莫平的英文私塾

我白天在一家高中教科書出版社打工, 每次上工都可以看到不少不學無術的高中老師為課本或參考書寫的殘害幼苗英文. 以下是今天的分享:

1. After repeated questioning, the suspect more or less admitted that he had accidentally killed the victim.

這句話描寫 "嫌犯或多或少承認了他失手殺了受害者." 

評語: 承認就承認, 不承認就不承認, 什麼叫做 "或多或少承認"呢? 難道他只承認他殺了被害人的屁股, 而沒有殺他的大腿嗎?

2. The teacher asked us to stop writing and hand in the test papers in turn.

這句話是說老師叫學生 "輪流" 交考卷.

評語: 我記得交考卷都是一哄而上, 然後爭先恐後奔出教室去尿尿或偷抽菸或釘孤枝. 何謂 "輪流" 呢? 就是老師說: "張三你先交, 再來輪到李四, 那個王二不要搶, 等麻子交完了你再交." 我莫平如果輪到最後交, 可能下節考試開始都還輪不到, 要憋尿了.

3. I wonder how the dispute came about in the first place so that we can settle it.

這句看懂了嗎? 它的意思是: "我想知道這爭執起初是如何發生的,  這樣我們才能解決它."

評語: 什麼叫Chinglish? 這句算是夠有代表性了吧. 這句英文充分說明了死背字典解釋, 不懂前後文情境限制的語詞誤用是多麼普遍.

首先, wonder 在求助語氣的 I wonder if you could give me a hand. 裡面是等於 want to know沒錯, 但在本句非求助情境之中, 則只有 "not sure"的意思. 所以句子成了 I'm not sure how the dispute came about in the first place so that we can settle it. "我不確定這爭執起初是如何發生的, 這樣我們才能解決它." 既然不確定, 如何去解決呢?

再者, came about 與 in the first place意義重覆, 所以應將in the first place 刪去.

最後, 句子成為If we want to settle the dispute, we need to know how it originated.

4. I feel carsick and want to throw up. Can you please slow down a little?

評語: 暈車已經想要吐了, 直接的下一步應該是 "找嘔吐袋" 吧? 減速應該已經來不及了吧? 若說 I feel carsick. Can you please slow down a little? 就比較合理.

5. The school team's performance this year fell short of the audience's expectations.

評語: school team如果是辯論隊, 這句就是正確的. 如果是球隊, 這句就是錯誤的. 因為看球賽的觀眾不叫audience, 叫spectator(s).

6. In order to stay healthy, we should all take measures to quit our own bad habits.

評語: 只有機構, 尤其是政府機構, 才能 take measures "採取措施", 個人不能take measures. 此外, own "自己的" 後面通常直接接名詞, 不會接形容詞 (此處的bad), 所以 own 應該拿掉.