問:「偏偏」英文怎樣說?例如以下一句:「說現在的事,可以用can或could;說過去的事,可以用could,偏偏不能用can。」
答:「偏偏」這樣的虛詞,沒有一個固定譯法,得看上下文而定。「偏偏」一般指「跟願望、意料、道理等相反」或「有意做一些跟願望、意料、道理等相反」的事。第一個意思,常可譯做but、yet或though、when;第二個意思,則或可譯做must
needs,例如:(1)He is the richest
man in Asia, but / yet his greed for money remains unsatisfied(他是亞洲首富,偏偏還是貪財無厭),(2)He continued working hard though / when he knew that his
health was rapidly deteriorating(他明知自己健康迅速轉差,偏偏繼續辛勤工作)。(3)He knew I did not enjoy rock music, and he must needs invite
me to a rock concert(他知道我不喜歡搖滾樂,偏偏邀請我去搖滾音樂會)。
讀者示下那一句,可以用but:When talking about the present, we can use
"can" or "could"; when talking about the past, we can also
use "could", but not "can"。
問:I
did not know his intention to withdraw from People Power(我不知道他有意退出人民力量)這一句,字典說應改為 intention of withdrawing,對嗎?
答:我不知道讀者說的是哪本字典,但兩個說法其實都正確。謹再舉一例:I don't have the
slightest intention of going / to go there(我完全無意去那裏)。