文革时期常用词汇的英译

蒋割荆

T（1）

踏踏实实: in a thoroughgoing manner/on a firm footing
踏实苦干，百折不挠: down-to-earth effort, dauntlessness and defiance of all setbacks
抬高自己: climb over the heads of others/boost oneself
太公钓鱼，愿者上钩: Like Chiang Tai Kung fishing, they have cast the line for the fish who want to be caught.
太上皇: supreme ruler/overlord
泰然处之: take it easy
泰山盖顶: bear down on somebody with the weight of Mt. Tai
贪得无厌: insatiable greed/voracious
贪生怕死: no more than coward
贪天之功为已有: credit other people's achievements to oneself
贪图安逸: the desire for an easy life
贪污盗窃分子: embezzlers and grafters
贪污犯: person guilty of corruption
贪污腐化: corruption and degeneration
贪污盛行: riddled with graft and corruption
贪小便宜: covet little advantages/greedy for small advantages
弹冠相庆: congratulate each other on their promotion
（打烂）坛坛罐罐: have the pots and pans smashed
谈虎色变: turn pale at the mention of the tiger
谈情说爱，低级趣味: be concerned with love and romance, pandering to philistine tastes
昙花一现: vanish as soon as it appears
昙花一现的人物: passers-by on the stage of history/one who just flashes across the stage of history
坦白从宽，抗拒从严: Leniency to confessors; severity to resisters.
坦白大会: confession meeting
糖衣炮弹: sugar-coated bullets
螳臂当车: like the grasshopper which wanted to stop the chariot
躺在过去的成绩上睡觉: rest on one's laurels (past achievements)
滔天罪行: monstrous (horrible) crimes
逃避斗争: evade struggle
逃避责任: shirk (shun) responsibility
逃跑主义: flightism
逃亡地主: runaway landlord/fugitive landlord
讨人厌: incur hatred/excite dislike or disgust
特权: prerogatives
特权阶层: privileged position
特权思想: think in terms of privileges for themselves/ideology of the privileged classes
特务: enemy agents/secret agents/spies
特务机关: secret service
特赦: amnesty
提到日程上: place... on the agenda
提法: formulation of the question/presentation of the question
提防: guard against/take precaution against
提高警惕，保卫祖国，随时准备歼灭入侵之敌！: Heighten our vigilance, defend the motherland! Be ready at all times to destroy the enemy intruders!
提高觉悟: raise one's political consciousness
提高认识: enhance (raise) understanding
提高和普及: promote and spread
提前释放: release (discharge) before the sentence expires
提审: bring up for trial
提倡节约，反对浪费: call for economy and the elimination of waste
提心吊胆: in great terror/trembling with fear
体力劳动与脑力劳动相结合: combine physical labor with mental labor
体无完肤: have cuts and bruises all over the body/completely/thoroughly
“替天行道”: enforce the justice on behalf of the Heaven
替罪羊: scapegoat
天不怕，地不怕: fearless
天翻地覆: the sky and the earth turning upside down/shake the very ground
天经地义: nature's law and earth's way/by nature/by the very nature
天罗地网: nets above and snares below/escape-proof net
天壤之别: a world of difference/worlds apart
天怒人怨: wrath of Heaven and anger of man/widespread indignation and discontent
天时，地利，人和: favorable climatic, geographical and human conditions
天塌下来我们能顶住，地陷下去我们能填平: Even if the heavens fall, we can hold them up; even if the earth quakes, we can fill the chasm.
天无绝人之路: Heaven never cuts off a man's means.
天下大乱: The whole country (world, place) is in chaos.
天下大治: The whole world is well-ordered.
天字第一号: the world's number one
天下太平: All is quite in the world.
天下没有不散的宴席: All feasts must break up in the end.
天下无难事，只怕有心人: Nothing in the world is difficult for one who sets his mind to it.
天下乌鸦一般黑: All crows under the sun are black.
天涯海角: the end of the sky and the corners of the sea/ends of the earth
“天要下雨，娘要嫁人”: （编者译）Heavens need raining and girls need marrying. Let them go.
天衣无缝: divine garments without seams/faultless/free from defect
天有不测风云，人有旦夕祸福: Storms may gather unexpectedly and misfortune may befall man overnight.
天诛地灭: be executed by heaven and destroyed by earth
恬不知耻: shameless/not feel ashamed at all
甜言蜜语: honey-mouthed/sweet words and honeyed phrases
条条框框: regulations and conventions
调处: mediate
调和: conciliation/reconcilable
调和折衷: compromising
调剂: regulate/adjust
调整、巩固、充实、提高: readjustment, consolidating, filling out and raising standards
调整工作: readjust one's job
调整干部: remove some cadres and appoint others to take their place
挑拨离间，浑水摸鱼: create dissention and exploit confusion
挑动群众斗群众: stir up masses to struggle against masses/incite the masses to struggle against each other
挑起武斗: provoke conflicts in which force is used
跳出来: come forward/come out/come out into the open/step forward
跳梁小丑: the clown
铁板一块: a monolithic bloc/of one cut
铁打江山: an impregnable state
铁的纪律: iron discipline
铁的事实: hard facts/indisputable facts
铁饭碗: unbreakable rice bowl
铁杆分子: diehard (element)
铁拳: iron fist
铁扫帚: mighty broom
铁证如山: irrefutable proof