从“近朱者赤”谈red
我们来谈一谈「红」色。国人常用「近朱者赤，近墨者黑」来劝人交友须要慎重。这上半句 「近朱者赤」里，有「朱」和「赤」二色究竟与现在常用的「红」色有什么不同呢？ 一般中文的「红」通常翻为英文的"red"。"red"可以当作形容词，也可以用作名词。当做形容词使用时，其主要字义，包括：
红的，红色的
赤热的，〔脸等〕胀红的，〔眼睛〕充血的；〔手〕沾血的
〔战争等〕激烈的，血腥的
〔政治上〕激进的，革命的
比如说：红布为"red colth"，红帽称为"red hat"，充血或哭红的眼睛说"red eyes"，表示危险等的红旗或红灯称为"red flag, red light "，沾满血迹的手为"red hands"，血战为"a red battle" 。
当做名词使用时的字义主要的有：
红，红色
红色颜料或染料
红色之物(如红布，红衣等)
激进分子
一分钱，铜钱
〔财政．会计等方面的〕赤字，亏损
根据这些字义，上面引用的「近朱者赤，近墨者黑」似可翻译如下：
"He who nears red ink(or vermilon)〔朱砂〕shall become red; he who touches black ink(or pitch[沥青])shall become black."
当我们形容某人气得面红耳赤时，也用得着"red"一字：
"He was red in the face with anger."
(他气得面红耳赤了。)
同时也有用"see red"表示"气得要命"：
Whenever anyone makes critical remarks about his manner, he always sees red.
(不管什么时候人家批评他的风度时，他总是气得要命。)
It always cause me to see red whenever he tells a lie.
(当他说谎时，不管什么时候总是引起我的愤怒。)
在财经或经营方面，甚至个人的家计方面出现赤字或发生亏损，常用"in the red"，例如：
The annual budget of that company continues to show a deficit this year. It will go out of business because it is always in the red.
(那家公司的今年年度预算出现亏损。因为公司时常出现赤字，不久将会关闭。)
That company will go in the red if it continues to manufacture products the consumers no longer use.
(如果那家公司继续生产消费者不再使用的产品的话，一定要赔本。)
"in the red"的反义为"out of the red"(有盈余)：
We have to produce new products to get out of the red otherwise we will go bankrupt.
(我们应该生产新产品来谋求盈余，否则我们就会破产了。)
上面已提过，表示危险常用红旗，如铁路平交道管理员所用者。因此"red flag"一词常被延伸用来表示「危险的信号」：
When your boss raises his voice, remember it is always a red flag and you'd better shut your mouth.
(当你老板提高嗓门时，该记得那是危险的信号，最好少说废话。)
You should have been more observant when he stared at you; it was certainly a red flag.
(当他盯视你的时候一定是大事不妙，那时你就应该提高警觉了。)
每过节日或星期日，月历上面日期印上红字表示放假，因而"red-letter day" 用以表示如过假日般非常开心的意思，如：
This is a red-letter day for me. I first received a check for my magazine article.
(这是我非常开心的日子；我初次收到了向杂志投稿的稿费。)
Yesterday was a red-letter day for me because I won the first prize in the English oratorical contest.
(昨天是我最高兴的一天，因为我在英语演讲比赛获得第一名。)
在电视上常看到国宾来访时舖上红地毯迎接以示隆重而热诚的欢迎。不管实际有没有舖红地毯迎接，表示热忱而隆重的欢迎和接待，英文则用"roll out the red carpet "来形容：
We rolled out the red carpet for the Premier of the Solomon Islands when he visited our country.
(苏罗门群岛总理来访我国时，我们以隆重的礼仪欢迎他。)
They rolled out the red carpet for their guest when he came to dinner.
(当他们的客人应邀参加晚餐时他们竭诚地接待他。)
上面的"the red carpet"是用作名词；但也可以用作形容词，这时候"the red-carpet'则将"red"和"carpet'用连字号(hyphen)连接，如：
Dr. Taylor Wang, the first Chinese astronaut, was given the red-carpet treatment at his alma mater.
(中国的第一位太空人王赣骏博士在他的母校受到隆重而热烈的欢迎。)
When the president visited the foreign countries, he was given the red-carpet treatment and welcomed by a great crown.
(当总统访问外国时，他得到了隆重的款待及多数群众的热烈欢迎。)
中文的「红」和英文的red也指血或其颜色之意。杀人凶手沾满血迹的手称为"red-hands"，因而"red handed"也就用来作形容词，意谓「手沾满着血迹的」，同时也被用来作为「当场(被捕)，正在犯案的，现行犯的」之义了，例如：
The murderer was taken red-handed by the police last night.
(杀人凶手昨晚被警方当场逮捕。)
As the thief was climbing out the window with the stolen TV set and a videotape recorder, the police were waiting for him and caught him red-handed.
(当小偷从窗口带着偷窃的电视机及录像机爬出来的时候，被等候着的警察当场抓到。)
A small man robbed a bank with a toy gun in broad daylight, and was caught red-handed by a young lady-teller of the bank.
(有一个矮小的男人带着玩具枪在光天化日之下抢劫了银行，但是被一位年轻的女出纳员当场抓住。)
台湾有一种强烈而廉价的米酒俗称"hnaitaoah "(晕头仔) ，意思是喝多就会头晕脑胀；类似这种便宜又强烈的一种威士忌酒叫做"red eye"因为喝得多眼睛很快就会发红：
The doctor said that the problem with her husband's liver is caused by too much red eye.
(医师说她丈夫肝脏的问题，起因於喝过多的强烈劣酒。)
In the early days, on the western frontier, red eye was the common alcoholic drink found in most saloons. Over-consumption made the eyes red!
(在〔美国〕西部拓荒时代的早期，"red eye"是在大部份的酒廊就有的非常普遍的酒。喝了过多就使眼睛充血了！)
美国的一分钱是用红铜铸造；其颜色带有赤铜色，英文称之为"red cent "以后用来比喻「不值钱的」之意。
I finally found the watch I lost, but it was so badly rusted that it was not worth a red cent.
(我终於找到我遗失的表，但是它已生锈得厉害而一文不值了。)
Why do you keep all this old junk？Those old useless things are not worth a red cent!
(你为什么留下这些废物？这些老旧而无用的东西毫不值钱啊！)
还有一看就知道其涵义的词句有"red hot "(又可以拼作red-hot)一词。它指「炽热的；热烈的；令人兴奋的」等意思，如：
Don't touch that rice-cooker; it's red hot.
(不要碰那个电锅，它好烫。)
The red-hot supporters of the baseball team shouted like hell during the game.
(那棒球队热烈的支持者在比赛中拼命地叫喊。)
The atmosphere of the gymnasium became red hot as the game was getting toward the end.
(比赛快要结束时，体育场的气氛变得非常热烈。)
Many red hot speeches were delivered in a political rally.
(许多激烈的演讲在政治集会中发表出来。)
但是"red hot"也有与"red"和"hot"毫无关连的意思，就是「很有技巧的；最近的，刚发生的」等，如：
Our ping-pong team is red hot.
(我们乒乓队球技超群。)
We got red-hot tips on the stock market.
(我们得到了有关股票市场的最新情报。)
此外常见的词句还有"red tape " ，是指「繁文褥节，无所谓的限制」等意：
He complained that there is so much red tape involved in obtaining a construction permit.
(他埋怨要得到建筑许可证需经过许多关卡。)
There is so much red tape in the processing of his application for a loan from the bank.
(从银行借款的申请手续要经过许多无谓的限制。)