卸膊;兩個動詞? - 古德明
問:「卸膊」英文怎麼說?
答:香港人所謂「卸膊」,是指「規避責任」,英文叫做shirk;有時,「卸膊」帶「推卸責任」的意思,那可以譯做to shift one's responsibility onto other people,例如:(1)He did not shirk his duty in the matter(這件事情,他盡了責)。(2)When anything goes wrong, you can be sure that Mr Tsang will shift his responsibility onto a subordinate(一有什麼出錯,曾先生一定會把責任推卸給下屬)。
又英文俚語有skive一字,指規避工作,例如有工作就缺席、早退等,和「卸膊」差不多,例如:He often skives work(他見到工作,往往就避之則吉)。這樣的卸膊者,叫做shirker或skiver。
問:Philip became acquainted with Kathy(菲力浦認識了凱西)這一句,兩個動詞為什麼連用,而且都用過去式?
答:Become / get(成為)和be(即is、were等,解作「是」)、appear / seem / look / sound(似乎是、看來或聽來似乎是)、remain / stay(仍然是)、prove(結果證明是)等動詞,叫做link verb(連繫動詞),其後都可用形容詞或作用等於形容詞的分詞(participle,即ing或ed形式動詞),例如:(1)He appears / appeared interested in the suggestion(他似乎對這建議感到興趣)。(2)He gets / got tired very easily(他很容易感到疲倦)。讀者示下那一句的became acquainted,就是用這構詞法。
Comments