問：香港最近那場行政長官選舉鬧劇，不少人希望流選。這「流選」英文怎麼說？
答：「流產」英文叫abortion，動詞、形容詞是abort和abortive。The Catholics are against abortion即「天主教徒反對墮胎」。這幾個字常用來比喻未能成事的計劃、行動等，例如：（1）The attempt on the dictator's life proved abortive（謀殺那獨夫的行動失敗了）。（2）The rescue operation
had to be aborted when the enemy got wind of our plan（敵人知道了我們的計劃，營救行動不得不取消）。
「流選」也可以用abort、abortive二字來說，例如：（1）If
the majority of the Election Committee members had cast blank votes, the
election would have been aborted and another vote would have been required（選舉委員假如多數投白票，就會流選，要再行選舉）。（2）The
communists would not allow an abortive / aborted election（共產黨不容許流選）。
問：It
appears that I do not to have received your reply up to now（我恐怕至今還未收到你的回覆）這一句，文法正確嗎？
答：英文不可能有I
do not to have received這樣兩種動詞時式糅雜的說法。句子應改為It appears
that I have not received your reply up to now或I do not
appear to have received your reply up to now。另一寫法是It
appears that I have not yet received（或I have yet to
receive）your reply。