2012年6月4日星期一

古德明: 敏感話題、-coming




問:日前《爽報》刊登希拉莉一篇講辭,以下一句是什麼意思呢?——Now, raising this issue, I know, is sensitive for many people and that the obstacles standing in the way of protecting the human rights of LGBT people rest on deeply held personal, political, cultural, and religious beliefs
答:LGBTlesbian(女同性戀者)、gay(男同性戀者)、bisexual(兩性俱戀者)、transgender(愛扮異性者或變性者)的縮寫。希拉莉是說:「我知道,不少人對這問題十分敏感;要保護同性戀者、兩性俱戀者、愛扮異性者或變性者的人權,障礙重重,涉及個人、政治、文化、宗教等根深蒂固的信仰。」

問:Upcomingforthcomingincoming三字,可以通用嗎?

答:Incoming指「到來的」或「將繼任的」,和upcomingforthcoming不同,反義詞是outgoing,例如:(1The receptionist collects all incoming mail(寄來的信件,都由接待員收下)。(2The incoming government won't be any better than the outgoing one(將上任的政府,不會比將卸任的好)。「寄出的信件」則當然是outgoing mail

Forthcoming有幾個意思,其一是「即將來臨的」,可和upcoming通用。Upcoming一字,第二次世界大戰之後才見流行。最初也惹起批評,論者或認為forthcoming才是正確說法,但現在兩字並行,例如:I certainly won't vote for the Democratic Party in the upcoming / forthcoming Legislative Council election(立法會選舉即將來臨,我絕對不會投票給民主黨)。