吹毛求疵集 （ZT）

[size=4][color=#ff0000]此为转载。原文是旺旺英语 Tx 老师的原创[/color][/size]

[Redundancy]

Rio Grande River
Rio Grande

Rio是西班牙语river的意思 。所以Rio Grande River里的River是赘词﹐Rio Grande就够了。正确的读法是“REE-oh GRAHN-day.”

这条河发源于科罗拉多的San JuanMountains﹐向南流经新墨西哥州(New Mexico) ，到美墨边境的德州 (Texas) 边城El Paso﹐最后注入墨西哥湾(Gulf of Mexico)。从1845年德州加入美国后，一直是美墨的界河。

有些德佬，种族歧见较强，老爱叫墨裔美人为wetbacks﹐意思是说这些人非法入境，游水过Rio Grande﹐背部没擦干。还湿淋淋的呢。(“Wetback” is an ethnic slur, 千万用不得。)

Redundancy]<br /><br />The Gobi戈壁<br />The Gobi Desert戈壁沙漠<br /><br />      戈壁是蒙古大沙漠。蒙古语称沙漠为戈壁，所以戈壁沙漠是赘词，称之为戈壁即可。<br /><br />      洋人患同样错误的也不少，不称The Gobi，偏要画蛇添足，叫它做The Gobi Desert。而且以讹传讹﹐弄得知道正确用法的人也紧张不安。大家看看下面一段话，就可以体会到这心情：<br /><br /><br /><br />Expedition members will have the opportunity to prospect for and excavate<br />fossils from the legendary <span style='color:purple'>Gobi Desert</span>. <span style='color:purple'>The Gobi</span> is considered by many to be the &quot;Mecca&quot; of the fossil world, and due to its remote location and difficult terrain, the desert is still rich with fossils recording the Late Cretaceous Period.<br /><br /><br /><br />      短短两句话里，作者先从俗，用的是the Gobi Desert。但又怕行家说话，马上来个The Gobi。Alas, sometimes a little knowledge is a bothersome thing&#33;

Return back<br />Return<br /><br /><br />签证官可以认定申请人有移民倾向而拒签。<br /><br />The Consular Officers can deny visa if they believe that the Applicants have &quot;immigration intent&quot; and will not return back to China. <br /><br />The verb <span style='color:purple'>return</span> means to go back again to a former place. Hence, the phrase <span style='color:purple'>return back</span> is definitely a redundancy. Use just return.

Is &#39;data&#39; singular or plural?<br />Data是单数还是复数 ? <br /><br /> Quick&#33; Tell me which of the following sentences is correct:<br /><br /> The data show that crime is down in our city.<br /> The data shows that crime is down in our city.<br />       严格说来，data是datum (a fact) 的复数，所以应该用动词的复数形。但二战后，随着电脑的兴起，data渐渐变成information的同义词。Information是不可数的集合名词，动词当然只好用单数形了。This is now regarded as generally acceptable in American use, and in the context of information technology. People in life sciences <br />and in Britain still prefer to treat “data” as a plural noun. <br /><br />       On a personal note, I have some friends in biology and medicine. <br />They are extremely proud of their extensive Latin training, and are the <br />brave people with their collective finger in the proverbial dike. But, alas&#33; <br />I think they are fighting a losing cause.

Spaghetti/Spaghetto<br />意大利面条<br /><br />有些老外，spaghetti吃撑了没事做，成天为data是单数还是复数，吵个不可开交。其实，大家看看spaghetti这个字，也许可了解百年来，单数复数用法的一般趋势。<br /><br />The word is the plural of Italian word spaghetto, meaning little string. Therefore, literally, spaghetti means little strings. Nowadays it is, however, normally treated as a singular noun. Thus, we say “Spaghetti is fattening” rather than “Spaghetti are fattening.” A single strand of spaghetti is referred to as “a piece of spaghetti” rather than “A spaghetto.” The WW2 American general George S. Patton said “A piece of spaghetti or a military unit can only be lead from the front end.” <br /><br />当然，那些死硬派是不会这么快认输的。I can almost hear them shouting defiantly, “But more data are needed before we can draw any meaningful conclusion on this matter.”

