根据百度百科，“仙人跳”指“以从事淫秽活动为由头，一些男人的某种猎艳心理（一般是去找妓女），两人到某处，准备做些见不得人的勾当的时候，这时候，这个女的同伙，一般是一男性，突然出现在眼前，为了不让事情张扬出去，为求自保，好色男会把身上的钱给这对同伙，而他们则是达到敲诈的目的。”之所以被称为“仙人跳”是因为这种敲诈手段容易得手，设下的陷阱神仙也挑不出来。
英语中与“仙人跳”对应的表述为badger game。根据《韦氏词典》，该表达意为“an extortion racket in which a man is lured by a woman into a compromising position and is then confronted with and blackmailed by the woman's accomplice posing as her husband or brother”，中了仙人跳的人就是victim of the badger game。定义中comprising这个词用的很“文雅”，本意为to expose to suspicion, discredit, or mischief。In a compromising position是一个固定的含蓄表达，意为have sexual relations，比如：He and his secretary were caught in a compromising position。
根据《美国传统词典》，badger game来源于一种古老的放狗来猎杀獾（badger）的残忍娱乐，其中的badger扮演诱饵的角色，也就是“仙人跳”中的女子：
The term alludes to the much older sport of badger-baiting, in which a live badger was trapped and put inside a box and dogs were set on it to drag it out. The woman in the scheme is the "badger."
《卫报》一篇文章描述了badger game的场景：
Two scarily large dogs, "like something out of Harry Potter", were covered in blood and violently shaking a badger. The badger was emitting a distinctive chittering, the sound of a wild animal in great pain and distress. Several terriers raced around, snatching a bite as the dogs played tug-of-war with the badger.
“美人计”与“仙人跳”的区别在于其不一定是一种敲诈勒索的手段，比如《三国演义》中王允把貂蝉献给董卓就是美人计，而非仙人跳。“美人计”的一种译法可以是honey trap。根据《剑桥词典》，该表达有两个意思：一是something that is very attractive and attracts a lot of people，给出的例句为Istanbul is a honey trap for tourists；另外一个与本文关系更为密切的解释为the use of an attractive person to try to get information from someone，给出的例句为Police set up a honey trap to get him to confess to the crime。《牛津词典》对honey trap的定义更宽泛一些，不限于收集情报：A stratagem in which an attractive person entices another person into revealing information or doing something unwise。
虽然在美国《韦氏词典》中查不到honey trap，但这一表达也出现在美国主流媒体上，比如《华盛顿时报》的一篇文章：
But Hockney's deep distrust of Castro doesn't prevent him from journeying to Havana and falling into an old-fashioned honey trap. First, the wily Cubans slip a drug into his drink and then photograph him in the naked arms of a Cuban lovely.
虽然“仙人跳”和“美人计”可以译为badger game和honey trap，但需要注意的是这两个表达都不常见，比如在《华盛顿时报》与《卫报》中都没有搜索到badger game这一用法。 除准确外，翻译要也追求简明、直白，在使用典故和习语时需检查一下这些表达当今使用的频率如何，不要让读者去查字典。
回到“仙人跳”和“美人计”，为了便于读者理解，可在这些词语第一次出现时较详细解释一下，后文再出现时用trap、ploy或scheme等词代替。如果是在新闻标题中出现“仙人跳”或“美人计”，或可考虑将其统一简化译为trap of seduction。
（中国翻译研究院）
