全心全意、身材中等 - 古德明

全心全意、身材中等 - 古德明

問:電視的體育用品廣告有All in for girls這標語,是什麼意思?
答:All in又作all-in,指「全心全意參與或支持」,而所參與或支持的人、物,則用for帶出,例如:(1)She is all-in for wildlife conservation(她致力保護野生生物)。(2)He was all in for his students, and would do everything he could for their education(他盡心盡力為學生,不惜一切教育他們)。讀者說的電視廣告,我沒有看過,但All in for girls應是「為婦女盡心盡力」的意思。
留意in for(something)是「難免會遭遇(懲罰、橫逆等)」,和上述的all in(for someone / something)不同,例如:I think we are all in for a bad time(看來,我們都要經歷一段困難時候)。這一句的all,是和we連用;而all-in的all,則是和in連用,兩個說法切勿混淆。
問:He is of average build / height(他身材/高度中等)這一句,of一字可不可略去?
答:Build(身材)、height(高度)、width(闊度)、weight(重量)、size(大小)、shape(形狀)等字,用在「主詞(subject)+be(即is、was等)」之後,那of可以略去,讀者那一句並不例外。這裏謹多舉兩個例子:(1)She is (of) medium height, and beautifully proportioned(她不高不矮,而且身材勻稱美觀)。(2)The two statues are (of) the same size and weight(這兩個雕像,大小、重量相同)。