Abstract and Key Words

Abstract: Idioms are indispensible part of English language. Although fixedness is one of their most important features, variation of English idioms is widely used in suitable situations. Since much past work is only concerned with different types of variations, their rhetorical effects and translations are relatively neglected. Therefore, more attention should be paid to these subjects.
       This thesis sets out to explore the rhetoric effects and translation of English idiom variations. After a brief introduction about idiom and its variation, two types of variation are classified: normal variation and nonce variation which are provided with examples from authentic language materials. Then the communicative rhetoric effects and aesthetical rhetoric effects are the two main types of English idiom variations. As for the aesthetical rhetoric effects three sub-types are discussed: humor, parody, Irony. Using these rhetoric effects create their own innovative expressions, which catch the readers’ attention and appeal to their interests. Furthermore, they make the idioms more precisely applicable to a particular situation. Next, there are two main concrete translation skills between English and Chinese, which are cited as follows: literal translation, free translation. Through commanding these methods, language learners will get a deep understanding about the English idiom variations and use them practically.

Key words: English idiom; Idiom variations; Rhetoric effects; Variations translation


摘要：习语是英语语言的一部分，尽管结构固定是其重要特征，但在实际语言应用中习语变体非常广泛。由于过去习语变体的研究大多停留在变体类型上，相对忽视了它的修辞效果和翻译的研究。因此本文将着重对这两方面的研究。简单介绍了习语及其变体之后，通过大量真实语料中的例子又介绍了两大习语变体分类：常规变体和临时变体。紧接着探讨了习语变体的两大修辞效果：交际修辞效果和美学修辞效果。在美学修辞效果下，通过从幽默，仿拟，讽刺三种表达方式，吸引读者注意并通过使用这种创新性的表达使习语更加贴合语境。之后通过对英汉翻译中直译和意译两大技巧的掌握，能够正确理解习语，提高实际运用的能力。

关键词： 英语习语；习语变体；修辞效果；变体翻译

1. Introduction
1.1 Idioms and idiom variations
    Idioms are conventionalized multiword expressions which are often but not always non-literal.They constitute an indispensible part of our language and have unique characteristics which reflect cultural distinctions. As the essence of the language, they have aroused the curiosity of linguists. Concerning the importance of idioms, Chafe insists that “their ubiquity makes them anything but a marginal phenomenon, and surely a linguistic theory has an obligation to explain them in a natural way.”In other word, Idioms’ important status in language cannot be doubted. And if the language learner wants to achieve native-like fluency, a good command of idioms is of special necessity.