沖廁水、雖然

問： Please note that flush water supply to all floors has resumed normal（各層沖廁水供應已恢復正常，謹此奉告）這一句， normal一字是不是多餘的？

答：「沖廁水」英文一般不叫做 flush water，宜改為 water for flushing the toilet：「恢復正常」譯做 resume normal也很古怪。整句最好改寫如下： Please note that the supply of water to all floors for flushing the toilet has returned to normal/ has been restored。 Has been restored之後，文法上可加 to normal，但那的確有點「多餘」。

問： Despite she knew that the date of birth on the I.D. card was wrong, she did not correct it（她雖然知道身分證上的出生日期有誤，卻不更正）這一句，為什麼讀起來似乎有點不妥當？

答： Despite（＝ in spite of雖然、儘管）是介系詞（ preposition），而介系詞之後必須用名詞或動名詞（ gerund），不可用普通子句（ clause），所以不能說 Despite she knew that等等。讀者說的那一句，要改正，可在 despite之後加 the fact這個名詞，也可把 knew改為動名詞，即 Despite her knowing（或 Despite the fact that she knew） that the date of birth on the I.D. card was wrong, she did not correct it。留意「 Despite the fact that+子句」雖然文法正確，但頗嫌累贅，可以的話，就不要用這句式，例如可用 though取代 despite，即 though she knew that the date of birth等等。這樣，句子意思不變，說起來卻簡單自然。

（古德明）