论“黑”——“black”义多端

程永健

在英语中，表示色彩的词，black，red，white，yellow，orange，indigo，violet等，除了用来表示事物的颜色外，还常常被引申表达某些特定的含义。由于色彩是日常生活的一部分，这些由表示色彩的词汇构成的词组或短语更富有表现力，更生动形象。了解和掌握这些词组或短语，不仅能增加我们的词汇量，也有益于提高我们的英语表达能力。首先让我们看一看black及其构成的一些词组和短语。

black意为“黑色”或“黑暗的”。black out意为“熄灭灯火”、“停电”，也引申为“扣发”（文章）和“封锁”（新闻）。

The last snowstorm caused a blackout in several counties.

上次的暴风雪造成许多县停电。

In 1997 the New York City was blacked out for hours because of a power failure.

1997年一次断电事故使纽约全城一片漆黑，长达数小时之久。

A number of his articles were blacked out by the censors.

他的一些文章被审查人员扣发。

There was a complete blackout on information.

消息被完全封锁了。

He blacked out the passages he didnt like.

他抹掉了他不喜欢的段落。

black out也作“昏厥”或“失去知觉”解。

The pain was intense that he blacked out for several minutes.

剧烈的疼痛使他昏迷过去好幾分钟。

After the fall he blacked out and could not remember what happened.

他摔倒之后失去了知觉，不记得后来的事情。

go black则是说人昏倒之时，眼前一片漆黑。

Suddenly everything goes black and thats the last thing I can remember.

我突然眼前一片漆黑，别的什么都不记得了。

日常生活中，黑色是不受欢迎的色彩，通常与“阴郁不快”、“倒霉”、“不吉利”等概念联系在一起。

Things look black.

事情看起来不妙。

He was black in the face.

他脸色铁青。

She was black with rage.

她怒容满面。

She cast a black look at the box in the corner of the room and left.

她厌恶地看了一眼墙角的方盒就走开了。

I saw his wife giving him a black look when he brought out a second bottle of whisky.

我看见他拿出来第二瓶威士忌酒时，他的妻子瞪了他一眼。

It would be a black day for this country if everyone else takes the same hopeless attitude as you do.

如果人人都像你那样不求上进，这个国家就完了。

The black day I can remember was in the 1976 when a terrible earthquake ruined the whole city in a matter of seconds.

我所记得的最不吉利的一天是在1976年，那天一场大地震使全城在顷刻之间化为废墟。

This is not the time to ask him a favor. Hes been in a black mood since yesterday.

这会儿别请他帮忙，他从昨天起一直情绪很坏。

a black spot则指经常发生恶性交通事故的路口或路段。路标上常用醒目的黑体字写上Accident black spot，以提醒开车者小心开车。

Drive with care. Accident black spot！

小心开车，这是事故多发地段！

black 还含有“毁坏”或“玷污”的意思。paint sb. black就是蓄意把某人说得一无是处，说某人坏。

She is not as black as she is painted.

她不像人们传说的那么坏。

Dont black my good names by spreading lies.

别散布流言蜚语诋毁我的声誉。

black sheep指的是损坏家庭声誉的败家子，或者是玷污团体荣誉的害群之马。

She has come from a selfish and often ruthless New Orleans family， with its black sheep and its white wolves.

她出身于一个自私自利，常常是冷酷无情的新奥尔良家庭。这个家庭出过败家子，也出过出类拔萃的人物。

Now every profession has of course got its black sheep.

现在任何一个行业中都有败类。

黑色常常又意味着“暗中进行的”、“不正当”甚至是“非法的”，因而就有了blacklist（黑名单），blackmail（讹诈），blackmailer（讹诈者），black market（黑市），black marketeer（黑市商人）等词。

He was blacklisted for political reasons in the 70s.

70年代他因政治原因被列入了黑名单。

The man was put on the blacklist at the police station as he was a suspect in a number of crimes.

他是一系列罪案的嫌疑犯，被列入警察局的黑名单。

She demanded $5，000 blackmail from him for not turning the evidence over to the police.

她向他勒索五千美元作为不把证据交给警方的条件。

Dont think you can blackmail me （into doing that）. Ill report you to the police.

別以为你能威吓我（做这事），我要报告警方。There has always been buying and selling of American dollars on the black market.

黑市上一直有买卖美元的交易。

black在下面的例句中作“皮肤青紫”解（因挨打或摔跌所致）。

If he says that again， Ill give him a black eye.他要是再说我就让他乌眼青。

The young fool got both eyes blackened when he picked up a quarrel with a man into the pub.

这个年轻傻瓜在酒吧与人争吵被打得两眼青紫。

Linda was all black and blue after she fell from the stairs.

琳达从楼梯上跌下，摔得浑身青一块紫一块。

black and white这个词组原义是只有黑白两色，而没有其他颜色。这个短语多用来指黑白照片、影片、水墨画，或黑白电视机。在下列例句中black and white作“黑字白纸”解。black指书写文字的墨迹。

Id like to see this contract in black and white as soon as possible.

我想尽快见到书面合同。

I want you to give assurance in black and white.

我要你做出书面保证。

在账本中以红笔记录亏损（称“赤字”），黑笔记录“盈余”。词组in（the）black就成了“盈余”、“有盈余”的意思。

The restaurant is well managed and has always been in black.

这个饭馆经营得不错，一直是赚钱的。

He took charge of the shop when it was losing money and with half a year he put it in the black this year.

这间店亏本时他接管过来，半年时间他就扭亏为盈了。

当然，black也与“庄重”、“严肃”分不开。be dressed in black意思是“着黑色丧服”。a black tie dinner是很正式的聚餐会，与会者必须穿礼服，系黑色领带。