英文試題、破壞制度 - 古德明

英文試題、破壞制度 - 古德明

問:出英文試卷,要說「試閱他們的話,並回答以下問題」,以下兩個說法都正確嗎?──Look at / Read what they say and answer the following questions。
答:這一句,習慣會用read,不用look at。假如叫考生看圖作答,則可用look at,例如:Look at(或Study)the picture and answer the questions。
有時,英文會說look at what someone says,但那是「觀其言」的意思,例如:Look at what Leung Chun-ying says and what he does, and you will see that he cannot be trusted(觀其言,察其行,你就知道梁振英不可以信任)。
問:要說「共產黨這樣子破壞香港的制度,是很多香港人始料不及的」,英文以下兩個說法,哪個正確?──Most Hong Kong people never expected that the Communist Party would destroy / would have destroyed the city's systems so badly。
答:這一句應用would destroy,因為共產黨的破壞工作還未完成,還在繼續。「Would have+完成式動詞」,一般是指已成過去或已經發生的事,例如:She decided to have an abortion when she learned that the medicine she had taken would have damaged the foetus(她發覺所服的藥應已損害胎兒,就決定墮胎)。這裏所說的「損害」,在「她發覺」前已經完成。
又「制度」英文當然可說system,例如judicial system(司法制度)、political system(政治制度)等;但是,說社會上各種制度,改用institutions一字會較好。