高樓低廈,人潮起伏,
名爭利逐,千萬家悲歡離合。

閑雲偶過,新月初現,
燈耀海城,天地間留我孤獨。

舊史再提,故書重讀,
冷眼閑眺,關山未變寂寞!

念人老江湖,心碎家國,
百年瞬息,得失滄海一粟!

徐訏《新年偶感》

2012年8月3日星期五

古德明: 難忘的一幕、有些東西



問:貴欄說過,which可以指前面整個子句(clause)所說的事。That也可以這樣用嗎?

答:That當然不可以這樣用。例如He did not know the answer, which was surprising(他不知道答案,那很奇怪)一語,which不可用that取代。
讀者提出上述問題,是因為在一本教英文的書裏看到以下句子,誤以為句中的that字等於whichI was so surprised to see Chief Executive Tsang Yam-kuen pick up a banana thrown at him by Longhair Leung Kwok-hung and then throw it back at Longhair that it will always be etched in my memory(我見到行政長官曾蔭權拾起長毛梁國雄擲向他的香蕉,回擲長毛。這一幕令我深感詫異,留在心裏,永不磨滅)。句中的that,其實是和so連用,即I was so surprised that...,只是原句的sothat相隔實在太遠,而it will always be etchedit字指什麼,並不清楚。句子改寫一下,也許會好一點:I was so surprised to see Chief Executive Tsang Yam-kuen pick up the banana Longhair Leung Kwok-hung threw at him and throw it back that the scene will forever be etched in my memory

問:Somethingsome things有什麼分別?

答:Something是「某種東西」,是單數名詞,沒有複數形式;some things則指「幾種東西」,例如:(1She left something for you(她留下一件東西給你)。(2Some things are better left unsaid(有些事情最好不要說)。