Mon, May 22, 2017 page9

• USING IDIOMS 活用成語

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  Chinese Practice

  得不償失

  the losses outweigh the gains

  

  US movie star Buster Keaton, left, in the film Convict 13 from 1920. 美國電影演員巴斯特基頓（左）在一九二○年的電影「囚犯十三號」。

  Photo: Wikimedia Commons
  照片：維基共享資源

  (de2 bu4 chang2 shi1)

  成語「得不償失」原作「得不酬失」，出自《後漢書》「故得不酬失，功不半勞」，意為：「因此所得到的抵償不了所失去的，所成就的不及所付出的一半」。這是描述漢代朝廷花了很多功夫鎮壓境內西羌人的抗爭，但卻效果有限。雖然漢人在數量上比西羌明顯更具優勢，且多次成功鎮壓西羌叛亂，但其所耗費之人力與金錢太過巨大，終而導致漢代國勢的衰敗。

  宋代詩文大家蘇軾在回覆其弟的〈和子由除日見寄〉一詩中用到這成語，並把它寫作「得不償失」。

  這句話的意思為失去的比得到的更多，英文常譯為the losses outweigh the gains。我們在四月十七日的「活用成語」單元所介紹的英文片語Pyrrhic victory

  （皮洛士的勝利），在某些語境中也可以用來表達得不償失的意思。另外，類似的片語還有not worth the candle（不值得點蠟燭）。中世紀時電燈尚未發明，燭光為太陽下山後唯一的照明光源。若有活動被認為是浪費時間，就可說是不值得花錢準備蠟燭來照明的。最後，還有一個片語叫作false economy（假節約），意思是說，你為了省錢而買品質較差的東西，結果長期下來，卻是花費了更多錢買東西去更換它。

  （台北時報編譯林俐凱譯）

  他多年來把陪家人孩子的時間都用來加班，為了多賺點錢卻失去了寶貴的親情，得不償失，他後悔不已。

  (For many years he wasted time he could have spent with his child doing overtime at work, losing precious time spent with his family for the sake of a little extra cash. It was not worth it, and he came to regret it.)

  你不要得理不饒人，吵贏了架卻傷了感情，這樣得不償失。

  (If you win the argument, but lose a friend, it isn’t worth it in the end.)

  英文練習

  the losses outweigh the gains; false economy

  The Chinese idiom 得不償失 was originally written 得不酬失, from a phrase in the Hou Han Shu (Book of the Later Han Dynasty) reading "故得不酬失，功不半勞": “And therefore the gains do not compensate for the losses, the achievement does not equal half the work put in.” This was a direct reference to the Han court’s efforts in fighting uprisings of the Western Qiang people living in Han territories. Despite the Han’s considerable numerical advantage, and the fact that they managed to suppress several Western Qiang uprisings, the human and monetary cost of this effort was huge, to the extent that it contributed to the decline of the dynasty.

  Much later, the Song dynasty poet Su Shi would reference that idiom in a poem replying to his brother, entitled “Responding to a Poem Received on New Year’s Eve from Ziyou,” in which he used the phrase 得不償失.

  It means the losses outweigh the gains, the phrase often used to translate it in English. In certain contexts, the term Pyrrhic victory — discussed in Using Idioms on April 17 — can be used to describe the idea behind 得不償失. Then there is the phrase “not worth the candle.” In medieval times, before electric lighting, candles were the only light source after the sun had gone down. If an activity was considered a waste of time, it was said not to be worth the cost of the candle used to cast light over it. Finally, in English there is the idea of the “false economy,” where you think you are saving money by buying something of lesser quality, but end up having to spend more purchasing replacements in the long term.

  (Paul Cooper, Taipei Times)

  I’m not spending any more time on this game: it’s not worth the candle.

  （我不想玩這遊戲了，這不值得我花時間。）

  You might think you’re saving money buying cheap clothes, but they’ll fall apart after two washes. They’re a false economy.

  （你以為買便宜的衣服可以省錢，但這衣服才洗過兩次就破了，這是假節約。）
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