2012年4月25日星期三

古德明: 眼淚、牀上



問:查字典,tears(眼淚)一字總是用in帶出,但我見過That joke made me laugh with tears這樣的句子,with tearsin tears是不是通用的?

答:說「哭泣」,英文是in tears,例如:I found the child in tears(我見到那孩子在哭泣)。這一句的in不可改為with

讀者示下那一句,我不知道是什麼意思。假如是「那笑話使我笑出眼淚」,英文可說The joke made me laugh till tears cameto my eyes);假如是「那笑話使我破涕為笑」,則可說The joke made me laugh through my tears

此外,你會看到Her eyes brimmed / filled with tears(她眼淚盈眶)這說法,但那with是和brimfill連用;你還會看到She stood with tears in her eyes(她站在那裏,眼睛含淚)這樣的句子,但那with只是用來帶出某種情況的,也不是和tears連用,以下是兩個類似例子:(1She stood with a surprised expression in her eyes(她站在那裏,眼睛流露出驚訝神情)。(2He walked to and fro, with a sad look on his face(他來回踱步,一臉憂鬱)。

問:「躺在牀上」是to lie in bed還是to lie on bed

答:In bed(在牀上)是成語,in不可改為on。但是,假如bed之前有athe等限定詞(determiner),則用inon都可以,例如:(1He waslying in bed(他睡在牀上)。(2He was lying lazily in / on his bed(他懶懶的躺在牀上)。