1. Red
a. The cruelty of this woman to the children makes her neighbors see red.
这个妇女虐待孩子的行为使其邻居们非常气愤.
b. On the football match might, the young people painted the city red.
足球赛那天晚上,年轻人异常兴奋,喧哗不已.
c. When I mentioned it to her, she went red.
当我向她提及这事时,她满脸羞色.
2. Green
a. They are active in exercises to remain for ever green like the pine trees.
他们积极锻炼,永保青春,像松树一样青葱茁壮.
b. His grandpa is in a green old age.
他爷爷虽年高,但精神抖擞,老当益壮.
c. She was green with jealousy.
她妒忌如火.
d. He is still green at this job.
他是个新手,对此工作尚还生疏.
3. Yellow
a. She is too yellow to stand up and fight.
她太胆怯,不敢起来抵抗.
b. Don’t tell him such an important thing for he is a yellow belly.
不要把这么重要的事情告诉他,他是个可鄙的胆小鬼.
c. He is a yellow guy, don’t trust him.
他是个靠不住的人,不要相信他.
4. Black
a. The old woman is now in a black mood.
这个老妇人心情低沉.
b. When Mr.Smith heard his son hadn’t been to school. He looked black.
当史密斯先生听说他儿子没去过学校,面带怒容.
c. She has got many black looks for her speech criticizing the general manager of our company.
她因为说了批评公司总经理的话而面露悻色.
d. He gave me such a black look as I passed him.
我走过他时,他恶狠狠地瞪了我一眼.
e. That man is a black-hearted villain.
那个人是个黑心肠恶棍.
5. White
a. Her lips seem white with terror.
她看来吓得嘴唇发白.
b. He showed the white feather when danger came.
遇到危险时他显得十分胆怯.
c. Sometimes we are forced to tell white lies.
有时我们不得不撒善意的谎.
d. She went white with fright .
他因害怕而面无血色. 3.green
He is as green as grass. 他还是初出茅庐
Blue 表示忧郁
yellow 不表示什么
Green 表示陌生,新手
black 代表黑暗 邪恶
red 代表欢庆 快乐
white 代表幸福 光明
绿色green在英语中可以表示“嫉妒、眼红”,如:green with envy,green as jealousy,green-eyed monster都是指“十分嫉妒”的意思。
在英语中绿色还用来表示没有经验、缺乏训练、知识浅薄等意思,如:
The new typist is green at her job.刚来的打字员是个生手。
红色则意味着流血、危险或暴力。
在英语中,yellow可以表示“胆小、卑怯、卑鄙”的意思,例如:
a yellow dog 可鄙的人,卑鄙的人
a yellow livered 胆小鬼
英语中的黄色还用来作为事物的特定颜色,例如,美国有些城市的出租车上标有“yellow”(而不是“taxi”)的字样,代表出租车,因为那里的出租车为黄颜色。如:
Yellow Pages 黄页 (电话号码簿,用黄纸印刷)
Yellow Book 黄皮书 (法国等国家的政府报告,用黄封面装帧)
yellow boy (俗)金币
英语的blue常用来喻指人的“情绪低落”、“心情沮丧”、“忧愁苦闷”,如:They felt rather blue after the failure in the football match.
球赛踢输了,他们感到有些沮丧。
此外,blue在英语中与其它词汇搭配,还有另外的含义,如:
out of blue 意想不到
once in a blue 千载难逢
drink till all’s blue 一醉方休
在英语文化中,white表示幸福和纯洁,如新娘在婚礼上穿白色礼服,代表爱情的纯洁和婚姻的贞洁。
a white lie 善意的谎言
the white coffee 牛奶咖啡
white man 善良的人,有教养的人
white-livered 怯懦的
white elephant 昂贵又无用之物
英语中的Black Friday 指耶稣在复活节前受难的星期五,是悲哀的日子。
black在英语中还象征气愤和恼怒,如:
black in the face 脸色铁青
to look black at someone 怒目而视
另外,黑色在汉语和英语中都有“阴险”、“邪恶”的含义,不过翻译时不一定用“黑”或“black”的字眼,例如:
黑心 evil mind
黑手 evil backstage manipulator
黑幕 inside story