汉英翻译的标准（五）
意义一词本身具备多种意义。虽然翻译家和语言学家对意义的剖析各有千秋，但语言的两大类意义是获得一致认可的，它们是指称意义和蕴涵意义。根据《牛津简明英语语言词典》(Oxford Concise Companion to the English Language)，“蕴涵意义，也称为情感意义，指词内含的情感和联想意义。指称意义，也称认知意义，指词与所指客体、思想或行为之间的直接关系。蕴涵意义可能是个人独有的(来自个人的经历，如一个人从‘游泳’可能联想到娱乐或是为比赛进行的训练，另一个人从‘游泳’可能联想到溺死)，或是一个社会群体独有的(如一位政治领袖的名字激发的感情)。指称意义是词或表达方式的意义，它与日常生活、其他词或表达方式有关。如colors的所指是颜色或与颜色有关的事物。在英语中，红色与血有关系，白色与雪有关系，绿色与草有关系，蓝色与海洋、天空有关系。这些颜色词的蕴涵意义是红色使人联想起生气或恼怒，白色使人联想起纯洁和无辜，绿色使人联想起缺乏经验或嫉妒，蓝色使人联想起悲哀和沮丧。”(Connotation, also known as affective meaning, refers to the emotive and associational aspects of a term. Denotation, also known as cognitive meaning, refers to the direct relationship between a term and the object, idea, or action it designates. Connotation may be personal (stemming from experience, such as connotations of swimming, which one person may associate with recreation or training for competitions, another with drowning) or common to a group (such as emotions raised by the name of a political leader). Denotation refers to the meaning of a word or expression in relation to everyday life and to other words and expressions: for example, colors can be described in terms either of wave-length or reflected light or of such relationships as, in English, red with blood, white with snow, green with grass, blue with sea and sky. By virtue of their connotations, the same colors have further associations: red with anger or irritation, white with purity and innocence, green with inexperience or envy, blue with sadness and depression.)
陆国强先生在其《现代英语词汇学(新版)》中简洁地将指称意义定义为“词的确切和字面的意义(strict and literal meaning)”(1999：117)，蕴涵意义定义为“词的隐含意义(implied or suggested meaning)”(同上)。
需要说明的是，指称意义不完全等同于“词典意义(dictionary meaning)”，因为词典中词条的释义，不仅有指称意义，还有蕴涵意义。例如：
“戛”〈书〉轻轻地敲击：～击。
[戛戛] 〈书〉①形容困难：～乎难哉!②形容独创：～独造。
[戛然] 〈书〉①形容嘹亮的鸟鸣声：～长鸣。②形容声音突然而止：～而止。
〈书〉这一标记表明该词是书面语，说明了该词的语体色彩，具备蕴涵意义。
又如：
[家事] ①家庭的事情：一切～，都是两个人商量着办。②〈方〉家境。
释义①只具备指称意义，释义②不仅具备指称意义，还标明其语体色彩，具备蕴涵意义。
