一“字”之差 謬以千裡

英文裡的介詞有時會讓我們感覺很混亂，它們在句子裡雖然不顯眼，但是作用卻很關鍵，用錯一個介詞意思可能會完全不同。今天我們就來看看on a cloud, under a cloud 以及in the clouds的意思有多大的差別。

　　 on a cloud

　　On a cloud是很高興的意思，高興得走路輕飄飄，好像騰雲駕霧一樣。

　　例如：I've been on a cloud all day long——I heard this morning that I got an A on my final biochemistry exam.
　　　　　我今天一天都很高興，因爲我早上聽說，我生化期末考試得了一個A.

　　又如：
　　My wife has been on a cloud since I told her the other day I would spend my year-end bonus at the office to take us to Hawaii to celebrate our twentieth wedding anniversary. And to tell you the truth, I'm really looking forward to it myself.
　　我那天告訴我的妻子，我要把辦公室發給我的年終獎金用來和她一起去夏威夷旅行，以慶祝我們結婚二十周年。自從那天起，我太太一直很高興。說實話，我自己也非常想去。

　　 under a cloud

　　任何人under a cloud是絕不會高興的，因爲他不是丟盡了麪子，就是被懷疑做了什麽壞事。Under a cloud是丟麪子、被懷疑的意思。

　　下麪是一個人在講另外一個被逮捕的人，這人被指控和販毒有關：

　　The judge had to let him go because there wasn't enough evidence against him. But he's going around under a cloud because most people think he's guilty.
　　法官由於沒有足夠的証據來定罪，所以衹好放了他。但是，他到哪兒都受懷疑，因爲大多數人都認爲他是有罪的。

　　又如：
　　See that man sitting at the table by himself? He's supposed to be a very smart lawyer, but he's been under a cloud ever since he was mixed up in a scandal involving a company that was run by a mobster.
　　瞧那個桌子邊獨自坐著的人，看見嗎？他本來是一個很能乾的律師，但是自從他和一個公司的醜聞有牽連以來，他一直被人懷疑，而那個公司是由流氓集團經營的。

　　 in the clouds

　　我們每個人恐怕都有白日做夢的時候。有的時候，我們一邊走路，一邊在想心事，或者是一邊做什麽事，一邊在想其他事情，身邊發生什麽事全然沒有注意到。美國人把這叫做：in the clouds.In the clouds可以解釋爲：心不在焉，思想開小差。

　　例如：
　　Sally is my best friend but she walked right past me today, and didn't even say hello. Her head certainly was in the clouds——she looked like her mind was a thousand miles away.
　　沙莉是我的朋友，可是，她今天在我身旁走過，連招呼都沒有跟我打。她肯定在白日做夢，看起來她的心思好像在一千哩以外的地方。

　　又如：
　　I was really embarrassed——the teacher asked me a question and I didn't even hear him; I was daydreaming and my head was in the clouds.
　　我儅時真是非常難堪。老師問我問題，我根本沒有聽見。那時，我剛好在做白日夢，思想在開小差。