Confucious/Confusionism<br /><br />北京孔庙<br /> Confucious Temple<br /><br /><br />東吳哲學學報（SOOCHOW JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY STUDIES）<br /> <br />第一期目錄    <br /> <br />八十五年三月<br /><br /><br /> <br />傅XX（xxx-xxx FU）<br />孔子論人性與群我關係（Confucious on Human Nature ＆Human Relations） <br /> <br /><br />Do you spot anything wrong with the two banners? <br />这两个banners有什么毛病吗？<br /><br />Full marks for those who saw the spelling error in the name of the Great Teacher&#33; Pat yourself on the back and award yourself a gold star. <br />看出至圣先师名字拼错的，个个得满分。请先自我表扬一番；功劳簿上，再大记一笔。<br /><br />The spelling error is fairly common. It even shows up in some scholarly publications.<br />满多人犯这个错，甚至有些学者一不小心，也会出丑。<br /><br />The name “Confucius” is a Latinized transliteration of孔夫子. It was a common practice among European scholars to Latinize a male by adding an &quot;-ius&quot; to the end of the name. By the way, 孟子was Latinized as Mencius.<br /><br />So let’s all remember:<br />     孔子         Confucius<br />     孔子信徒   Confucian<br />     孔学         Confucianism

Mon, Jun-21-04<br /><br />What on earth is the name of our planet?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />How fast the Earth is moving? The question is meaningless since motion cannot be measured without a reference point. We can ask how fast the earth is moving with respect to its own axis, the Sun, or the Milky Way Galaxy.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />这人问地球跑得多快。个人与天文一向无缘，只知自转24小时，公转365.249天，偷看了答案，才知道地球以每秒30公里的速度绕着太阳跑。但这汉子一回儿叫地球the Earth, 一回儿叫the earth，令人忍不住要问：What on earth is the name of our planet? Is it “earth”, “the earth”, or “the Earth”?<br /><br />犹记得小时候读英文文法，规则千万条，其中一条说：专有名词的第一个字母必须大写。细则里头又说：<br />          Do not capitalize earth, moon, and sun, except when <br />          those names appear in a context in which other (capitalized) <br />          celestial bodies are mentioned. <br /><br />国际天文学会则斩钉截铁的规定：所有的天体 (celestial bodies) 一律大写，并加定冠词：<br /><br />                   The name of our planet is the Earth. The name of our <br />          moon is the Moon. The name of our solar system is the Solar <br />          System.<br /><br />美国航天署(NASA) 的”A Handbook for Technical Writers and Editors “也同意这种用法。 <br /><br />I am old-fashioned. I like our planet to remain in lower-case and without the definite article. But I do respect those “sky watchers” and use “the Earth” in astronomical contexts.<br /><br />       &quot;I like it here on earth,&quot; <br />       &quot;It is further from the Earth to the Mars than it is from the Mercury to the Sun.”

Monday, June 21, 004<br />Yea/Yeah/Yay/Yap<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />       yay?    5   27.78% <br />       nay?   13  72.22% <br />       Total: 18 votes 100%<br /><br /><br />Excuse me? Yay 27.78% and Nay 72.22%? What’s the world coming to when people don’t even know it’s “yea and nay”, and not “yay and nay.”<br /><br />”Yea” 是个英文古字，意思是”yes” ，现在只在投票时用:<br />         “By a Yea and Nay vote of 400 yeas(400票赞成) to <br />        5 nays(5票反对), the House passed HR 4567.”<br /><br />在聊天室里, ”yea” is often misused as a casual version of “yes.” 正确的拼法是 “yeah.” By the way, the emphatic version of “yes” is “yap&#33;”<br /><br />”Yay” is a joyous shout. When the English prof announced that everybody in the class got an A, we all yelled “yay&#33; Hooray&#33;”.

