莫平的英文私塾

詞彙題

5. Mei-ling has a very close relationship with her parents. She always consults them before she makes important decisions.

評析：Mei-ling has a very close relationship with her parents是中式英文。英文說兩人關係密切，只消說A and B are very close.就好了，不應為了特地考出relationship這個單字而使用不好的英文。修改後成為：
Meiling and her parents are very close. She consults with them whenever she has an important decision to make.

6. The restaurant has a minimum charge of NT$250 per person. So the four of us need to pay at least NT$1,000 to eat there.
評析：“has a minimum charge of…” 的Google搜尋筆數不少，但加上the restaurant後就只剩十筆。換言之，restaurant與has a minimum charge是罕見的搭配。另外，so the four of us…與主句有直接因果關係，不應該另起一句，應該用逗點連接。to eat there的 to eat 是贅字，因為前面已經說是restaurant了，不可能去餐廳做別的事，所以「吃」是多餘資訊。其實我看到這句話後的直覺反應，除了英文的部分之外，還覺得作者可能誤解了「低消」的定義。就本句的案例來說，每人低消250元，並不是四人1000元就算數的。如果四人只點三份餐，雖超過1000元，常常還是不OK的，因為顯然第四人沒有消費。這種爭議的算法，相信很多人都有經驗。Anyway, 如果不管資訊正確與否，本句修改如下：
The minimum charge per person is NT$250 in that restaurant, so the four of us have to pay/ spend at least NT$1,000 there.

9. Most young people in Taiwan are not satisfied with a high school diploma and continue to pursue further education in college.
評析：第一，“not satisfied with a high school diploma”（不滿足於高中文憑）的 Google 搜尋只有八筆，換言之，這是中式英文。“Be satisfied with” 的對象，通常與「行為或行為的結果」有關，而不是單純的「物件」，例如我們不能說I’m not satisfied with the banana.，因為這根香蕉沒有暗示任何「行為」。論字源，satisfy 的兩個字根是 satis (enough, sufficient) 與 –fact (do)，所以沒有do（行為），就沒有enough（滿意）。此外，單字diploma指的是「畢業證書」，是看得見的一張紙，不是抽象的「高中學位」，應該換成degree。第二，continue to pursue 意思是「持續追求」（持續做原來的動作），不是「繼續追求」（結束前階段動作，開始下段動作），所以不意外地，Google搜尋 “continue to pursue further education in college” 的結果是 “O”。第三，“further education” 暗示「（額外的；非必需的）教育」。一般來說，研究所以上才算是 further education。大學並不是 further education。本句修改後成為：
In Taiwan, most high school graduates want to continue their education in college because a high school degree is not good enough for them.