2012年2月28日星期二

古德明: 《傲慢與偏見》一段對話



問:Pride and Prejudice(傲慢與偏見)有以下對話:"Pray let her know that I am quite in raptures with her beautiful little design for a table." "Will you give me leave to defer your raptures till I write again? At present I have not room to do them justice." Give somebody二字之後,可以用「動詞+ to+原形動詞(infinitive)」嗎?

答:上述give me leaveleave不是動詞,而是名詞,意思是「准許」,例如:(1May I have your leave to speak?(可以容許我說話嗎?)(2I was given leave to go(我獲許離去)。讀者應該都知道leave可解作「休假」,這其實是「准許」意思的引伸,是leave of absence(准許缺勤或缺席)的縮寫,例如:He was home on leaveof absence)(他休假在家)。

Pride and Prejudice那段對話,寫賓利小姐有心親近達西先生,見達西寫信給妹妹,就央達西轉告:「請告訴她,她那幅桌子設計小圖,十分好看,我擊節歎賞。」達西不為所動,冷冷的說:「我可不可以把你的擊節歎賞推遲一點,下次寫信才加進去?現在這封信篇幅有限,不能好好表達那擊節歎賞。」To do justice to something有「照實表現」的意思,例如:The photo does not do justice to her beauty(那張照片未能表達她的美貌)。

【代郵】郭先生:中國人姓名,用英文書寫,姓與名何者在先,何者在後,無既定規則。但「姚明」一般作Yao Ming,少作Ming Yao;「曾蔭權」則作Donald Tsang Yam-kuen,少作Donald Yam-kuen Tsang