問:Read it是指「默讀」還是「讀出來」?
答:Read多是指默讀,但確實意思要看上下文而定。She read herself to sleep應是說「她看書,看到入睡」,She read her child to sleep則應是說「她讀書給孩子聽,直到孩子入睡」。
說「讀出聲」,read往往和to或from連用,例如:(1)The priest read from the Gospel(牧師誦讀一段福音)。(2)The priest read to the congregation(牧師向會眾誦讀經文)。此外,read out也是「讀出聲」,而「大聲讀出」則可說read aloud或read out loud,例如:(1)The students were asked to read out the passage(老師叫學生把那段文字讀出)。(2)He read the poem aloud / out loud(他高聲把那首詩讀出)。
問:貴欄說美國海軍把俚語go over the hill(越獄、軍人潛逃)改為go over the side,指「擅自離船」,但go over the hill這說法,似不如go over the top那麼常見,然則go over the side會不會是出自go over the top?
答:Go over the side出自go over the hill,是Harold Wentworth編撰《美國俚語詞典》(Dictionary of American Slang)的說法,應無錯誤。至於go over the top,原本也是軍事用語,指「走出戰壕」,全句是Over the top, and the best of luck(走出戰壕,殺向敵軍,祝好運)。Go over the top沒有「擅自離去」的意思,現在常用來說「行事魯莽」,例如:He could not afford to buy the house, but he went over the top and signed the purchase contract(他買不起那棟房子,卻魯莽的簽了買屋合約)。