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英语植物词汇的文化含义和修辞功能
在汉语语境中，当我们读到古典小说中“樱桃小口，杏眼桃腮，腰若杨柳，指如削葱”
这样的描述时，脑海中马上会映出一位古典美人的形象，这当中樱桃、杏、桃、杨柳、葱这
些植物词强大的修辞功能功不可没。同样，在英语中，植物词汇也被赋予修辞功能，如用
yellow tulip(黄郁金香)象征没有指望的爱情，用zinnia(百日草)喻指离别的朋友，用sour
grapes喻指因得不到而故意贬低的事物，用under the rose(玫瑰丛下)指代私下的行为或
偷偷摸摸的勾当等。下面列举一些常见的具有文化含义和修辞功能的植物词。
(1)apple(苹果)，喻指受宠爱者。如：He has three sons but his daughter is the
apple of his eye.他有三个儿子,但女儿才是他的掌上明珠。另外， upset the apple- cart
直译为“打翻苹果车”,常用来指混乱的状况。如: It was a peaceful meeting until the
treasure was accused of stealing the club’s funds; that really upset the apple-cart
在财务主管被指控盗窃俱乐部的基金以前，会议一直开得很平静;这一指控使会议可真的乱
了套。in apple-pie order指整整齐齐,井井有条。如:The house was in apple-pie order
even though the guests had only left an hour ago.即使客人才走了一个钟头,屋里也是
整整齐齐的。
(2)banana(香蕉)，喻指喜剧演员。如:He is a second banana; the top banana is
his father.他只是个二流喜剧演员,他老爸才是一流演员。另外, banana oil指溜须拍马,
花言巧语。如:Cutout the banana oil flattery will get you nowhere.别再花言巧语了,
溜须拍马之词于事无补。
(3)bean (蚕豆)，喻指伙计，朋友。如:Have a look at this, old bean!看看这个吧，
老伙计!另外，not have a bean指身无分文，囊中空空。如: I’d like to make a contribution
but I haven’t a bean on me at the moment我很想捐款,但目下身无分文。spill the beans
指泄露机密。如:Her present to her husband was supposed to be a secre，t but their
little boy spilled the beans to him.她送给丈夫的礼物本来是应该保密的，可是他们的
孩子对他走漏了风声。
(4) cherry(樱桃),喻指童男、童女或新兵。如:She confessed she was cherry.她说
她童贞未失。Some soldiers who survived long enough earned the right to harass the
cherries.一些久经沙场的老兵获得骚扰新兵的权利。
(5)daisy(雏菊),喻指一流人物。如:He is a real daisy.他可是个一流的人物。另外,
fresh as a daisy指精神焕发。如:He woke up fresh as a daisy after his long sleep.
他睡了一觉醒来感到精神焕发。push up the daisiesunder the daisies指被埋葬或死亡。
如:He pushed up the daisies in his thirties.他三十几岁就去世了。
(6)flower(花),喻指精英人物。如:The country lost the flower of it’s youth in
the war.该国在这次战争中失去了青年中的精英。另外, in the flower of one’s
agestrength指年轻力壮之时。如:My grandfather was in the flower of his age at that
time.我祖父当时还很年轻。
(7)gooseberry(醋栗)，喻指陪媪(夹在想独处的情侣中间的人，电灯泡)。如:I’ll leave
you two young people alone; I’m sure you don’t want me to play gooseberry.我要
让你们两个年轻人单独在一起;我肯定你们不想要我硬夹在你们中间(不想让我充当电灯
泡)[2]。
(8)lemon(柠檬)，喻指丑八怪，讨厌的人。如:She was stuck with a lemon on the
dance floor.她在舞场被一个讨厌的家伙缠住了。另外,在黑人英语中, lemon还指肤色较
浅而迷人的黑人女子。
(9) lily(百合花)，喻指纯洁的人。如:She is a virgin, a most unspotted lily.

她是个纯洁的少女,像一朵纯洁无瑕的百合花。另外, gild the lily指过于奢侈地装饰,多
此一举,画蛇添足。如: It’s a beautiful painting; don’t gild the lily by putting
it in a gold frame.这幅画够美的了,用不着过于奢侈地装上金框架[2]。
(10)nut(坚果)，喻指兴致勃发的人，入迷的人。:He’s a Chaplin nut he has seen
all his films.他是个卓别林迷,卓氏的所有电影他都看过。另外, a hard nut to crack
指棘手的问题或工作。如:The problem is not insoluble, but it’s certainly a hard
nut to crack.这个问题并不是不能解决,但确实是个棘手的问题。
bego nuts指发疯。如:You’re going to give up your job? You must be nuts.你
打算放弃你的工作吗?想必你是疯了!
