither（脚踏两只船，定会落空）”can be abbreviated to“To run after two hares”，but meaning unchanged.
（3）Commendatory and derogatory idioms
Translation of idiom should be careful not to jump to conclusions，we should fully understand the idioms and translate，otherwise，it will mislead the reader. For example：“To move heaven and earth”，it is very easier for us to think over the Chinese idioms：“惊天动地”“翻天覆地”，but this idioms really mean：“全力以赴”“千方百计”.Besides， we should pay attention to the idioms weather the language color is commendatory or derogatory.For example：“It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good.”this idiom，although the word“ill”， but it is not used in a derogatory sense，it can be translated into“天下无绝对的坏事”or“有弊必有利”。
【关键词】美式习语语境实用性翻译策略I Introduction
Idiom is the essence of a language and the crystallization of human wisdom.Skilled，skillful，freely in daily communication in the use of idiom will be for you to win a lot of envy and admiration eyes. These native idioms thoroughly come into blood. Let your English icing on the cake， transcendental and free from vulgarity.
II Body
1.The characteristics of English idioms
The translation of English idioms refers the essence of language extracted by the people in the long term social practice. The essence of English idioms is generally refined in popular language.The characteristics of the translation of English idioms are short，concise and the rich ethnic cultural characteristics. In its broad sense，English idioms include idioms、proverbs、motto、proverbs、allusion、idioms and proverbs. English idioms have the form and characteristic of fixed， integrity，non-grammar，history，culture，ideology and art.Idioms as a special form of language，compared with the general language form，there are different characteristics.
（1）Nationality of idioms.Idioms are closely linked with geographical environment、historical background、economic life、customs、religious beliefs、psychological status、values and so on.It can clearly reflect a nation’s cultural characteristics. With a people of the earth may live in the world， some experience and consciousness are similar.
One of the typical manifestations of the nationality of idioms is that the same or similar figurative meaning but different objects of metaphors.
Another one of the typical manifestations of the nationality of idioms is that the same metaphorical image but different metaphorical meaning or not identical.
（2）Folk character of idioms. Most of the idioms of every language in this world come from folk.England is an island surrounded by sea，so most of idioms are related to sailing and fishing.Inland mountainous area people lived by hunting all their lives，many idioms，the extension of idioms included， are associated with them.As the housewife said：“A stitch in time saves nine.（一針及时省九针。）”
（3）The metaphor of idioms are important means of rhetoric in the language.The metaphor is the main means of rhetoric. In rhetoric，metaphor can be classified as simile、metaphor、metonymy and synecdoche. 2.The nowadays existing questions of the translation of English idioms
Idioms is with the characteristics of incisive、vivid、beautiful、image、popular、implied meaning profundity in the language.The application of idioms has special and importance place，the English idioms are difficult to understand and they don’t know how to translate the idioms when Chinese students are learning English. the main reason lies in not enough to master the characteristics of English idioms.English idioms， with rich and colorful，has a long history.Master them flexibly and apply them to the language，it will make the language lively and image.In view of this， if we want to do good translation of idioms，the first thing is to grasp the features of English idioms，we should avoid rote or take the words too literally.The translation problems of English idioms are mainly the following three points：
（1）The misuse of literal translation
①John likes to pat himself on the back.约翰喜欢捶自己的背。（正确译法：约翰喜欢自吹）
②It happened that I had to answer the call of nature.碰巧我现在得对自然的召唤做出答复（正确译法：碰巧这时我想解手）
③He kissed the hare’s foot.他吻了兔子的脚。（正确译法：他迟到了。）
（2）Making misunderstanding from the literal or figurative meaning to associate
①It is a good horse that never stumbles.好马也有失蹄时。（不宜译成“良马不失蹄”）
②It is a good man that never stumbles， and a good wife that never grumbles.好丈夫也有过失，好妻子也会唠叨。（不宜译成“从不失足的丈夫是好丈夫，从不唠叨的妻子是好妻子”）
③It is an ill bird that fouls its own nest.再坏的鸟也不至于弄脏自己的窝。（不宜译成“弄脏自己的窝的是坏鸟”）
④Time and tide wait for no man.时光如潮水，不等任何人（不宜译成“时光和潮水不等人”）。
（3）To avoid the use of Chinese idioms of national characteristics when borrowing an equivalence
①Beauty lies in lover’s eyes.情人眼里出美人。（不宜译成“情人眼里出西施”）
②Many heads are better than one.一人不及众人计。（不宜译成“三个臭皮匠，顶个诸葛亮”）
③Never offer to teach fish to swim.不要教鱼儿游泳。（不宜译成“不要班门弄斧”）
（4）Choose one kind of translation according to the context
①ake care of the pence， and the pounds will take care of themselves.积少自然成多。/小事谨慎，大事自成。
②One swallow does not make a summer.一燕不成夏。/轻率推论必成大错。/一关渡过并非万事大吉。
③Still water runs deep.静水流深。/外表淡漠而内心深情。/沉默着深谋。
3.The strategy of the translation of English idioms
The four translation methods of English idioms： literal translation、borrowing an equivalence、paraphrase、annotation.
