問:看電影,聽到以下一句:You cheated on the test(你測驗作弊)。我向來會說You
cheated in the test,是不是錯用了介系詞(preposition)?
答:You cheated in the test絕對是正確英文。第四版《朗文當代英文辭典》cheat字條就有以下例句:He had cheated in the test by using a calculator(他測驗中作弊,用了計算機)。「在測驗中」英文是in a test,不說on
a test,例如:(1)I failed to answer
all the questions in the aptitude test(智能測驗中的問題,我無法全部回答)。(2)He did well in the English test(他在英文測驗中取得很好成績)。
但You cheated on the test這一句也完全沒有錯。Cheat字之後,往往用on帶出在某件事情上作弊,例如:(1)The Chinese Communist Party has cheated on the so-called
constitution drafted and adopted by the party itself(中國共產黨沒有遵守他們自己草擬和批准的所謂憲法)。(2)A student caught cheating on the examination will be
disqualified(考試作弊的學生,被發現之後,考試資格會取消)。To cheat on a test的on,與其說是和test連用,不如說是和cheat連用。
此外,英文還有to cheat on somebody這說法,指情侶或夫婦一方對另一方不忠,例如:On
her deathbed, she admitted to her husband that she had been cheating on him(她臨終時,向丈夫承認一直給他戴綠帽)。