Tuesday, June 22, 2004<br />How do I say “no”? <br /><br />How do I say “no”? Let me count the ways:<br /><br /><br /><br />1. No --  the garden variety<br />2. Nay – a softened “no”. You should say it with a twang<br />    &quot;Is there anything in the rules against using tools?&quot; she demanded. <br />    &quot;Nay...&quot; he began, &quot;but it has always been assumed that the participant depend on their own skill-&quot;<br />3. Na – a even softer “no”. Again, it’s very nasal.<br />    “Na, that’s too easy.”<br /><br />4. Nope – a strong ‘no’. The ‘oh’ should be elongated.<br />    “Nope, he won’t change his mind.”<br /><br />5. Nothing doing – a stronger “no”<br />    “Nothing doing&#33; So beat it, kido&#33;”<br /><br />6. No way – a very strong ‘no’. Both words should be stressed. <br />    “No way, I won’t do it. It’s so unfair&#33;”<br /><br />7. No way Jose – Absolutely no&#33; ‘Jose’ is Spanish and sounds like “Ho(pe) Se(t)” with both vowels long and full.<br />    In the 60’s if you’d told me Russia would collapse eventually, I would’ve said “No way Jose&#33;”<br /><br />8. That’s a negative – Military talk.<br />    That&#39;s a negative, return to base

Tuesday, June 22, 2004<br />Pardon me, but your age is showing&#33;<br />对不起，你的年岁可露馅了！<br /><br />Bob was mad at his son. He went through a long list of indictments with me. When he came down to the count of wasting too much time “surfing on the Internet” I interrupted him. “Pardon me, but your age is showing, Bob,” I said jokingly. But all I got from him was a puzzled silence. <br />我的朋友细数他儿子的罪状，其中一条是浪费时间，成天surfing on the Internet. 我开他个玩笑，说” 对不起，Bob, 你的年岁可露馅了。“ 他一听，愣在那里，不知我在说什么。<br /><br />Of course, Bob knew what I said was a take on an old expression “Pardon me, but your slip is showing.” It was a friendly tip given to a lady whose underskirt was showing. Nowadays women dress differently and the tip is rarely given. But the expression has been preserved to mean “your bias or hidden agenda is showing.” But Bob just failed to the connection between “surfing on the Internet” and his age.<br />Bob当然知道我套了一句老话“对不起，你的衬裙露出来了。” 现代女人不穿衬裙，但这句话却留下来了，现在用来说人的观点不知不觉地流露出来。但”surfing on the Internet” 和年纪是风马牛，也难怪Bob丈二金刚，摸不着头脑。<br /><br />其实这很简单：年纪大的人说“surf on the Internet” ，但年轻人说”surf the net” 。早年surf是不及物动，所以要说surf in the sea. 。网络来了，大家上网，从这网页跳到那网页，从这网站跳到那网站，有如海上冲浪似的，所以大家说”surf on the Internet“。这些年来，surf逐渐变为及物动词，年轻一代多说”surf the sea” 和”surf the net.”<br /><br />这年头，年龄要保密，可真不容易。你一开口，an initiated may date you quite accurately and say：Pardon me, but your age is showing&#33;

