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[Discussion] 讀 社 論 學 英 文 (1) -- Hong Kong's Politics 香 港 的 政 治

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發表於 25-5-2012 15:57:02 | 顯示全部樓層 |閱讀模式
本帖最後由 Kamma 於 25-5-2012 19:05 編輯

先獻醜一次,希望有更多有心人分享讀英文的心得。

===未寫完===

The people aren’t stupid, Mr. Tsang (SouthChina Morning Post, 2005-02-02, written by Micheal Chugani)

[1]   I remember reading once that smart people always ask questions, that is what makes them smart, and fools always pretend they know all the answers. There is something else that I read about who is smart and who is not: fools often proclaim themselves to be intellectuals, while the true intellects will lettheir peers do that.

[2]   At adinner once, with friends who included a mid-level government information official, the conversation turned to public opinion. Legislator Albert ChengKing-hon was still a radio talk-show host at the time, and most of us agreed that his huge audience gave hime enormous power in influencing public opinion.The information official scoffed, making clear his scorn for Mr Cheng. Others at the table promptly reminded him that Mr Cheng held great sway over grass-roots people like taxi drivers.

1.  a scorn for sbdy [C/U] = 對某人的蔑視/輕視

這字可以一學。在寫一些官員高高在上,輕視民意的時候尤其適用。多數會用 put/make a scorn for sbdy。

補充一下,單數且可數之物,「一係就要有 possessive pronoun,一係就要有 a/an/the 」。在上文中,His 這個 pronoun 就是指明了那一個 scorn,意思其實和 the 差不多,只是意思上更加清楚。

[3]   Unimpressed, he said that the government did not really place too much importance on the opinions of taxi drivers. It was, of course, a similar scorn for the ordinary people’s intellecutal ability to grasp the finer points of governement policies that eventually forced the then security secretary, Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, from office.

2.  Unimpressed, he said that...

這句用了這樣的句式:Active participle / passive participle, main clause (S + V + O).

原句是:He felt unimpressed. He said that the government did not really place too much importance...

在英文的句子裡,外國人多用 participle clause 作為句子的開頭。一些不熟悉句子結構的同學會問,只得一個 participle 開首,怎知道這指何人呢?其實,這個句式就是避免了重覆 subject (主語)。寫的時候 participle clause 的 subject 必須與 main clause (主句) 相同,所以在讀這樣句子的時候我們可以參考 main clause 來知來 participle clause 所指何人。

英文句子的重心住住會放在 main clause 裡頭,而 participle clause 主要一些補充。一般把 participle clause 放在 main clause 前的是描述 main clause 前一刻的事情,又或是作為補充 main clause 發生的原因。

同學運用 participle clause 的時候記住要分輕重,否則變會有邏輯不清又或者意思顛倒的情況。有些情況下 participle clause 可以放在 main clause 之後,暫且按下不表。

3.  force sbdy from office = 逼人落台

這樣寫,型過你寫 forced to resign。Office 本身就給人高高在上的感覺,force her from office,就有如把她從高高在上的政府扯下馬,夠狼。

[4]   All this has very little to do with Chief Secretary Donald Tsang, except that the other day he described himself as an intellectual, which is reassuring as we obviously look for that quality in our leaders. But by emphasizing his own brain power, Mr. Tsang demonstrated why our leaders have such difficulty connecting with the masses. He separated intellectuals like himself from the grass roots, suggesting that policy-makers are smart people who see things differently from ordinary people, and must try to understand their needs to plan for things like the West Kowloon cultural project. I am having trouble deciding whether that makes Mr. Tsang a man of the people, or a man intellectually above the people, in which case you wonder if he can really understand them.

4. has little to do with

「All this has very little to do with Chief Secretary Donald Tsang」中文的意思是「呢啲嘢本來同曾特首冇乜關係」、「呢啲嘢本來唔多關曾特首事」。一句「has little to do with」來表達 subject (主語) 與 object (謂語),簡單直接。除了 little 之外,還可以用 nothing 來表達更大的程度。

例子:It has nothing to do with his ability.  It is all about his integrity.

