一般我们运用释义的情况是这样的:在翻译一些含有鲜明民族色彩的语句使，直译会表意不明，而加注又太过繁琐，如果原文重意不重形和典，释义法是一个不错的选择。
as rich as Croesus 十分富有(Croesus 是公元6世纪小亚细亚吕底亚国王,十分富有.如直译为 "像科里瑟斯一样富有",倒让读者十分费解,因为读者不知 "科里瑟斯"为何许人, 并且后人用此词时,常常意重于典,所以不如释义为 "十分富有", 简单明白.)
bring down the house 全场喝彩(不能直译为 "把房子都弄倒了")
(1) It's not easy to become a member of that club-they want people who have plenty of money to spend, not just every Tom, ***, and Harry.
要参加那个俱乐部并非易事──他们只吸收手头阔绰的人，而不是普通百姓。
(Tom, ***, Harry都是英美常见的人名，这里泛指任何人，相当于汉语中的"张三、李四、王五".所以，这里不宜直译为"汤姆、迪克、哈里".)
(2) A Red Light for Scofflaws
玩忽法令之风不可长!
(这是美国Time《时代》周刊1983年一篇文章的标题。red light本意是红灯，指停车信号、危险信号。文中指出美国社会中蔑视法令的现象已到了触目惊心的地步，必须采取措施加以制止。译成"玩忽法令之风不可长"一目了然，言简意明。)
(3) As with Black Power the burgeoning Red Power movement has two components, one cultural, the other political.
象黑人权力一样，正在蓬勃兴起的印地安人权力运动包括文化运动和政治运动两个部分。
(这里Red Power显然是从Black Power黑权主义，黑权运动]类比出来的。如果译者不释明其义，而直译为"红色权力"，读者定会把它理解为"红色政权"或"共产党权力".)
(4) Our son must go to school. He must break out of the pot that holds us in.
我们的儿子一定得上学，一定要出人头地。
("break out of the pot that holds us in"，重意不重形，译为"出人头地"比"打破这个把我们关在里面的罐子"意思来得明白简洁。)
(5) Like many other Southerners, I came to seek my fortune in one of those pot-at-the-end-of-the-rainbow factories along Euclid Avenue.
像许多其他的南方人一样，我也来到这儿，沿着尤克利德大道的那些根本不可能给我们提供工作的工厂找工作，做发财梦。
(根据英语传说，如果人们找到了彩虹与地面交界之处，并在那儿挖掘，就会挖到一罐金子。但这只是人们的幻想，是根本不可能发生的事情。所以，此处重意不重典，自然这里pot-at-the-end-of-the-rainbow factories是指那些根本不可能给南方人提供工作的工厂。)
(6) The study had a Spartan look.
书房看起来很简朴。
(古希腊斯巴达人以生活简朴而著称。可看出，此处重意不重典，所以只用翻译出其意。)
(7) When I go around on speaking engagements, they all expect me to assume a Quaker-Oats look.我应邀外出演讲时，他们都指望我摆出一付毫无表情、一本正经的面孔。
(Quaker-Oats是欧美一种有名的麦片商标，商标中画的老头模样毫无表情，我国读者对此并不熟悉。因此，此处意重于形，翻译时得采用释义手法。)
(8) Early Reagan was a mirror image of early Carter.里根上台时在做法上跟执政初期的卡特毫无二致。
(a mirror image 如直译为"镜子里的形象"，就让人感到非常别扭，远不如"毫无二致"自然。)
(9) She scolded her maid and was as cross as two sticks.她骂斥自己的女仆，而且脾气非常不好。
(如直译为"像两根棍子一样暴躁"，让人不知所云，并且此处重意不重形，翻译时只好采用释义法。)
(10) Up Broadway he turned, and halted at a glittering café, where are gathered together nightly the choicest products of the grapes, the silkworm and the protoplasm.
他拐到百老汇路上，在一家灯火辉煌的饭店前停下来，那里每晚汇集上好的美酒、华丽的衣服和有地位的人物。
(文中the choicest products of the grapes, the silkworm and the protoplasm如直译为"葡萄、蚕和原生质最精良的产物"，难令读者明白其意。这里，grape(葡萄), silkworm(蚕), protoplasm(原生质)属于修饰学上的提喻(synecdoche)，用原材料分别指它们的制成品──酒、衣服与人。翻译时只得舍弃原文形象，直接释明其意。)
(11) Little in his childhood suggested he would someday become a bridge across Latin and Anglo cultures.
他童年时代没有表现出他会成为沟通拉丁文化与英国文化的桥梁。
(Anglo culture如直译为"盎格鲁·撒克逊文化"，则不够通俗，典型的英国人常常也被称为"盎格鲁·撒克逊人".)
(12) Words are not themselves a reality but only representation of it, and the King's English, like the Anglo-French of the Normans, is a class representation of reality.
单词本身并不是客观物体，只不过是代表客观体而已;像日尔曼人的盎格鲁法语一样，标准英语也是一种代表客观体的语言。
(King's English不能直译为"国王英语"，它是指标准英语，相当于汉语中的"普通话".)
(13). The young girl thumbed her way to the passing cars.
那个年轻的姑娘站在路边不停地向来往的汽车摆动着竖起的拇指表示她要搭车。
(thumbed her way 为英语手势语,意为 "站在路边向来往的汽车摆动着竖起的拇指表示她要搭车",在汉语中没有这种手势语,翻译时只有采用释义法,以便让我国读者明白其意.)
(14). At 19 he had commenced one of those careers attractive and inexplicable to ordinary mortals for whom a single bankruptcy is good as a feast.
他19岁时就已经走上了一条在普通人看来是极富吸引力而又不可理解的道路，普通人认为，只是一次破产就叫人够呛了。
(good as a feast 如直译为 "像丰盛的宴席一样好",意思正好反了.直接释明其意 "叫人够呛",地道通顺.)
(15) She and her mother are as like as two peas.
她和她母亲长得一模一样.
(as like as two peas 不能译为 "像两颗豌豆一样相似")
(16) Look at the chaps in politics and business, whose whole lives were passed in skating on thin ice, and getting knighted for it.
试看那些政治上和商业上的家伙们, 他们整个儿的生活都是在风险中度过的,可是都因此封了爵.
( skating on thin ice 如直译为 "如履薄冰", 让人产生谨小慎微的联想, 与原意不符, 故译其意 "在风险中度过".)
(17) Mr. Kingsley and his Red Brick boys will have to look to their laurels.
金斯利先生和他那些二流大学的学生们必须小心翼翼地保持已经取得的荣誉。
(Red Brick又称Red Brick Universities，指英国除牛津、剑桥大学以外的其他地方性二流大学。因其建筑主要是红砖砌成，不象牛津、剑桥的建筑均为古色古香的石块所建成，故得此名。
(18) Clearly a tug of war over key policies continues between the pragmatic and ideological camps.
不言而喻,注重务实的和强调意识形态的两大营垒还会在重大政策上争吵不休.
(tug of war 本意为 "拔河", 在此处为比喻用法, 指 "双方势均力敌,争吵不休", 直译显然不妥, 故采用释义法.)
（责任编辑:doublejp）
