很久没有来这里发表文章了，今天偶然看到一篇看起来俗气其实也可能很好增强他人修养的短评杂文。故此，特摘登于此供大家聊表一二。看客请往下：
　　 大家知道，现在“小姐”已经成为特种行业从业女性（首先是妓女）的代名词。但是，将“小姐”直接翻译成prostitute(妓女)是否妥当呢？
　　作为一名大学英文教师兼翻译，我一直有这样的困惑。同时，我一直在想，如果不将“小姐”翻译成prostitute(妓女)，又该翻译成什么好呢？
　　 近日，看到一篇英文文章，发现有这样困惑和疑问的人可不只我一个。文章名叫 《What to do about the 'oldest profession'? 》，是Cai Shangyao（蔡尚耀）写的，文章里面写道：
　　In China, female "entertainment" workers are popularly known as "xiaojie" (literally meaning "Miss"). about a year ago, a friend of mine, a family planning official, was put in charge of an AIDS prevention programme funded by grants from Australia. He needed to have a report on the implementation of the programme translated into English and to send the English version of the report to the Australian fund-donor, so he asked me to do the translation.
　　The translation went quite smoothly, except that I had some hesitation in choosing the right word for "xiaojie" used in such phrases as "xiaojie in recreational places". To translate it literally as"Miss" or "young lady" might give rise to misunderstanding but to translate it as "prostitute(s)" would be too straightforward - though that is what the euphemism really means. At last I decided that the closest translation for "xiaojie" should be "working girl", a euphemism for prostitute.
　　（中文参考译文：在中国，娱乐行业的从业女性俗称“小姐”。年前，笔者一在计生部门工作的朋友因为负责一澳大利亚援助的艾滋病防治合作项目，需要将工作报告译成英文送给澳大利亚方面。朋友托笔者翻译。翻译过程倒也顺利，惟对“娱乐场所的小姐”中的“小姐”一词颇感踌躇。若按字面翻译成"Miss" 或 "young lady"，会引起误会。假如译成“prostitute(s)（妓女）”，倒也符合“小姐”的真正含义，但太直露。最终决定将“小姐”译成英文中对妓女的委婉称呼“working girl(s)”。）
　　那么，将“小姐”翻译成“working girl(s)”妥当吗？
　　查一下《美国传统词典》，该词典对working girl的解释是：working girl
　　Slang A woman prostitute.
　　【俚语】 妓女
　　再来看看Uurban Dictionary对"working girl"的解释:working girl
　　Euphemistic term for a prostitute, often preferred by the sex workers themselves.
　　She: I don't like being called a whore or a prostitute.
　　He: How would you describe yourself then?
　　She: I'm a working girl.
　　（参考中文解释: working girl 对妓女的委婉称呼,通常性工作者们也乐意人们这样称呼她们。
　　她：我不喜欢人们叫我娼妓或妓女。
　　他：那么你怎么描述你自己？
　　她：我是working girl../(是不是可以翻译成"我是小姐"呢?)）
　　英文里的"working girl"和中文里的“小姐”确有异曲同工之处。看来蔡尚耀先生将“小姐”翻译成“working girl”确实贴切独到。
　　通俗的叫法是 hooker。
　　斯文一点，世界妓女联合大会（她们真的有这么一个组织！）自称是：sex worker。
　　We need sensible posts in this public forum so we have something of substance to read and learn from.I would like to comment on the original post but how can I do this without drawing a lot of unnecessary debates?
　　 "Working Girl" is the title of a very popular US movie if someone cares to google for it. Just a little bit concerned if we are using this WG on the wrong group of girls.
　　In that popular movie, these WG's are office workers - secretaries. It's sort of safer to echo this with the genuine English users before commenting on it here,lest this will be again the blind leading the blind.
　　 将小姐译为working girl本人以为是比较贴切的,其他关于妓女的称谓还有应召女郎 call girl 站街女 street girl至于whore, bitch, prostitute等等称谓,想必大家都已经比较熟悉了.这部片子中,working girl确系上班的女郎之意,但正如小姐也可以指餐厅服务员一样,working girl同时也正有prostitute的意思.正因如此,将小姐译为working girl非常贴切.
　　
　　 由此可见，本人认为，很多时候“小姐”的称呼本身是一种尊称，特别是对一些有涵养有时代感的女人的一种世上称谓而已。另一种也是对一些特别是上海这样的一个大城市里的小资女人的向往追求的昵称，或是在大街上遇到女人而处于礼貌的一种礼节。当然也不排除有的时候“小姐”也代表“妓女”的身份。不过都要看是在什么场合面对着什么样的女人罢了。所以，没有必要因为“小姐”这样的称谓而趋之若缚了。