(11)orange(柑橘)，喻指被榨干血汗的人或已无利用价值的人。如:After working
twenty years for the company, Alex was discarded like a sucked orange.为公司干了
20年之后,亚利克斯像只被榨干的柑橘一样被公司抛弃了。
(12)peach(桃)，喻指漂亮之人或优秀出色之物。如:I must say his latest girlfriend
is a peach.我得说他最近交的女朋友是个漂亮女郎。
This hotel was really a peach.那时这家旅馆真的很棒。
(13)peanut(花生)，喻指矮子，小人物。如:He shows a lot of strength for such
a peanut对于这么矮小的人来说,他已经充分显示了力量。He was a peanut politician.
他是个微不足道的政客。
(14)potato(土豆)，喻指不受欢迎的人或美元。如:They stuck their potatoes in every
office.他们把自己的人安插进每一个办公室。You can get this wonderful coat for five
hundred potatoes.花五百美元,你就可以得到这件漂亮的大衣。
(15)pumpkins(南瓜)，喻指重要人物。如:A man of learning is supposed to be some
pump- kins.学问高深之人常被看做重要人物。另外, a pumpkin head指傻瓜,笨蛋。如:He
is a man with a pumpkin head.他这人是个傻瓜。
(16)reed(芦苇)，喻指不可靠的人。如:I asked him to speak at the meeting, but
he did not even attend; what a broken reed!我请他在会上发言,可他甚至连会都没有参
加,这人太靠不住了。
(17)rose(玫瑰)，喻指美人。如:She is a rose of loveliness.她是位令人喜欢的美
女。另外, (a bed of) roses指令人高兴的事情或安逸的生活; gather life’s roses指
追求欢乐; see things through rose-colored spectacles指对事物抱乐观的看法。如:It
began to look as if things might be roses, roses all the way.事情开始显得从头到
尾将可能非常顺利。Don’t see things through rose-colored spectacles; we still have
a long way to go.不要太乐观了,我们还任重道远。
(18)seed(种子)，喻指种子选手。如:He was the No. 1 seed in the table tennis
champion ship.他是这届乒乓球锦标赛的头号种子选手。另外, seed(不可数名词)指子孙后
代。如:The Jews are the seed of Abraham.犹太人是亚伯拉罕的子孙。
(19)sprouts(新芽)，喻指年轻人。如:It was now the turn of these young sprouts
to get their ears beaten back.现在轮到这些年轻人受点儿教训了。
(20)thorn(刺)，喻指棘手的人物，烦恼的根源。如:The boy has been a thorn in every
teacher’s side since he entered the school.那男孩自入校以来使每个老师大伤脑筋。
(21)vegetable(蔬菜)，喻指植物人或智能、感官有障碍之人。如:If he had survived
the head injuries he got in the crash, he would have been a vegetable for the rest
of his life.他在这次车祸中头部受伤,要是还能活下来,也将像植物人一样度过余生。He
was fine the first couple of marriage, but then he turned into a vegetable.结婚

头两年他身体还不错,以后就不能自理了。
(22)wallflower(桂竹香)，喻指舞会上无人邀请共舞的女人。如:There were far more
girls than boys at the dance so there were obviously several wallflowers.舞会上
女孩人数大大超过男孩，因此几个女孩显然只好坐着观看。除此之外，卷心菜(cabbage )
可喻指“少女”，胡萝卜(carrots )可喻指“红发人”，蘑菇(mushroom )可喻指“暴发户”,
芥子(mustard)可喻指“热情有利之人”,洋葱(onion)可喻指“讨厌之人”，番茄( tomato)
可喻指“美女”，野草(weed )可喻指“个子瘦高之人”，等等。
由此可见，英语植物词汇最大的特点在于其比喻的修辞功能：有以其外形特征进行比喻
的,有以其本身性质进行比喻的，更有以其在英美文化中的特殊寓意进行比喻的。这些词汇
无论在日常交谈还是在文学作品中，都起到了言简意赅、雅俗共赏和令人回味的修辞效果。