（1）直譯法（literal translation）
The literal translation， as the name suggests， is not in violation of the language specification and under the condition of not causing the wrong associations. The methods of retaining the metaphor、image、national and local color. saying simply is to retain the original cultural image， or according to the literal. Although the Chinese readers might not be familiar with some English idiom metaphor and image.but it has a strong political sense in a certain article，Or it has the obvious western nations，places，history and other colors，this kind of idiom can be translated with the literal translation. for example：the idioms“crocodile tears”can be literally translated into“鳄鱼的眼泪”，Chinese retained the imagery of the crocodile tears，Chinese had no such expression method.，“crocodile tears”is not an image in Chinese culture. Reading this idioms， chinese also won’t consider it has something to do with hypocrisy，but in fact，Chinese accept the translation.This method not only retains the colloquial local， image and dialect， also can keep the original source language expression，often also can enrich the target language and culture. for example： On the strategy of the translation of the English idioms， the premise is to comply with the different standard of translation， from Yan Fu’s“信、达、雅”，Fu Lei’s“重神似不重形似”，to Mr. Zhang Peiji’s“忠实通顺”，and then to Zhai Qiubai’s“等同概念”.We can see，these proposition are mutual influence，mutual influence，mutual complement，perfect continuously，although the emphasis is different. But the translation must be faithful to accurately express the meaning of original text.express faithfully the original text from the three aspects of literal meaning and image meaning and implied meaning. But not every idiom has three meanings， some may only have literal meaning but no image meaning. some may have both literal meaning and image meaning but no implied meaning. This requires us to understand the literal meaning of the idiom， but also to understand the image meaning or implied meaning of the idioms in the sentence so that it helps us translate better. The two countries people have a lot in common， which is the basis of the translation. when the two countries use the same kind of animal to express the same or similar image， we just use literal translation，For example，with a“pig” to indicate that“obesity”，with a“ship” to indicate that“meek”.For example，“as fat as pig”can be translated into“跟猪一样肥”。“as gentle as a lamb”can be translated into“跟羊一样温顺”。“dark horse”refers the not renowned candidates win exceeding one’s expectation，in Chinese，we call it“a dark horse”.The literal translation method can accurately express the original cultural connotation and narrow the gap between the two languages， but if you use the wrong words，it can lead to misunderstanding and cause confusion. For example：“white elephant”，it can’t simply translated into“白象”，because it does not have any culture connotation， we should consider another translation strategy.When there exist differences between English and Chinese，we can consider the paraphrase.such as“white elephant”should be translated into“waste，big but useless things”.paraphrase can accurately express the original meaning.As to borrowing an equivalence，under different cultural backgrounds，people use different animal image to express the same or similar figurative meanings，in this case， we can choose borrowing an equivalence. For example，“cattle”in Chinese is a kind of Strong and widespread use of animal，but also a good helper for a farmer field work. while in the UK，“馬”plays a similar role.but the use of borrowing an equivalence is very limited，only when the two countries understand the idioms very well can we freely use them.As to the problem of the idiom with a variety of translation，we should read the article carefully and understand the context of the passage and decide the most suitable one. For example： He who laughs last laughs best.谁笑到最后，谁笑的最好。（鼓励）/不要高兴得太早（警告）。
Dialogue one：
a：Hey！jerry，I’ve good news to tell you.
b：what？
a：I’ve got the first place in the mid-term exam.
b：How awesome！ he who laughs last laughs best.
Dialogue two：
a：Black， teacher said tomorrow will be a holiday. we can go to play football.
b：He who laughs last laughs best， it’s possibly going to rain tomorrow.
We can see from the two dialogue，the idioms of the first group indicates encouragement，the idioms of the second group indicates warning.
4.the attention points to use these translation methods
The four translation methods of idioms is mutual connected， to select the best method for the complete translation of idioms. In the use of above several translation method should pay attention to the following points：
（1）.Reserve race color
It has many idioms in English and Chinese which reflect the respective national and local color， we should pay attention to the preservation of this feature when translation， don’t put the Chinese national or local to the translation. For example：“Two heads are better than one”可译成“人多智慧大”，can’t be translated into：“三个臭皮匠，顶个诸葛亮”.Because Zhu Geling is a historical character in china，It will appear the phenomenon of foreigners speak Chinese if translate like such，It will form the contradictions with the original context，so It is good to use paraphrase.Another example：“Talk of the devil and he is sure to come.”is better translated into“說到魔鬼，魔鬼就到”than“说曹操，曹操就到”，because this is more in line with the western National color.
（2）Simplify the translation of idioms
Sometimes an idiom is used in the contracted form，so we must be familiar with the commonly used idioms and pay attention to its simplification，so we can simplify the translation of idioms。An example：“If you run after two hares， you will catch neither（脚踏两只船，定会落空）”can be abbreviated to“To run after two hares”，but meaning unchanged.
（3）Commendatory and derogatory idioms
Translation of idiom should be careful not to jump to conclusions，we should fully understand the idioms and translate，otherwise，it will mislead the reader. For example：“To move heaven and earth”，it is very easier for us to think over the Chinese idioms：“惊天动地”“翻天覆地”，but this idioms really mean：“全力以赴”“千方百计”.Besides， we should pay attention to the idioms weather the language color is commendatory or derogatory.For example：“It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good.”this idiom，although the word“ill”， but it is not used in a derogatory sense，it can be translated into“天下无绝对的坏事”or“有弊必有利”。