問:「輸少當贏」英文怎樣翻譯呢?
答:英文可以譯做to congratulate oneself on not having lost more
heavily(慶幸自己沒有多輸一點),另一譯法是to count oneself a winner for
having cut one's losses。
Count oneself a winner和cut one's losses這兩個說法,也許須解釋一下。Cut
one's losses指「及早住手,以免損失更多」,即所謂「止蝕」。Count除了解作「計算」,還有「認為」、「看作」的意思,其後習慣用「受詞(object)+名詞/形容詞」,例如:(1)As business was bad, I
decided to close the shop and cut my losses(生意不好,我決定把店關了,以免繼續蝕本)。(2)She counted herself lucky that she survived the plane crash(飛機墜毀,她竟然得保性命,自覺幸運)。
問:「他站得比我前」、「他站得比我後」和「最前」、「最後」,英文怎麼說?
答:「前」、「後」一般是說in front of和behind,例如:He stood(somewhat)behind me / in front of me in the queue(他排隊站在我後面/前面)。加上somewhat一字,則是說「後一點」或「前一點」。
「最前」、「最後」怎樣譯,得看情況而定。要說「他排隊站在最前面/最後面」,可說He stood at the head
/ at the(very)end of the queue。又英文常用forefront說「最前線」,例如:He is always
in the forefront of the struggle for the liberation of China(在解放中國的奮鬥之中,他從不後人)。