PETS－2語法講解(217)

They seem to have a lot in common.
　　對話
　　Theresa: Mandy and Tom seem to be spending a lot of time together lately.
　　Yvonne: Yes that's true. I've seen them at the swimming pool lately and at the cinema.
　　Theresa: They go on regular bike rides together too.
　　Yvonne: They seem to have a lot in common.
　　Theresa: Yes, they clearly like the same things.
　　Yvonne: I wonder if we'll be hearing wedding bells soon.
　　德莉莎：曼蒂和湯姆最近似乎常常在一起。
　　伊鳳：沒錯，我最近在泳池、電*都見過他們。
　　德莉莎：他們還常常相約去騎腳踏車。
　　伊鳳：他們似乎很有默契。
　　德莉莎：沒錯，他們看來都喜歡同樣的東西。
　　伊鳳：也許，我們不久就會聽到婚禮的鍾聲了。
　　伊鳳說曼蒂和湯姆似乎有很多共同的地方：Mandy and Tom seem to have a lot in common。Common除了解作‘普通’，還可解作‘共同’，所以I am but a common man固可譯作‘我衹是個普通人’，English is their common language卻應譯作‘英文是他們的共同語言’。把common language譯作‘普通話’，其實是一大笑話。In common即‘共有’或‘共同’；要說‘和某某共有/共同’，可用with帶出，例如：(1) Mandy seems to have a lot in common with Tom。(2) We are both Scorpios, but other than that we have nothing in common（我們兩人都屬天蠍座，但此外就沒有什麽共同的地方）。曼蒂、湯姆嗜好相似，經常走在一起，正郃了一句英文成語：Like draws to like/Like attracts like/Like (will) to like。這個like是名詞，指相似的人或物，例如：You are not comparing like with like是‘你學的似像非像的’；draw也有‘吸引’(attract)的意思，例如：He felt drawn to the quiet girl是‘他被那沉默的女郎吸引’。伊鳳可以說：Like draws to like. I am starting to hear wedding bells for Mandy and Tom（同聲相應，同氣相求。我看曼蒂和湯姆的佳期近了）。在西方，教堂擧辦婚禮時會鳴鍾，所以to hear (the sound of) wedding bells（聽到結婚鍾聲）是說預料某人將結婚。例如你問一對情侶：Do I hear wedding bells?那就是說：‘你們快結婚了吧？’這是個暗喻，結婚鍾聲其實未有響起。