The palm-forward "V" sign, formedby raising and spreading the first two fingers, has three different meanings inAmerican culture.
掌心向外，竖起食指和中指，并向两边展开，这样就构成了一个V形手势。V形手势在美国文化中有三个不同的含义。
The most popular meaning of the"V" sign was invented in 1941 by a Belgian, Victor De Lavalaye.Wanting a symbol for resistance to the Nazi occupation, he came up with thesingle letter "V", which stood not only for his own first name, butalso for English victory, Flemish virijheid, and French victoire. The symbolismof the sign spread very quickly, and Winston Churchill used it constantly inpublic appearance. Thus throughout the 1940s and 1950s, the gesture meantsimply "victory".
V形手势最为普遍的一个意思是在1941年由比利时人维克托·德·拉维雷创造发明的。他用V形手势来表示他对纳粹占领比利时的反抗。这个V 不仅代表他的姓氏，而且还象征英语中的victory (胜利) 、佛兰芒语virijheid(胜利) 和法语victoire (胜利) 这三个单词。这一手势的象征意义迅速地传播开来，温斯顿·邱吉尔在公众场合就曾多次使用。因此, 在20世纪40年代至50 年代期间，这个手势只是表示“胜利”的意思。
The second meaning came in the 1960s.Because of its military implication, American antiwar protestors used the signsarcastically against the arms, so that it became known as the "peacesign".
V 形手势的第二个意思出现在20世纪60年代。由于这个手势含有军事方面的意思，美国反战者就讽刺性地用这个手势来反对战争，于是，这个手势开始被称为“和平标志”。
In the 1970s, the "V" sign, whichhad lost its military implication, was a common greeting among freedom lovers,acid heads, political radicals, and ultimately, young people in general. So byabout the middle of the 1970s, it ceased to give clue to the user's philosophy.
20世纪70年代，V 形手势失去了军事方面的含义，成为热爱自由的人、嗜用迷幻药的人、政治激进主义者们见面问候时常用的手势，并最终在年轻人中广泛流传开来。也就是说，大约到20世纪70年代中期，这个手势就不再体现使用者的人生观了。
The third meaning is the oldest and leastcommon. American children jokingly put "V", which resembles"horns", behind friends' heads in group snapshot. They areunknowingly reproducing something that southern Europeans would find highlyoffensive.
V 形手势的第三个意思最为古老，也最不常见。在拍集体照时，美国孩子开玩笑地在朋友的脑袋后面摆出手势V，样子就像动物的犄角。他们无意中再现了一个被南欧人视为相当无礼的动作。
This mischief, called "horns of theDevil", is a variant of the European "horns" gesture, which isobscene. Here the "V" sign means "Your wife has been cheating onyou" or, when placed behind another's head, "His wife has beencheating on him.
这种被称作“魔鬼之角”的恶作剧是欧洲“角形”手势的变体，后者被认为具有淫秽的意味。在南欧, 手势V 表示“你的老婆对你不忠”。在别人脑袋后面做出这种手势，则表示“他的老婆对他不忠”。
In the United States, the gesture istypically given with the palm facing the viewer. The British use both thisversion and an older, palm-backward version; the latter is obscene in Americanculture, and corresponds to the American "finger".
在美国, 人们通常将掌心向外, 面向对方做出这个手势。而英国人有时将掌心向外, 有时则采用更古老的掌心向内手势。在美国文化里，掌心向内的V形手势与竖中指类似，都被看成是下流动作。
Churchill got some surprised stares in 1941when, evidently unaware of the vulgar usage, he gave the palm-backward"V" to British troops. In England today you could have to be a socialhermit not to understand the distinction. Astonishingly, however, MargaretThatcher repeated Churchill's error after her victory in the 1979 election.
1941年，邱吉尔掌心朝内，向英国军队摆出了V 形手势。一些士兵吃惊地盯着他看，显然他对这个手势的下流含义还全然不知。如今，在英格兰，如果你还不知道掌心向内和向外的V形手势的差别的话，你一定是个不问世事的隐士。然而，令人惊讶的是，玛格丽特·撒切尔在赢得1979年大选之后，又重蹈邱吉尔的覆辙，做了一个掌心向内的V形手势。
