2013年1月3日星期四

古德明: 美如公主、只供參考




問:以下一句,Beautiful之前要不要加being?──Beautiful as a princess, she is loved by many boys(她和公主一樣美麗,獲不少男人愛慕)。

答:這一句文法正確,不用加being,但句子意思很有問題:「公主」不一定美麗。把a princess改為Helen of Troy會好一點:「特洛伊的海倫」是引起木馬屠城戰事的絕色美女。

Being known for her beauty / Being a girl of ravishing beauty / Being (as) beautiful as Helen of Troy, she is loved by many boys這樣的句子,句式是「分詞子句(participle clause)+主要子句(main clause)」,讀者當不會感到陌生。而being一字,通常都會略去。謹再舉兩個例子:(1A resolute man, he refused to give up(他為人很有恒心,不肯就此罷休)。(2Totally unaware of the assassination plot, Caesar left for the Senate House(凱撒完全不知道行刺的陰謀,動身去元老院)。留意那分詞子句,往往用來解釋主要子句所說的事。

問:英文科老師說,要表示「附件只供參考」,可說For your information,不可說for your review,對不對?

答:那位老師沒有說錯。Review不是「參考」,而是「查案」或「審閱」,例如:In my review of the report, I found a number of grammatical mistakes(我審閱報告時,找到些文法錯誤)。至於「只供參考」,說For your information onlyFor your reference only都可以。