好奇害死猫

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一只好奇的小猫。

好奇害死猫英国的一句谚语,旨在警告人们不要过分好奇,否则会给自己带来伤害。

起源 [编辑]

这句谚语最早出现在英国剧作家Ben Johnson(本·琼森)写于1598年的剧本《人各有癖》(Every Man in His Humour)中。这部剧本最早是由莎士比亚演出的。

...Helter skelter, hang sorrow, care will kill a cat, up-tails all, and a pox on the hangman.

在本句中,"care"被当作“Worry 烦恼”或“Sorrow 悲伤”。

莎士比亚在他1599年所著的剧作《Much Ado about Nothing(无事生非/無事自擾)》中运用了一句相似的话:

What, courage man! what though care killed a cat, thou hast mettle enough in thee to kill care.

一直到1898年,“care killed a cat”這句諺語被 E. Cobhan Brewer 將安收錄到字典中,定義為:Care killed a cat. It is said that “a cat has nine lives” yet care would wear them all out. 中文大意譯為:據說貓有九條命,但即使如此,好奇心仍會把牠們累死的。

真正把 Care 改成 Curiosity 是在 1909 年 O. Henry 的一篇短篇小說 Schools and Schools: Curiosity can do more things than kill a cat; and if emotions, well recognized as feminine, are inimical to feline life, then jealousy would soon leave the whole world catless.

這句彥語還有後文: Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. 好奇心害死貓,但是只要好奇心被滿足就沒事。

参见 [编辑]

薛定谔的猫 好奇心殺死了一隻貓 [1]

外部链接 [编辑]