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）。