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》

2013年1月11日星期五

古德明: 上樓梯、少見面




問:英文歌"White Horse"You'll... lead her up the stairwell(你會帶她走上樓梯)這一句。Stairwellstairsstaircasestairway等有什麼分別?要說「你會抱着她走上樓梯」英文怎麼說?

答:Staircasestairway同義,指整條樓梯,包括扶手欄杆;stairwell直譯是「樓梯井」,指整條樓梯所佔的井形空間;a stair是「一級樓梯」,stairs則是其複數形式。「帶她走上樓梯」一般會說to lead her up the stairs,說to lead her up the staircase / stairway也可以,to lead her up the stairwell則最為少說。歌詞用stairwell,只是因為stairwell和上一句最後一字tale尾音較為諧協。

至於「你會抱着她走上樓梯」,英文可以說You will carry her in your arms up the stairs,其中in your arms三字不用也可以。

問:As time went by we saw less and less of each other(日子漸漸過去,我們越來越少見面)這一句,less and less之後為什麼用of?句子為什麼不寫作As time went by we saw each other less and less

答:We saw less and less of each otherless是名詞,所以其後可以用of,謹再舉一例:Less of the wine was left than I had expected(剩下的酒,比我預期的少)。


We saw each other less and less同樣是正確說法,但less是副詞(adverb),修飾動詞saw,謹再舉一例:You should drink less(你應少喝點酒)。