PROVERBSINLATINAMERICANTALK–拉美人谈话中的谚语(中英).doc

PROVERBS IN LATIN AMERICAN TALK Proverbs are the popular sayings that brighten so much Latin American talk, the boiled-down wisdom that you are as apt to hear from professors as from peasants, from beggars as from elegantes. Brief and colorful, they more often than not carry a sting. When a neighbors dismally unattractive daughter announce her engagement, Imelda remarked, You know what they say, Senora: Theres no pot .so ugly it cant find a lid. And when her son-in-law blustered about how he was going to get even with the boss who had docked his pay, Imelda fixed him with a cold eye and said, Little fish does not eat big fish. One afternoon I heard Imelda and her daughter arguing in the kitchen. Her daughter had quarrelled with her husbands parents, and Imelda was insisting that she apologize to them. Her daughter objected. But, Mama, I just cant swallow them, not even with honey. They talk so big until we need something; then theyre too poor. So today when they wouldnt even tend enough to pay for a new bed, all I did was say something that Ive heard you say a hundred times: If so grand, why so poor? If so poor, why so grand? Impertinent! snorted Imelda. Have I not also taught you, What the tongue says, the neck pays for? I will not have it said that I could never teach my daughter proper respect for her elders. And before you go to beg their pardon, change those trousers for a dress. You know how your mother-in-law feels about pants on a woman. She always says, What was hatched a hen must not try to be a rooster! Her daughter made one more try. But Mama, you often say, If the saint is annoyed, dont pray to him until he gets over it. Cant I leave it for tomorrow? No, no and no! Remember: If the dose is nasty, swallow it fast. You know, my child, you did wrong. But, A gift is the key to open the door closed against you. I have a cake in the oven that l was making for the Senoras dinner, I will explain to the Senora; Now, dear, hurry home and make yourself p