中国的盆友们在聊天的时候,不管聊学习啊,聊生活,都离不开聊到有关师哥师姐,学长学姐,导师辅导员等等的内容。可是碰到这种表示尊敬的称谓(脸上笑嘻嘻,心里在呵呵),用英语聊天时,就蒙圈了,学长怎么说?师姐怎么说?
说到师哥师姐, 中国有句古话说的好:
师父领进门,修行在个人。
The master teaches the trade, but apprentice's skill is self-made.
这句话中出现了:师父(master)以及徒弟(apprentice)。基于此,我们可以把师哥叫做senior apprentice或者 senior schoolfellow,但过于中式,不属于地道的表达方式。
那么怎么才算是地道的表达呢?
英语中有一个词汇:alumnus男校友 (注意:女校友是alumnae,复数形式为:alumni), 也许是最接近“师哥师弟”这层含义的单一词汇。例如:
John and I are both alumni of The University of Chicago.
约翰和我都是芝加哥大学的。
但这句话同时暗示:“我们”都已经毕业了。
所以在英文中,我们很难找到一个单词能代表“师哥”的含义,所以需要其他表达来帮忙。我们可以说:
We're both majoring in business at Stanford University.
我们是在斯坦福大学学商务的同门。
He shares the same major as me but is senior/junior to me.
他是跟我同专业的师哥/师弟。
Lisa and I both studied under Professor Smith, though at different times.
我和丽萨都在史密斯教授门下做研究,只不过不是同届罢了。
He's in my same major but a year ahead.
他是跟我同专业的上届师兄。
She's in my major but a year below/behind me.
她是跟我同专业的下届师妹。
We both studied at the Boston Biomedical Research Institute, and Ethan is my senior by two years.
我们都在波士顿医学研究所学习,伊森是比我高两届的师兄。
由于美国文化中不那么在意“师兄弟”之类的关系,英美人亲兄弟姐妹之间也以名字相称,如果在同一个实验室中,我们经常会听到以下的对话:
A: Hey, dude, let's go for a picnic this Saturday.
A: 老兄,这周六咱们去野餐。
B: Great!
B:好啊!
上面的对话中,对实验室的同学称呼为dude。这里也可以替换成Bro,意思是哥哥或弟弟,相对应的,Sis 就是姐姐或妹妹。例如:
A: Sis, it's raining outside!
A: 姐姐,外面下雨了!
B: Crap!We need to take the clothes back!
B:糟糕!我们要回家收衣服!
最后补充几个大学里常用的称谓表达:
辅导员 counsellor
助教 tutor/assistant
讲师 lecturer
教授 professor
导师 supervisor
硕士生导师 supervisor of postgraduate/ graduate supervisor
博士生导师 doctoral supervisor/ PHD supervisor
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