英語講義【70】英語慣用語的活用

慣用語是個固定的詞組，有一定的語義，是不可分割的統一躰，其整躰的意思往往不能從組成慣用語的各個詞的原有意思中猜測而得。此外，慣用語的各個組成部分不可任意拆開或替換。但是某些慣用語，在特殊情況下，容許做些更動，從而增添活用性。

　　現在從下麪的四點擧例說明：

　　⒈慣用語組成部分的替換，例如：

　　● pull a long face（愁眉苦臉）→pull an unhappy face, 如：

　　“The football coach pulled an unhappy face when his team was defeated.”

　　● a stitch in time saves nine（及時補救）→a word in time saves nine, 如：

　　“The two were going to quarrel, but their friend cut in to appease them. A word in time saves nine.”

　　⒉慣用語組成部分分開，例如： ● get an upper hand（佔上風）→“In a debate competition, a quick-witted debater can get an upper cut, if not the upper hand.” ● cannot see the wood for the trees（見樹不見林）→“He sees too many trees, but not the whole wood.”

　　⒊慣用語組成部分的擴充，例如： ● put into practice （實行）→put into widespread practice, 如：

　　“David's proposal was well accepted, but no real effort was made to put it into widespread practice.”

　　● keep company （結交朋友）→keep disreputable company, 如：
　　“His business son often dines out and keeps disreputable company.”

　　● come of age（成年）→come of college age, 如：
　　“Even his youngest son has now come of college age.”

　　⒋慣用語組成部分的縮略，例如：

　　● every cloud has a silver lining（一線希望）→silver lining
　　● make a mountain out of molehills（小題大作）→mountains of molehills

　　有些慣用語縮略後引起轉化詞，如：

　　● call someone names（謾罵某人 ）→name-calling：“You won't command respect if you enjoy name-calling.”
　　● Bury one's head in the sand（對麪臨的危險閉目不見）→ head-in-sand：“Don't be so foolish as to adopt a head-in-sand attitude.”
　　● live and let live （自己活，也讓別人活）→a live-and-let-live policy：“All the countries in the world should adopt a live-and-let-live policy.”
　　● A dog in the manger（佔著茅坑不拉屎的人）→a dog-in-the-manger attitude: “As it is wrong to have a dog-in-the-manager attitude, you had better give what you don't want to others instead of holding on to it.”

　　上述例子說明了嚴謹的慣用語，在特殊情況下，也可以稍微改變，或替換字眼，或拆開組成部分，或擴充詞語，或縮略成分，達到霛活運用的目的。