Excerpts from the English translation of "The Besieged City" - Different ways of laughing

Original text: Mr. Zhang laughed heartily, and said to the maid who came in: "Go and tell the lady, the guests are here, please come out. Make it snappy!" He said with the thumb of his right hand. Click the middle finger on the index finger and make a "snap" sound. He came back and smiled at Hongjian: "Headache is the American word for 'wife', not 'headache'! You've never been to the States!" (Qian Zhongshu - Besieged City)

Translation Keywords: laughter and laugh, different ways of laughing, snappy and snap

Translation: Mr. Chang roared with laughter. At the same time he instructed the maid who entered

“Go and tell my wife and daughter the guest is here. Ask them to e out. Make it snappy!” At this he snapped his fingers. Turning to Hung-chien

he said with a laugh

"'Headache' is an American expression for 'wife

' not 'pain in head!' I guess you haven't been to the States!" (American Jeanne Kelly

Nathan lt; translated gt; -Fortress Besieged)

Translation notes:

laughter and laugh

Laughter is generally only used as an abstract noun in modern English , so no a is used before it, and there is no plural form. For example:

To burst/dissolve into laughter suddenly/cannot help but burst into laughter

Laugh is used as a class noun. It can be preceded by a, or it can be expressed in plural form. For example:

to give a laugh

Roar with laughter in the text is a common phrase, which means "laugh loudly, laugh out loud".

In addition, a...laughter or a...laugh can mean "(a burst of)... laughter". Such as:

A short/nervous/hearty laugh(ter) (a burst of) short/nervous/happy laughter

We can say: Listening to my story

he gave a laugh from time to time

I don't know how my story caused so much laughter.

Different ways of laughing

*cackle means to laugh obnoxiously, especially loudly. Such as:

They all cackled with delight.

They all cackled with delight.

*Chuckle means to laugh softly, especially at a funny thought. Such as:

She chuckled at the memory.

She laughed secretly when she thought of this.

*giggle means to laugh when happy, embarrassed or nervous. For example:

The girls giggled at the joke.

The girls giggled at the joke.

*guffaw means guffaw, guffaw, laugh out loud. Such as:

They all guffawed at his jokes.

They all laughed wildly after hearing his jokes.

*roar means to laugh loudly, commonly used as roar with laughter. For example:

He looked so funny

we all roared with laughter.

He looked so funny, we all laughed.

*snigger/snicker means to snicker or chuckle, especially at rude behavior or at other people's problems or mistakes. Such as:

What are you sniggering at?

What are you sniggering at?

*titter means to chuckle, especially nervously or awkwardly. Such as:

That’s enough of your titters

girls!

Girls, stop giggling!

snappy and snap

Snappy is an adjective, often used to mean "concise, concise". For example:

A snappy answer A concise answer

In the excerpt of the article, Mr. Zhang said to the maid, "make it snappy (=look snappy)". This is a common phrase used to urge, meaning "hurry up, hurry up".

And snap has many uses, it can be used as a verb, noun, adjective and as an exclamation. In the excerpt of the article, Mr. Zhang snapped his fingers is a verb usage, which means "to hit the nuts and snap his fingers (twisting the thumbs)".