PETS－2語法講解(178)

Go at a steady pace.
　　對話 　　James: Where are you going on the weekend?
　　Harry: I'm going hiking with some classmates.
　　James: Hiking? Isn't that rather strenuous?
　　Harry: Not if you go at a steady pace and take the occasional break.
　　James: Oh, that doesn't sound too bad.
　　Harry: Why don't you join us? You'll have a great time.
　　詹姆斯：你周末會去哪裡？
　　哈利：我會和同學一起去徒步旅行。
　　詹姆斯：徒步旅行？那不是很辛苦嗎？
　　哈利：衹要步伐速度平均，中途休息一下，就不辛苦。
　　詹姆斯：啊，那聽起來還不太壞。
　　哈利：你也和我們一起去吧，你一定會喜歡的。
　　哈利說，遠足衹要步速平均，就不辛苦：Hiking isn't strenuous if you go at a steady pace。Pace本義是‘一步的距離’，The target was about a hundred paces from where the archers stood即‘箭靶距離弓箭手約一百步’。這pace往往引伸解作‘步速’或‘速度’，例如：We were working at a painfully slow pace（我們工作的速度慢得厲害）。
　　以pace爲言的三個常用語不可不識：一是keep pace with，即‘趕得上’；一是set the pace，即‘定出步速’，比喻‘做榜樣’或‘帶頭’；一是at a snail's pace，即‘以蝸牛的速度’或‘慢吞吞’，例如：(1) Pay rises never seem to be able to keep pace with inflation（薪水上陞的速度，似乎永遠趕不上通貨膨脹）。(2) He worked very hard, and his sales performance was so good that he set the pace for the other salesmen（他努力工作，銷售表現理想，成爲其它售貨員的模範）。(3) Because of lane closures, the traffic was moving at a snail's pace（由於有些車道封閉，路上車輛像蝸牛一樣爬行）。Pace作動詞，則是指‘來廻踱步’，例如：He anxiously paced the room waiting for the doctor to arrive（他焦慮的在房間裡來廻踱步，等候毉生到來）。哈利邀詹姆斯同行：Why don't you join us?這Why don't you...?句式常用來提出建議，和why not...?相同。哈利大可以說：Why not join us?