Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Chinese term or phrase:
身上长刺
English translation:
mentally vigilant
Added to glossary by
Denyce Seow
Mar 5, 2007 19:47
17 yrs ago
Chinese term
Singapore
Business & Legal Translator
Native in: English (Variants: US, Singaporean, UK) 
Works in: Chinese to English
身上长刺
Chinese to English
Other
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
同事教我 “什么时候你身上长刺了，看着什么人都是坏人时，你就成熟了”。
Proposed translations
(English)
| 3 +2 | mentally vigilant |
franksf
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| 3 +2 | (to) become thorny |
Fang Sheng
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| 3 | when you know how to sting others, |
chinesetrans
|
Proposed translations
+2
5 hrs
Selected
mentally vigilant
In a hostile environment a living-being develops a second nature of being on one's toes always. This may not be by birth, but rather, by the trial and error learning mechanism. With that nature developed the living-being becomes matured.
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Jason Ma
: Yeah, I tend to agree with you. This living-being developed from a naive girl/boy into someone always being on the alert.Plus, hedgehog is physically thorny, but not mentally so.
4 hrs
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Thanks, Martin.
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| agree |
Wenjer Leuschel (X)
: Mentally vigilant vs. physically ripe. Mentally thorny vs. physically horny. Pretty well interpreted. Porcupines are thorny and they hurt each other when coming too close to each other. The real maturity would be thus something else than becoming thorny.
5 hrs
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Thanks, Wenjer.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thanks."
+2
34 mins
Fang Sheng
Canada
Canada
Native in Chinese
Canada
Translation you don't feel translated
Native in: Chinese (Variants: Mandarin, Traditional, Cantonese, Simplified)
Works in: English to Chinese, Chinese to English
Related KudoZ points
:
12
(to) become thorny
...Whever you become thorny and see everyone as bad, then you become mature enough...
Just my attempt.
Just my attempt.
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Xiaoping Fu
5 hrs
|
|
Thanks, Xiaoping!
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| agree |
anastasia t (X)
1 day 10 hrs
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Thanks, Anastasia!
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1 day 17 hrs
chinesetrans
Netherlands
Netherlands
Native in Chinese
Works in field
Netherlands
10 years expreience since 2003
Native in: Chinese 
Works in: English to Chinese, French to Chinese, Chinese to English, and 3 more.
when you know how to sting others,
It's another way to say to be sophisticated or muture from a little negative view.
Discussion
More context, please.