句子：這個(gè)女演員自曝曾被某導(dǎo)演潛規(guī)則。

誤譯：The actress exposed that she had been taken in by a certain director through the potential rule.

正譯：The actress exposed that she had been forced to share a casting couch with a certain director.

解釋?zhuān)簼撘?guī)則本來(lái)是個(gè)名詞，在這里變成了動(dòng)詞。to be taken in的意思是to be deceived，“被欺騙”沒(méi)有表達(dá)出“被潛規(guī)則”的含義。

娛樂(lè)圈的潛規(guī)則，指的是“演員為上鏡與導(dǎo)演之間進(jìn)行性交換”，帶有貶義。potential是個(gè)中性詞，指“現(xiàn)在還不是，而將來(lái)會(huì)變成的”，即“潛在的”，例如：potential customer(潛在的顧客)。

而potential rule的意思是“現(xiàn)在還不是，而將來(lái)可能會(huì)變成的規(guī)則”，將“潛規(guī)則”譯成potential rule是不妥的。英語(yǔ)可以用casting couch表示“潛規(guī)則”；用to be forced to share a casting couch with sb表示“被潛規(guī)則”。例如：

1. 這個(gè)年輕女演員利用潛規(guī)則進(jìn)入電影業(yè)。The young actress used the casting couch to enter the film industry.

“潛規(guī)則”在一般不帶有負(fù)面意義的情況下，可以譯為hidden rule, latent rule，underlying rule或unspoken rule。例如：

2. 各行各業(yè)都有潛規(guī)則。All trades and professions have their own hidden rules.

3. 這位職業(yè)經(jīng)理人現(xiàn)身說(shuō)法揭露了商場(chǎng)潛規(guī)則。The professional manager exposed the latent rule in the commercial circles through his own examples.

4. 關(guān)于財(cái)富的一個(gè)潛規(guī)則是人們不談?wù)撳X(qián)，但是談?wù)撏顿Y。An underlying rule of wealth is that money is not discussed but investments are.

5. 我問(wèn)過(guò)演藝圈內(nèi)幾十個(gè)人是否聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)這個(gè)潛規(guī)則。I asked dozens of people in the entertainment business if they had heard of this unspoken rule.▲

（本欄目供稿：王逢鑫教授）