忘年交，忘年恋，老牛吃嫩草，英语怎么说？你知我知！

Original 林智华 (Canada) 智华英语 2024-01-15

今天是中国传统七夕情人节。

这里祝天下有情人幸福美满！

Happy Qixi Festival!

Happy Chinese Lovers’ Day！

Happy Double-Seventh Festival！

Best wishes to all the couples throughout the world！

[笔者不支持Chinese Valentine's Day作为正式说法，因节日主体很不相同。西方情人节涵盖包括父子等各种人际关系，实乃“有情者节”。]

如题，英语咋说？

众多汉英词典，依然让人失望！

不过，不是过，他们善于给出详尽解释：

【忘年交】年龄差距大的朋友(之间的友情) friendship between persons who are of different generations; good friends with a striking age gap between them.

看！挖煤spade work(前期艰苦工作)都挖辣么久，还没挖到宝，再挖一铁楸？

It never hurts to try one more dig!

多挖一楸，又不会死！

看挖煤！Come what may(管它3x7=21)！挖！

Come what may！形式上是祈使句Come(what may)！

又是倒装句：What may come? (会有啥后果呢?)的倒装。

相当于Come, what may come！来！会有啥后果？尽管来！

为啥不把上面详尽解释给个言简意赅的，如big age gap friend(ship); generation gap friendship呢？

看到煤了吗？见到宝了吗？捡到宝了！

age gap:(友谊;爱情;性;婚姻等的双方)年龄落差大的

age gap: A relationship in which the age difference between the two partners is considerably more than the average.

例句：People will usually criticize you if you are in an age gap.对那些年龄差距大的，人们常会说三道四。

忘年交: age-gap friend; generation gap (gen-gap) friend

口语化: age-gap pal; gen-gap pal (真该拍)

忘年恋: age gap romance / love; gen-gap romance / love

忘年恋(人): age gap lover; gen-gap lover

忘年婚姻；老少配：age gap marriage; gen-gap marriage

老少恋; 爷孙恋 May-December romance:

May，是骄阳似火！五月，代表青年(如5.4青年节)。

December严寒十二月，喻示(老年人)老态龙钟。

The age difference between the two people is at least a decade, but often more. The phrase comes from the younger person being in the "spring" of his or her life (i.e., May), while the older partner is in his or her "winter" (i.e., December).

老牛吃嫩草：rob the cradle (with someone)(字面:抢摇篮)

To rob the cradle: humorous (AmE); To cradle-snatch (BrE)：

to have a sexual relationship with someone who is a lot younger than you.

cradle-robber; cradle-snatcher 吃嫩草之老牛；娶少妻之长者

The 80-year-old Pablo Casals robbed the cradle with a 20-year-old girl. 大提琴家Pablo Casals在80岁时老牛吃嫩草娶了20岁姑娘Marta。

Mind the age gap！关注年龄差！

Mind the gen gap！关注代际差！

Mind the gap！小心地缝！欧美地铁提示：

中国都用站台安全隔离墙Platform Screen Doors了！看来，gap越来越大了。

回来，套用一个简单When it comes to something, ...句式。

Age gap is not a key problem for friendship.

友谊，年龄不是问题。

When it comes to true love, age is but a number.

真爱降临时，年岁只是数字。

Age gap is not a key problem between two lovers.

神翻译：年龄差距大的关键问题，并不在于两恋人间给不给房门钥匙！

When it comes to sex, age gap could be an issue.

性事：年龄差距会是个问题。

When it comes to marriage, the gen gap is a controversial hot topic.

年龄差距达代际的婚姻，是一个广受争议的话题。

还记得2004年底82-28幸福的那一对儿吗？祝福他们！

Yang Zhenning and Weng Fan are a happy couple, yet they got married at 82-28, with a huge age gap of 54 years. 杨振宁翁帆结婚时年龄是82和28相差54岁，但他们现在过得很幸福！

我猜杨老一定看过幽默大师马克•吐温的这两句话：

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. — Mark Twain

“年龄，是人们对事物与人的关系的一种意识结果。如果你自己都不介意，那又有啥关系呢？”

说到gap(差距；间隙)，除了常见的generation gap(代沟)，地铁站的Mind the gap(小心沟槽)！顺便提一下 trade war(贸易战)、trade gap(贸易差): the gap between imports and exports(进出口差额)和贫富差距(gap between the rich and the poor)，以及information gap(信息鸿沟)。

The gap between rich and poor has been greatly widening globally.

全球贫富差距急剧扩大。

Huawei and ZTE are leading to bridge the information gap between societies.

华为和中兴，走在世界前沿，为消弭信息鸿沟搭桥铺路。

【小花絮Miscellaneous】

前几天，有微友质疑我写的微文：“你这算哪门子功夫？你津津乐道的new rich(土豪) 啊，rich 2G (富二代)、one too many，do or die...这些词，我们都是滚瓜烂熟了！要你卖弄个魅呀！”

我回：先生所言极是(对方是女士)！更不用说，那26个字母您早知道！您说得对，您是滚瓜，您烂熟了！还有谁？麻烦吱一声！

Wow Cow！哇牛！很多专家学者也知道new，也知道rich，但他们不知道new rich就是土豪啊！难道你知道胡萝卜(carrot)，知道大棒(stick)，知道和(and)，就一定知道胡萝卜和大棒(carrot and stick)是软硬兼施的意思吗？比如：