Thursday, June 24, 2004<br />Boss是经理、老板，是奴工头子；但非店主、东家<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />      Sometimes we feel like slaves and we call our boss &quot;slave-driver.&quot;<br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /><br />Boss这个字，蛮有意思的。林语堂的当代汉英词典里，有这么一条： <br /><br />         老闆 [lao2ban3], (coll.) shop owner, boss;<br /><br />所以boss就是店主的意思。林博士没弄错，boss是从荷兰字baas (master) 来，原意是主人、主子。美国黑奴称奴主为boss ﹐工头为boss’ man (主子的人) 。 <br /><br />黑人口中的Boss’ man后来变成bossman ﹐又更进一步简化成boss ﹐但已经没有主子(master) 的意思了。现在用来指公司部门的经理 (manager of an office or a department)。老美高兴时叫manager为boss ﹐不痛快时﹐暗地里叫他slave driver (奴隶监工)﹐ 这是有历史根据的。<br /><br />这几十年来，中文的老板也经过类似的转变。原来店主、东家的意思犹在；但白领阶级看不到真正的老板，他们口中的老板，已是工作部门的头子、经理了。<br /><br />长话短说，boss是经理、老总、老板，是奴工头子；但非店主、东家。老板是shop owner﹑proprietor (店主) ﹐也是白领阶级的boss<br /><br /><br />      The bossman needed new replacement slaves and hired me on.<br /><br />      The boss took us out to a welcome lunch and had to rush back to the office before the bill arrived. He happily just gave me his credit card and told me to sign on his behalf when the bill came.

Thursday, June 24, 2004<br /><br />请客吃饭<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />     Will you treat me dinner tonight?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /><br />I’ve seen the phrase “treat me dinner” on so many Chinese websites. 这有点令我惊讶，因为李陽瘋狂英語365句里，说得明明白白：<br /><br />       136. I’ll treat you to dinner.<br /><br />Does this mean Crazy Li is losing his firm grip on Chinese English learners? By the way, followers of 李陽get a break this year. There won’t be any sentence to memorize on the New Year Eve.<br /><br />切记、切记：请人吃东西是treat someone to something.<br /><br /><br /><br />Our boss treated us to pizza, accompanied by a lively discussion about the coming elections.<br /><br />The audience was treated to witty entertainment of the highest quality<br /><br />We were treated to a free dinner buffet catered by Chef Jeff.

Thursday, June 24, 2004<br />办公室的同事<br /><br />昨晚我们老板请客，办公室的同事聚在一起吃了一顿饭。<br /> <br />Last evening our manager treated our colleagues in my office to dinner.<br /><br />      上星期看到这句话，中文流利，英文也顺畅，赞叹不已。美中不足的是”办公室的同事“翻得有些欠斟酌。套句老美的话就是The only fly in the ointment is the phrase our colleagues in my office.<br /><br />其实，”办公室的同事“好翻得很。当年学office这单词时，如果稍加留意，就会知道         office -- the group of people working in an office.<br /><br />套到上面的佳句里，得到的句子更加简练：         Last evening our boss treated the entire office to dinner.   昨晚我们老板请客，办公室的同事聚在一起吃了一顿饭。<br /><br />        The boss of our company took the entire office out for wings and beer at a local pub<br /><br />        I once took the entire office out to dinner except Dr. Smith.<br /><br />        Their manager took the entire office staff to lunch because they had a record billing month<br /><br />        It took the entire New York City office six months to turn things around.<br /><br />        I even took the office out for lunch at Furrs for my 40th birthday.

The Humpty Dumpty Approach to Translation<br />格老子高兴怎么翻，就怎么翻<br /><br />在爱丽丝镜中游里有这么一话，蛮发人深思的：<br /><br /><br /><br />&quot;When I use a word,&quot; Humpty Dumpty said,&quot; it means just what I choose it to mean --neither more or less.&quot; <br />                              ---Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass<br /><br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /><br />Humpty Dumpty是书中的一个有趣的角色，长得又矮又胖，活像个鹅蛋。他对爱丽丝说，当我差字遣词，字义全由本人决定，我要它代表什么，它就代表什么。<br /><br /><br /><br />爱丽丝听了，当场傻了眼，只能回说，这未免对那些字儿，要求太多吧？<br /><br /><br /><br />前几天，有个朋友打电话来，问” 中国战区“怎么说。我说Chinese Theater。He thought I was pulling his leg and said laughingly, ”No way&#33;” I assured him I wasn’t joking and explained to him that theater did mean “a region in which military operations are in progress.” But he wouldn’t have any of that. The funny thing was that he kept insisting that it should be “Chinese War District.” 为甚么? 他说War District听起来顺耳，所以觉得是对的。<br /><br /><br />像爱丽丝一样，我听了，当场也傻了眼，只能回说，曾几何时，术语翻译凭感觉来着？<br /><br />The moral of the story: Never employ the Humpty Dumpy approach when it comes to linguistic matters.

