Thursday, August 5, 2010

親戚、急不可待

問: Kin和 relative都是指「親戚」,意思有分別嗎?

答:血緣或婚姻上的親戚,都可以叫 kin或 relative,但 kin多見於舊式英文,是個複數名詞,指「眾親戚」;「一個親戚」是 a relative,不可說 a kin,例如:( 1) He liked his aunt, but not his other kin/ relatives(他喜歡姑母,卻不喜歡其他親戚)。( 2) He did not invite a single relative to his wedding(他沒有邀請任何一個親戚出席他的婚禮)。

此外, kin還可以指「同族(而沒有親戚關係)的人」, relative卻不可以,例如: The Indians hated the whites for killing their kin and plundering their land(印第安人恨白人,因為白人殺他們族人,掠他們土地)。

問:英文有沒有 I can't wait for learning from you soon這樣的說法?意思是不是「我等不及向你學習」?

答: Can't wait或 can hardly wait不是「等不及」,而是「急不可待」或「熱切盼望(某些事、物)」的意思,例如:( 1) I can't wait to see him(我急不可待想見他)。( 2) I can't wait for your next letter(我盼望收到你下一封信)。讀者示下那一句,由於沒有上下文,無法斷定是什麼意思。假如是說「我熱切期望向你學習」,較自然的說法是 I can't wait to learn from you,那 soon字應刪去;假如要保留 soon字,則宜用 look forward to代替 can't wait: I look forward to learning from you soon。

【代郵】慶文先生:僕九月起將於《明報月刊》撰寫專欄論英文為骨之現代漢語,日後或可編輯成書,謹覆。

(古德明)

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