其实，对于英语植物词汇的喻义，中国人也在活学活用，典型一例就是将海外的华人后代称
为“香蕉人”(banana)，因为香蕉皮黄内白,恰如黄皮肤依然而内心思维早已西化的华人后
裔，虽稍带贬损，却也十分贴切。

英语植物词汇的文化含义和修辞功能
在汉语语境中，当我们读到古典小说中“ 樱桃小口，杏眼桃腮，腰若杨柳，指如削葱”
这样的描述时，脑海中马上会映出一位古典美人的形象，这当中樱桃、杏、桃、杨柳、葱这
些植物词强大的修辞功能功不可没。同样，在英语中，植物词汇也被赋予修辞功能，如用
yellow tulip(黄郁金香)象征没有指望的爱情，用zinnia(百日草)喻指离别的朋友，用sour
grapes喻指因得不到而故意贬低的事物，用under the rose(玫瑰丛下)指代私下的行为或
偷偷摸摸的勾当等。下面列举一些常见的具有文化含义和修辞功能的植物词。
(1)apple(苹果)，喻指受宠爱者。如：He has three sons but his daughter is the
apple of his eye.他有三个儿子,但女儿才是他的掌上明珠。另外， upset the apple- cart
直译为“打翻苹果车”,常用来指混乱的状况。如: It was a peaceful meeting until the
treasure was accused of stealing the club’s funds; that really upset the apple-cart
在财务主管被指控盗窃俱乐部的基金以前，会议一直开得很平静;这一指控使会议可真的乱
了套。in apple-pie order指整整齐齐,井井有条。如:The house was in apple-pie order
even though the guests had only left an hour ago.即使客人才走了一个钟头,屋里也是
整整齐齐的。
(2)banana(香蕉)，喻指喜剧演员。如:He is a second banana; the top banana is
his father.他只是个二流喜剧演员,他老爸才是一流演员。另外, banana oil指溜须拍马,
花言巧语。如:Cutout the banana oil flattery will get you nowhere.别再花言巧语了,
溜须拍马之词于事无补。
(3)bean (蚕豆)，喻指伙计，朋友。如:Have a look at this, old bean!看看这个吧，
老伙计!另外，not have a bean指身无分文，囊中空空。如: I’d like to make a contribution
but I haven’t a bean on me at the moment我很想捐款,但目下身无分文。spill the beans
指泄露机密。如:Her present to her husband was supposed to be a secre，t but their
little boy spilled the beans to him.她送给丈夫的礼物本来是应该保密的，可是他们的
孩子对他走漏了风声。
(4) cherry(樱桃),喻指童男、童女或新兵。如:She confessed she was cherry.她说
她童贞未失。Some soldiers who survived long enough earned the right to harass the
cherries.一些久经沙场的老兵获得骚扰新兵的权利。
(5)daisy(雏菊),喻指一流人物。如:He is a real daisy.他可是个一流的人物。另外,
fresh as a daisy指精神焕发。如:He woke up fresh as a daisy after his long sleep.
他睡了一觉醒来感到精神焕发。push up the daisiesunder the daisies指被埋葬或死亡。
如:He pushed up the daisies in his thirties.他三十几岁就去世了。
(6)flower(花),喻指精英人物。如:The country lost the flower of it’s youth in
the war.该国在这次战争中失去了青年中的精英。另外, in the flower of one’s
agestrength指年轻力壮之时。如:My grandfather was in the flower of his age at that
time.我祖父当时还很年轻。
(7)gooseberry(醋栗)，喻指陪媪(夹在想独处的情侣中间的人，电灯泡)。如:I’ll leave
you two young people alone; I’m sure you don’t want me to play gooseberry.我要
让你们两个年轻人单独在一起;我肯定你们不想要我硬夹在你们中间(不想让我充当电灯
泡)[2]。
(8)lemon(柠檬)，喻指丑八怪，讨厌的人。如:She was stuck with a lemon on the
dance floor.她在舞场被一个讨厌的家伙缠住了。另外,在黑人英语中, lemon还指肤色较
浅而迷人的黑人女子。
(9) lily(百合花)，喻指纯洁的人。如:She is a virgin, a most unspotted lily.