Know the Basic Meaning of a Word夜未央，意未尽，且看如何恳求与美眉再共一舞：    May I have another dance? 再跳一曲好嗎？请注意:Another是one more的意思。你若说May I have another dance again，就是画蛇添，遗笑佳人了。Of course, you may use one more, if you prefer. 下面的诗句就是这么说的：       When the end has come, I&#39;d ask just one last thing.        One more dance with you, before the angels sing.好，现在看看你能不能举一反三，为下面的翻译润色润色：  <br />     一天又过去了      A day has gone by again.<br /> <br /><br /><br /><br />You said: Another day has gone by? Wow&#33; I am impressed. Pat yourself on the back and give yourself an ‘A’. <br /><br /><br />By the way, the sentence is very handy when you talk to your diary at the end of a day.   <br />Another – one more; an addition May I get you another cup of coffee?I will give you another chance.因為我心已破碎，無法再給你一個承諾。

Saturday, June 26, 2004<br />Removal of Redundancies<br />赘词不译<br />     星期五我将前往桂林进行自助游。我事先约了我的好友一同前往。<br /><br />    I invited my good friend to go with me ahead of time. <br /><br />一百多年前，严复说，”译事三难，信、达、雅“，译者多奉为翻译的准则。信是�\信﹐要忠于原文﹐不能隨意添減篡改。严夫子把它列为第一准则，是有道理的。翻译不是创言立说，当然不能信手添減篡改，以符已意。<br /><br />I used to be extremely faithful (忠实得不得了) to these principles, as if they were etched in stone (有如天条). Now I am older and, hopefully, wiser. I believe Ensign Yan’s principles do allow for (容允) occasional exceptions (偶尔出入). And one of them is removal of redundancies in the original text (原文). 大节不踰閑，小节出入可矣。我相信赘词可以不译，除非保留作品风格是第一考量。<br /><br />上面的句子，” 事先“显然是赘词，若是临时起意，作者当然会说个一清二楚。把ahead of time删掉后，译文读起来通顺多了：<br />          I invited my good friend to go with me.<br /><br />其实，现在完成式表示早先发生的事情，用在这里，惠而不费，是最妥当不过了：<br /><br />         I’ve invited my good friend to go with me.

Saturday, June 26, 2004<br /><br />Back to Basics回归基本面<br /><br /><br /><br />真了不起你们竟然提前三个月完成了计划。<br /><br />It is so marvelous that you could actually complete the project three months ahead of schedule.<br /><br /> <br /><br /><br />这翻译来至“旺旺英语论坛” ，是版主ccmei的佳作。全句翻得紧凑合度，丝毫无出入。令人细读再三，赞佩不已。<br /><br />最妙的是用actually去扣“竟然” ，这等功力不是一般人能有的。字典里头说<br /><br />        actually – Use to express surprise, implying that one would expect <br />                         the fact to be the opposite of that stated; surprisingly;<br /><br />顺手抄来几个例句：<br /><br />      She actually spoke Latin.她居然会说拉丁话。<br />      He actually did the right thing by not doing anything. 他按兵不动，反而是对的。<br /><br />I’d like to change the original text slightly by inserting an exclamation point and do a different rendition:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />       真了不起&#33; 你们竟然提前三个月完成了计划。<br /><br />       Marvelous&#33; You all actually finished the project three months ahead of schedule.

