“学霸”与“学渣”

 

文/王逢鑫

 

近来，网络上流行“学霸”这个新词。“霸”字，过去多指“依靠权势蛮横无理欺压百姓的人”。作为表示“人的类别”的基本词，“霸”字可以构成“恶霸”“路霸”“渔霸”“狱霸”“校霸”等词组。“恶霸”是“独霸一方，欺压百姓的坏人”，英语可以译为local tyrant, despot或bully。“路霸”是“非法在路上拦截过往车辆和行人强行收费的人”，英语可以译为road bully或road mugger。“渔霸”是“占有并出租渔船、渔网等捕鱼工具，或开办鱼行剥削和欺压渔民的恶霸”，英语可以译为fishing tyrant。“狱霸”是“在监狱中恃强凌弱、横行霸道的犯人”，英语可以译为prison bully。“校霸”是“在学校恃强凌弱、欺负同学的坏学生”，英语可以译为school bully上述词组无一例外都与“欺压人”有关，因此皆带有贬义，例如：

 

1. 鲁智深打死恶霸镇关西后逃往五台山，在那里的一座寺院为僧。

After killing the local tyrant Zhen Guanxi, Lu Zhishen fled to Mount Wutai where he stayed in a temple as a monk.

 

2. 这个威胁两名司机的路霸被警方逮捕了。

The road bully who had intimidated two drivers was arrested by the police.

 

3. 当这位妇女沿街行走时，这个路霸竟在光天化日之下袭击了这位妇女。

The road mugger attacked the woman in broad daylight as she walked along the street.

 

4. 京剧《打渔杀家》讲述了渔夫萧恩父女与一个渔霸斗争的故事。

Beijing Opera A Fisherman’s Revenge tells the story about the fight of the fisherman Xiao En and his daughter with a fishing tyrant.

 

5. 这名狱霸对同狱犯人进行精神和人身虐待，强迫他们为他提供金钱和服务。

The prison bully ill-treated his fellow prisoners mentally and physically, compelling them to offer him money and service.

 

6. 当这个校霸再次打架之后，校长严厉惩罚了他。

After the school bully started another fight, the headmaster cracked down on him .

 

“学霸”这个词，原指“学阀、学术权霸”，也是贬义词，英语可以译为scholar-tyrant, academic tyrant，例如：

 

7. 学霸是在学术界和教育界实行独断控制的人。

A scholar-tyrant is a person who exercises autocratic control in academic and educational circles.

 

8. 许多学者认为他是个反对学术自由的学霸。

Many scholars think that he is an academic tyrant who opposes academic freedom.

 

近来，“学霸”的词义发生了变化，泛指“学习刻苦、成绩突出的优秀学生”，英语有多种表达方法，像super student, best student, top student, brightest student, star student, straight-A student 等，例如：

 

9. 他拒绝别人叫他“学霸”，而自嘲是“奇葩”。

He refuses other people to call him “super student”, but laughs at himself, saying that he is just “an odd person”.

 

10. 这位教师要求这个学生不要仅仅当一名普通学生，还要成为班里的“学霸”。

The teacher asked the student not just to be an average student, but to become the best student in his class.

 

11. 谁能老实地说自己从来没有想过要当“学霸”？

Who can honestly say that he or she has never thought of becoming a top student?

 

12. 这个另类“学霸”，从不熬夜，也从不上补习班，但是爱玩游戏，爱刷微博。

This maverick brightest student has never burned the midnight oil, nor has he gone to any cram school, but he is fond of playing games and writing microblogs.

 

13. 他深信自己不是什么“学霸”，而是掌握了正确的学习方法。

He believes that, rather than being a star student, he’s grasped the right way to study.

 

14. 我发现真正的“学霸”并不是学习比别人更用功，而是他们学习比别人巧。

I find that real straight-A students don’t study harder than others, but they study smarter.

 

“学霸”还可以特指“考试时获得高分数的人”，英语可以译为curve wrecker，例如：

 

15. “学霸”是当其他所有人得低分时，他得高分的学生。

A curve wrecker is a student who makes a high grade when everyone else has a low grade.

 

16. 作为学校的“学霸”，他在考试中获得非常优秀的成绩，因而没有其他人能赶得上。

As a curve wrecker at school, he did so well on a test that nobody else came close.

 

17. 在期末考试中，这个学生在所有科目上的得分比班上其他任何人都高，因而被视为“学霸”。

During the final examination, the student scored much higher in all subjects than anyone else in class, so he was considered as a curve wrecker.

 

18. 大多数人爱把在学习中非常热情，而且在学科成绩中获得相对高分的学生叫作“学霸”。

Most people would like to call those students who are very enthusiastic in studying or have relatively high scores in academic performance “curve wreckers”.

 

有人误将“学霸”译为top scorer。实际上，scorer指的是goal scorer，来自to score a goal （进球得分）。top goal scorer是足球运动中“进球最多的人”，即“足球赛中得分最多的人”，而不是“考试时获得高分数的人”，是“球霸”，而不是“学霸”，例如：

 

19. 克里斯蒂亚诺·罗纳尔多是2013 年世界上进球最多的球员。

Cristiano Ronaldo was the World’s Top Goal Scorer in 2013.

 

20. 阿根廷球星莱昂内尔·梅西在2014年巴西世界杯上阿根廷以3-2击败尼日利亚的比赛中梅开二度，成为阿根廷在一届世界杯比赛中第五位进球最多的球员。

 

Star Argentinean footballer Lionel Messi became his country’s fifth top scorer at a World Cup, after scoring two of three goals to defeat Nigeria 3-2 at the 2014 Brazil World Cup.

 

上述关于“学霸”的例句表明：作为表示“人的类别”的基本词，“霸”字由贬义转向中性义或褒义。类似的情况还有“面霸”，它指的是“频繁参加求职面试的人”，英语可以译为 frequent job-hunting interviewee，例如：

 

21. 这个面霸在一个月内参加了20 次求职面试，最后被一家外企聘用。

The frequent job-hunting interviewee took part in twenty interviews to hunt for a job within one month, and finally was recruited by a foreign-funded enterprise.

 

“学渣”是“学霸”的反义词，指“平时不努力学习，期末才开始突击、临时抱佛脚的学生”。英语很难找到合适的对应词。我们不妨暂且将“学渣”理解为“差学生”，试译为weak student, slow student，但是不要译为bad student 或poor student，因为前者（“坏学生”）带有歧视，而后者（可能理解为“穷学生”）带有歧义，例如：

 

24. 这个学渣平时不努力学习，到期末时才匆忙准备考试。

The weak student usually doesn’t study hard, and doesn’t make hasty preparations for the examination until the end of the term.

 

25. 这个昔日的“学渣”经过三年刻苦努力，在高考中获得高分，被北大录取，变成一个“学霸”。

After three years’ hard work, the former slow student gained high marks in the National Matriculation Examination and was admitted to Peking University, turning himself into a star student.

 

“人渣”，即“人类社会中的渣滓”，指“品行败坏，道德低下的人”，英语可以译为 human scum, scum of the earth，例如：

 

26. 那个偷我的自行车的贼就是一个人渣。

The thief who stole my bicycle is nothing but a human scum.

 

27. 毒品贩子是人渣。法律早晚要惩罚他们。

Drug dealers are the scum of the earth. Sooner or later the law will punish them.