莫平的英文私塾

雖然如同蜉蝣撼大樹，但我每年還是要針砭大考考題一番，算是對自己的專業有所交待。

1. Nowadays many companies adopt a flexible work schedule which allows their employees to decide when to arrive at work -- from as early as 6 a.m. to as late as 11 a.m.

分析：adopt 是瞬時動詞，不能用於現在簡單式（我喜歡稱它「習慣式」），因為它不是每天都在做的動作（如 I go to school by bus. 的 go）。這個動作是一次性的，做完就沒有了，成為過去了，所以用過去式或現在完成式才合理。此處強調許多公司都「已經」採用，故應改為現在完成式。改成完成式後，用於簡單式的 nowadays 也成為多餘。此外，as early as/ as late as太囉唆，是為製造考題難度而故意加上去的贅字。站在簡潔英文的角度，我要把它刪除。修改後成為：

Many companies have adopted a flexible schedule that allows employees to get to the office between 6 a.m. and 11 a.m.

其實彈性工時已經有專用字flextime/ flexitime。所以就非考題用途的英文來說，說 Many companies have adopted flextime. 就已經可以了。

2. To teach children right from wrong, some parents reward their children when they behave well and punish them when they misbehave.

分析：副詞擺在句首不是不可以，但必須是被強調或最重要的內容。這句的核心意義應該是在 reward 與 punish 兩個動詞上，而且 behave well 與 misbehave 已經明示「對與錯」的涵義，所以 right from wrong 幾乎已經是多餘的敘述，可直接拿掉或放在句中較不顯眼處，成為：
# Some parents reward their children if they behave well and punish them if they don't.
或
# Some parents would punish their children for bad behavior in order to teach them right from wrong.