Saturday, June 26, 2004<br />The day will come when ...<br />总会有一天<br /><br />Some random thoughts borrowed from the Web:<br /><br /><br />总会有一天，你一定看见乌云的背后那片蓝天<br />The day will come when you&#39;ll be able to look past the clouds and see the clear blue sky beyond.<br /><br />The day will come when nations will be judged not by their missiles or economic strength, but by the growing minds and bodies of their children.<br /><br />The day will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you are throttling today.<br /><br />The day will come when our hopes will be realized and our dreams will come true.<br /><br />The day will come when the seed will produce an ear of corn.<br /><br />The day will come when we will realize, under tears, what we have done to those we considered enemies.<br /><br />The day will come when the darkness of night lifts and the sun rises. <br />The day will come when the shadows give way to the light of day

汉语中主语经常省略<br /><br />       一位名扬世界的华裔作家说，<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />  <br />   <br /><br /><br />  　　        汉语中主语经常省略，动词又无人称的变化，叙述角度转<br />              换十分灵巧。从有主语之我到无主语之我，换句话说，从有<br />              我到泛我，乃至于无我，再转换到你，再转换到他，那你我<br />              乃我之对象化，而他我，也可以视为我之抽身静观，或谓之<br />              观想，何等自由。<br />    <br /> <br /><br /><br /><br />生性迟钝，领悟不深，只知英语的我，常可略去。泛称代名词，像someone, somebody, people,乃至we, you, 也经常可省略不译。<br /><br />1.  I suppose somebody in the villageis sick;<br />   想来是村里有人病了。<br /><br />2. When someone retires,he then has to pay income tax on his 401(k).<br />   退休后，从401(k) 帐户领的钱才缴所得税。<br /><br />3. You cannot tell by looking at someone whether he or she is infected with HIV<br />   光看外表，不能知道有没有艾滋病。<br /><br />4.  Someone traveling alone, if hungry, injured, or ill, often had nowhere toturn except to the nearest cabin or settlement.<br />      独自旅行，饥饿伤病时，无人相助，只能就近寻找小屋或村落求救。<br /><br /><br />5.  When a man points a finger at someone else, heshould remember that four of his fingers are pointing at himself.

have no statistics on this, but conversations with friends and dozens of person-on-the-street interviews I saw and heard last month convince me that a lot of Americans felt a sense of personal loss at the death of John F Kennedy Jr. <br />我没有做过统计，但是通过我和朋友的谈话和对街上路人的采访了解到，很多人对小肯尼迪的飞机失事事件感到很失落。<br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /><br />[解析、试评]<br /><br />1. I have no statistics on this,<br />    我没有做过统计，<br /><br />[试评]   on this不译，甚佳。<br />            have no statistics是“手头没统计数字” ，而非“没做过统计” 。<br /><br /><br />2.  but conversations with friends and dozens of person-on-the-street <br />     interviews I saw and heard last month convince me that<br />     但是通过我和朋友的谈话和对街上路人的采访了解到，<br /><br />[试评]  这短语，并不短，原作者用来做主词，实在有点“长气” 。<br />             conversations with friends 我和朋友的谈话<br />                    翻得正确<br />             dozens of person-on-the-street interviews I saw and heard对街上路人的采访<br />                    译文似乎是说作者采访了路人，但原文里看的是电视访问，<br />               听的是播音节目。<br />             dozens漏译<br />             last month<br />                  漏译<br />             convince me that了解到<br />                    convince译为“了解到” ，欠妥。To convince is to persuade by <br />                    evidence<br /><br /><br />3.  a lot of Americans felt a sense of personal loss at the death <br />     of John F Kennedy Jr.<br />     很多人对小肯尼迪的飞机失事事件感到很失落。<br /><br />[试评]  a lot of Americans 很多人<br />                   不知道把美国人泛化为一般人，是否妥当。<br /><br />felt a sense of personal loss at the death of John F Kennedy Jr.<br />很多人对小肯尼迪的飞机失事事件感到很失落。<br /><br />[试评]  the death 飞机失事事件<br />                    飞机失事事件doesn’t necessarily leads to death. 丧生or空难丧生？<br />             felt a sense of personal loss感到很失落<br />                   One feels “a sense of personal loss” when someone or something <br />                   he dearly loves is lost.译为“失落” ，似乎不够深入。<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I have no statistics on this, but conversations with friends and dozens of person-on-the-street interviews I saw and heard last month convince me that a lot of Americans felt a sense of personal loss at the death of John F Kennedy Jr.<br /><br />[试译]<br />        我没有统计数字，但上个月小肯尼迪空难丧生后，和朋友谈论过，街头采访，看到听到的，也不下数十次。我深信很多美国人对他的去世，感觉有若丧失亲人。

