【“三伏天”为什么被叫作“dog days”?】
❶sanfu
一般情况下，我们可以直接使用拼音来表达，后面对其进行简单的解释说明。
比如，
►sanfu, the hottest and dampest period of summer
三伏天，夏天中最炎热潮湿的阶段
►sanfu, the hottest time of the year
三伏天，一年中最热的日子
因此，“入伏”这一天也就可以表达为the first day of sanfu。
来看一个例句：
Chinese people embraced the first day of sanfu, the hottest and dampest period of the year, on Thursday in unique ways across the country.
周四，全国各地人民以一种特别的方式迎接入伏，三伏天是一年中最炎热潮湿的时候。
❷dog days (of summer)
在一些文章中，也会把三伏天叫作“dog days (of summer)”，这又是怎么回事儿呢?
Sanfu, also called China's "dog days of summer", refers to three 10-day periods that are predicted to have the hottest days of the year.
其实在英语中，dog days专门来形容北半球7、8月这段最热的天气。
根据韦氏词典，dog days即指7月初到9月初，北半球天气闷热潮湿的这段时间：
the period between early July and early September when the hot sultry weather of summer usually occurs in the northern hemisphere
也有人开玩笑说，这段时间的天气把狗都热得趴在地上直喘气，所以就叫dog days了。
THE “DOG DAYS,” I always thought, were those summer days so devastatingly hot that even dogs would lie around on the asphalt, panting.
但其实，这个有趣的表达与天狼星(Sirius)有关。
古希腊人认为大犬座(Canis Major)是一只狗在追逐兔子(也就是天兔座，Lepus)。而天狼星是狗的鼻子，因此称它为"狗星"(dog star)。
The ancient Greeks thought of the constellation Canis Major as a dog chasing Lepus, the hare. The star Sirius is the dog’s nose; the Greeks called it the “dog star.”
古希腊人和古罗马人曾迷信地认为，7月末，当天狼星(dog star)恰好在日出前出现在天际时，“dog days”也就到来了。他们认为这段时间是一年中最热的时候，可能会带来一些灾祸。
To the Greeks and Romans, the “dog days” occurred around the day when Sirius appeared to rise just before the sun, in late July. They referred to these days as the hottest time of the year, a period that could bring fever, or even catastrophe
不过，美国国家地理也指出，因为纬度不同，各地天文学意义上的“dog days”到来时间也会有所不同。
Although July and August are generally known as the hottest months of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, the hottest period can vary from year to year. And depending on your latitude, the astronomical dog days can come at different times.
虽然7月和8月一般被称为北半球一年中最热的月份，但每年最热的时期都会有所不同。且根据纬度的不同，天文学上的“三伏天”也会在不同的时间到来。
口译： 翻译资格考试二级口译模拟题
笔译： 翻译资格考试二级笔译模拟题
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