#瞓身 put MY ALL into this
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U-turn 與「瞓身」- 毛孟靜
常常跟年輕人說,一個學好英文的方法,是多讀小說,不一定要是世界名著,一般頗受推介的流行著作就好。
最近在讀一本犯罪驚慄小說 crime thriller,遇到以下一段文字,一讀就想到,這可以成為英文課堂上的教材。
有關片段,是故事中奸角對忠角——兩人均是律師——說的一番話;奸角氣憤對方原本對其建議不屑一顧,終又前倨後恭改變心意,當下向之奚落:
"You see, the fact that you FLIP-FLOPPED just makes me all the more certain things are as they should be. We don't like ABOUT-FACES. We want to be utterly confident that everyone is doing THEIR ALL for the team."
先看 vocab 生字,flip-flop 原本係「人字拖」,是那種露趾的拖鞋,因為穿起來走路前後踢躂之象,給借用來表達「轉軚、一時一樣」,以至反口,亦即我們口語的 U-turn。
•The candidate flip-flopped on a number of issues. 這候選人就許多議題都掉轉槍頭、轉軚了。
改用做名詞:
•There have been accusations of a government flip-flop on a tax break for the tourism industry. 一直有指控謂,政府就旅遊業寬免稅項一筆,已經轉軚。
另一生字,about-face,不也就是flip-flop 的同義詞。About-face 原本是操兵時的一個口令,叫士兵轉身掉頭,一樣給借用來代替a complete change of direction, opinion or way of acting,不論取向、意見或行為的完全徹底改變。例:
•This is incredible. This is her second about-face on the issue. 真令人難以置信,這是她就此議題第二次轉軚了。
另有 their all 的用法,all 所有;不論 my all、his all 或 their all,都是指一個人精神或資源可以付出的「所有」,也即是全身全心悉力以赴,等於本土口語中的「瞓身」。
•I have put my all into this project. 我已付出所有,「瞓身」於這個項目中。
•He wants to give his all to what he is doing. 他希望全力以赴,做好他正在做的事。//
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