“Up” Is an Intensifier<br /><br /><br /><br />私立XX家商第一學期高三升學班第一次期中考試卷37. There were signs at every corner along the road warning motorists to  <br />      (A) speed up   (<!--emo&B)--><img src='style_emoticons/default/cool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cool.gif' /><!--endemo--> dry up  &copy; slow down   (D) slow up<br /><br /><br /> <br /><br />看了这考题，不禁想起我的一位美国朋友Bob。We were late for an appointment so I was showing off my driving skill, weaving the late afternoon traffic. Before I realized it, I was doing 75 in a 55 mile zone. Bob was a bit scared and kept saying, “Slow up&#33; Slow up&#33; When you are late, you are late.”( 慢慢来！慢慢来！横竖是来不及了。)<br /><br />许多人只知其一不知其二，以为减速当然是slow down，殊不知slow up也是减速的意思。好心遭雷劈，这位英文老师，居心善良，想要送分，却闹出个小笑话。Up在slow up这短词里是个intensifier, which is a word, usually an adverb, that has little meaning in itself but provides force, intensity or emphasis to another word.. We also see it in phrases such as &quot;to hurry up,” “to wait up,” and “to type up a list.”<br /><br />Some grammarians would classify those phrases as idioms. But knowing the concept of an intensifier does help in making sense of some idioms.

The US Had It Coming<br />美国自作孽，不可活<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The US won support in their war against terror because of 9/11 and just how graphic it was that thousands just perished in a flaming instant. Media has made America look like the victim and yes, it was a victim, but not at all entirely without blame. No doubt it was a horrific event and I wouldn&#39;t have wished such a death on my greatest of enemies, but like most people have said and keep saying - the US had it coming. <br />              -- Madibaman , Shanghai Expat Forum, Posted: &#60;&#33;-- Image Mod --&#62;Jun 07, 2004 - 01:22 PM<br /><br /><br />美国的反恐战争过去赢得支持，只因为911，以及数千人瞬间烟消灰灭的惊人画面。媒体把美国描绘得像是受害人；没错，美国当时是受害人，但并非完全无错。911事件确实是恐怖，即是深仇大敌，我也不会诅咒他如此惨死；但美国自作孽，不可活。大多数人也一直这么说。<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /><br />Found it on a Chinese forum.  <br /><br /><br /><br />           -- tx, Tuesday, June 29, 2004<br /><br /><br />The US won support in their war against terror <br />美国的反恐战争过去赢得支持，[‘Won’过去式.]<br /><br />because of 9/11 <br />只因为911<br /><br />and just how graphic it was that thousands just perished in a flaming instant. <br />以及数千人瞬间烟消灰灭的惊人画面。<br /><br />Media has made America look like the victim <br />媒体把美国描绘得像是受害人 [‘Look like’看来像是]<br /><br />and yes, it was a victim, <br />没错，美国当时是受害人[过去式]<br /><br />but not at all entirely without blame. <br />但并非完全无错[not ...without’ double negation]<br /><br />No doubt it was a horrific event <br />911事件确实是恐怖<br /><br />and I wouldn&#39;t have wished such a death on my greatest of enemies,<br />即是深仇大敌，我也不会诅咒他如此惨死，<br />[‘wish someone on someone’ 叫上天降祸惩戒]<br /><br />but like most people have said and keep saying - the US had it coming. <br />但美国自作孽，不可活。大多数人也一直这么说。<br />[’someone had it coming to him’ 自作孽，不可活]

