一家四人、絆倒 - 古德明

一家四人、絆倒 - 古德明

問:我有父母和一個兄長,一家四口,英文可不可以說:I have four family members?
答:「我一家四人」英文一般不會說I have four family members,而會說There are four members in my family。問別人全家有多少人,則可說How many members are there in your family?
I have four family members這句式,較常用來說「我家裏有四人如此如此」,例如:I have four family members with university degrees(我家裏有四人具大學學位)。
問:「他絆了一跤,跌在地上」這一句,以下英文說法哪個正確?──He tripped and fell / fell over / fell off / fell to the ground / fell on the ground / fell onto the ground。
答:He tripped and fell(over)當然是正確說法,但假如要清楚說明他「跌在地上」,則可說fell to the ground。那to改成on或onto文法上也可以,但to比較好。Fall over和fall都可解作「跌倒」。
留意fall over還可解作「給絆倒」,例如:He fell over a wire in the workplace and broke his arm(他在工作場所給電線絆倒,摔斷了手骨)。至於fall off,是指「從某處摔下去」,例如:He tripped and fell off the cliff(他絆了一跤,摔下懸崖)。
【代郵】如江先生:中國人自稱「炎黃子孫」,是炎帝、黃帝並尊。炎黃雖為讐敵,炎帝亦為黃帝所敗,然《繹史》卷五謂二人乃「同母異父兄弟」,且炎帝即神農氏,對中國農業、醫學貢獻甚偉。