Misery loves company. 

字面意思：“难中喜相伴”。

中文成语：“同病相怜”。

谚语或格言，一般是带有积极意义的。我认为，这句英文解释曲解了原意，起码是不高尚的人生观：

Unhappy people like other people to be unhappy too. 不快乐的人也喜欢别人不快乐。

【请教曹老师】

loves company 明明就是“喜爱相伴”之意。所以翻译成“同病相怜”，比较切合愿意。“同病相怜”是汉语成语。怜：怜悯，同情。比喻因有同样的遭遇或痛苦而互相同情。love 是“喜爱”之意，怎么能理解为“把负面的东西传染给他人”？

网友给的的英文注释和例句，源自同一本辞书，所以，既然承认英文注释错了（Unhappy people like other people to be unhappy too. 不快乐的人也喜欢别人不快乐。），所设置的语境和例句，能对吗？

我同意刘老师的看法，即某词典这句英文注释曲解了成语“Misery loves company”原意。我们知道，misery可以是抽象名词：苦难、悲惨、悲惨的境遇。但也可以为具体名词表示一个处境悲惨的人。从以下两个例句可以看出，Misery loves company.这个成语其实是指一个人的情绪容易受到别人的情绪的感染或影响，或者不同的人在某种情况下可能会有相同的负面情绪。这个成语用的是拟人的手法，将misery比喻为人，喜欢寻求同伴。而该词典却误以为misery是具体名词了，因而做出了错误的解释。另外，Misery loves company不应称作谚语，只能说是成语或习语。汉语成语“同病相怜”与其有类似之处，但也不完全相等。应该根据具体句子的语境做出适当的翻译。

I should probably feel bad because my sister is so depressed, but I’m pretty depressed myself. Misery loves company. 

Jill: Why is Linda criticizing everybody today? 

Jane: Her boss criticized her this morning, and misery loves company. 

Misery loves company.这句话的实质应该是指一个人的负面情绪或会传染给他人。我想不起汉语表达类似情况的成语。同病相怜显然没有完全表达出英语的本意来。

回复刘老师

以上是我根据该词典例句分析的意思。通常词典的例句并不是编篡者自己编写的，而是从经典文学作品、著名作家或语料库中选择典型例句，根据自己的理解加上注释。因此，不接受某词典的注释不影响对例句的分析，剖析某词项在这个语境中的意义。英语成语和汉语成语很少有完全对等的。汉语的同病相怜只适用于人作主语。但英语的misery loves company并没有这个限制。仅凭这一点就可知道”同病相怜“的翻译过于狭隘。请刘老师仔细读一下我下面从COCA选出的例句，这些句子中能用同病相怜翻译吗？

以下为COCA语料库例句，我们可以从中分析misery loves company在不同上下文中的语义。除了同病相怜的意思之外，还有其他意思。下面例句中的misery loves company都不是同病相怜的意思。

So, he called together a great many foxes and told them to cut off their tails, saying that they would look much better without a tail and would no longer have the inconvenience of carrying around the weight of its bushiness. They would also escape more easily from their enemy, the Dog. One of the older and wiser foxes interrupted the Fox and said, " If you had not lost your tail, you would not be counseling us to get rid of our tails. " MORAL: Misery loves company. 

这段故事的寓意：自己不幸，也希望别人和自己一样不幸。此处绝没有“同病相怜”的意思。

One thing I learned from my course in reading... is that novels, even those from apparently distant times and places, remain current and enlightening, and also comforting.... My hundred novels were not outdated at all, but testified, over and over, to the perennial nature of regular human thought -- not only are there problems and conflicts that persist in not being solved, there are also the insight and common sense people have brought to bear on those problems. It was not only that misery loves company, but also that Jane Austen is a good guide to personal integrity; Anthony Trollope does know how marriage works; Honore de Balzac is indispensable when Jacques Chirac refers to the relationship between France and England as un amour violent. It's worth remembering' The Makioka Sisters' when the newspaper reports a typhoon in Japan.

此句中的misery loves company显然指人类的不幸、痛苦每年都会发生。（不幸事件喜欢有伴侣。）这里绝没有同病相怜的意思。

Boulder, Larimer and Weld counties are living - and dying - through West Nile's misery this summer. # But misery loves company. Communities such as the Grand Valley, the Four Corners and the San Luis Valley, where West Nile arrived with a whisper this summer, can expect the virus to roar beginning next spring. # Since West Nile made its American premiere in 1999, it has kept to the same basic script: The first year it enters a region, horse, bird and human infections are minimal. The second year, infection rates balloon. The third year, twice-bitten areas see some relief.

一种严重的病毒感染正在一个地区肆虐，另一个地区病毒感染大爆发也在预期中。不幸事件结伴而来。这里绝没有“同病相怜”的意思。

A Bitch of an Itch A guy will scratch his privates in public without a second thought, but you're a lady, dammit Yet when sidelined by a yeast infection -- an incessant itch coupled with cottage cheese-like discharge -- you wish you could be so uncouth. If misery loves company, you've got plenty: Roughly 75 percent of all women are plagued with a yeast infection at least once in their lives. 

一种霉菌感染的妇科疾病（对妇女而言的不幸事件）感染75%的妇女。不幸事件常结伴而来。这里绝对没有同病相怜的意思。

" I was wrong. " He says, " If misery loves company, I had 49 out of the 50 of the best economists in America who were also wrong with me. " 

我错了。但98%的美国经济学家跟我一样也错了。犯错误这种不幸事件结伴发生。没有“同病相怜”的意思。

The inquiry into currency trading opens up another can of worms for the troubled firm. Next to bond trading, foreign exchange is Salomon's biggest moneymaker. But if misery loves company, Salomon may not be alone for long. Representative J.J. PICKLES, (D-TX): You're not the only known sinner in the trading market, and if you were taking advantage of the system, it seems to me it stands to reason that probably others would be doing the same thing.

一个公司违规被调查。其它公司公司可能也有同样的违规操作。对被查公司而言，它的不幸不是孤独的，它有伴侣。（其它违规公司也会陆续被调查。）这里并没有“同病相怜”的意思。

如果我们将misery loves company狭隘地理解为同病相怜，就根本无法理解以上这些句子。

汉语成语“同病相怜”的英语表达是：

Those with the same illness sympathize with each other.（摘自《外研社汉英词典》第三版）

同意刘老师解答!这是一句谚语“同病相怜”。