Beg Your Pardon, ”Wings Take Dream”?<br /><br /><br />     <br />   Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream.<br /><br />                                        -- Georgia W. Bush, Oct, 2000<br /><br /> <br /><br />小布什上Yale由你玩四年 (University)，虽是名校出身，英文水平鸦鸦乌，公开场合说话，闹笑话是家常便饭。有人笑他说：<br /><br />                  Few presidents have mangled the English language with <br />            as much dexterity as George W. Bush. Try as we might to <br />            read his lips, he often leaves us searching for meaning, not <br />            to mention nouns and verbs. <br /><br />说这话的人虽是实话实说，但是太尖刻了些。dexterity是skill in using one’s hands; with much dexterity是手法高超的意思。说他砍杀损害英文(mangle the English language)，手法高超，没几个总统能赶得上他。<br /><br />Read his lips在这里是说他咬字不清，听他说话要全神贯注，甚至要注意他嘴唇。这话也是布什家的痛点；当年老布什，坚持不加税，说了一句名言：Read my lips: No new taxes&#33; 后来被民主党人耍了，弄得非加税不可。He lost his credibility and his re-election.<br /><br />Searching for nouns and verbs是糗他丢三忘四，句子结构不全。Search for meaning 是说他颠三倒四，弄得大家不知道他在讲什么。The quote above is typical Georgia W. Bush. See if you can make any sense of it.

儘叫他爭甚底，不如他瞌睡，不如咱沉醉，都不管天和地。  <br /> <br /><br />前几天，论坛上有人问“打瞌睡” 英文怎么说。论坛真是卧虎苍龙，人才齐全，几个回覆加起来，也不输于Webster’s列的同义字。打瞌睡就是打盹儿，是在正规睡眠时间外，因为困倦而闭目小睡。严格说来，打瞌睡打盹儿是要坐着，躺在床上，就不算数了。红楼梦第十三回：只见几个丫头手里拿着针线，却打盹儿呢。英文里打瞌睡是To doze off或To nod off。    I must have dozed off at the meeting. How embarrassing&#33;     I started to nod off though；I was so tired from work.瞌睡的light sleep是无意的，有意的轻眠是“小睡” 。相关的英文单词短语五门八花：catnap, nap, snooze, siesta，to catch/grab/take forty winks。我没查过辞书，但我想snooze最长，nap次之，catnap又短些，forty winks最短。My old alarm clock had a “snooze button.” Every time you hit it, you get an extra 15 minutes of precious sleep time. The best thing since the sliced bread&#33; 以下是几句小睡的话：    The dog was snoozing in front of the fire.    Grandpa usually takes a nap after lunch.    I was awakened from my forty winks by the soft voice of our captain.一提到Siesta (午睡)，许多人就想起墨西哥。其实在很多天气热的国度里，siesta isalmost a necessity。我在某个小城待过，十一点半一到，个个公司行号机构，REST的牌子褂上(very Chinglish&#33;)，铁门拉下，开始休息，要到两点才复业。当然，若是大敌当前，siesta can be very detrimental to your health. The following isa short segment from Texas history:<br />          Sam Houston (独立军领袖) led an army of about 750 men against Santa Anna’s (墨西哥领袖)remaining 1500 man force, in the Battle of San Jacinto (在休斯顿城北边) on April 21, 1836. Santa Anna’s forces had been dwindled by the battles, and the need to leave forces in the conquered territories. Attacking the sleeping Mexican forces during their traditional afternoon ‘siesta’ (nap), the Texans killed over 700 soldiers and captured another 730. The Texans, who showed little or no mercy to the forces that killed their fellow Texans, shouted the cries of “Remember the Alamo” and “Remember Goliad” during the fighting. Santa Anna was also captured, while posing as a normal foot soldier, and taken to an injured Sam Houston.