這兩句句子,前一句用 nothing,後一句用 all,簡單得來有強烈對照,讀得出特別鏗鏘有力。這也是英文的奇妙之處:簡單的句子也可以很漂亮。

5.  By emphasizing his own brain power, Mr. Tsang demonstrated...

這是另一個 participle clause 去表示原因的例子。Emphasizing 之前加上了 preposition (介詞) 「by」字,有「某人這樣做了之後……」的意思。

By emphasizing his own brain power, Mr. Tsang demonstrated why our leaders have such difficulty connecting with the masses.

意思是:「曾先生不斷強調自己的智力,表現出現今的領袖為何這樣難與民眾溝通。」 由於語言所限,只能意譯。

在上面已經說過 participle clause 的 subject 和 main clause 一樣。雖然這次是 object (謂語),但是「搵主人」的方法一樣,都是到 main clause 裡頭去找,所以 participle clause 的 his 其實是指 main clause 中的 Mr. Tsang。

如果硬要把句子拆做兩句,會是這樣:Mr. Tsang repeatedly emphasizes his own brain power. He demonstrated why our leaders have such difficulty connecting with the masses. 這樣寫的話,句子反而更多冗贅。

6.  connecting with the masses vs. communicating with the masses

作者也非常留意字眼上的細節。Connect 一字,有穿針引線、搭通天地線的味道,是一個非常主動的字眼。作為政府官員,要主動聽取民意,而不是要倒轉來等民眾去投訴才做事。Communicate 雖然也是非常平等,雙向式,卻少了穿針引線之味。

7.  the people? ordinary people?

同一句 participle clause 裡頭用了 smart people 形容制定政策的官員,承上啟後,配合 main clause 的 intellectuals 一字,亦與後面用上 ordinary 形成強烈的對比意味,強化了這些「知識份子」和「普通市民」的深淵之別。

8.  a man of the people vs. a man above the people

作者質問曾特看是一個願意走進民眾之內的官員還是一個高高在上的政客。他在這裡沒有用上 official、politician 這字眼,反而簡單用一個非常中性的 man 字再配上一個方位詞去表達曾特首在社會中身處的位置,讓讀者自己決定曾特首是一個什麼的人。顯然要寫作功力「有返咁上下」的評論員才可以寫得出如此的英文吧。也值得同學們「學吓嘢」。

[5]   When George Bush was US president, he was said to have jokingly retorted, after his friend and then secretary of state James Baker pressed too hard on policy advice “If you’re so smart, how come I’m the president?” Mr. Bush’s successor, Bill Clinton, is a Rhodes scholar, but staked his presidency instead on being a populist leader who understood ordinary people. Few would consider the current president, George W. Bush, an intellectual, but neither does he seek that label, describing himself as a plain-spoken fella.

9.  the name of intellectual = a label

作者這一句把整篇文章畫龍點睛。說穿了 intellectual 只是一個標貼,只有庸才才會自己冠上這樣的一個記認,「驚死冇人知」。真正的天才不會在額頭鑿住「我係天才」,因為人人公認,無需自認。

[6]   It takes many qualities to make a good politician, but history has enough markers to suggest that the most inspiring are those who think like the people rather than for the people. It took Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa nearly eight years inoffice, and some prodding from Beijing, to realize and publicly admit that his administration fell short of thinking what people think in formulating policies. That admission makes it all the more puzzling to hear Mr. Tsang still speak of himself as an intellectual who saw things differently from the grassroots. If ministers are on a different wavelength, can they think like the people think, as Mr. Tung wants?

10.  impersonal pronoun as the subject of a sentence

It takes many qualities to make a good politician.

另一個也非常不錯的寫法是:There are many qualities that make a good politician.  

可是,普遍的香港學生對 relative clause,又或者是複雜的掌握一般;而且,他們對 impersonal pronoun 作句子開首亦十分陌生。除了學校老師教落的 It is + adj (+ of / for sbdy) + to inf. 和 It is + of + noun + to inf. 之外幾乎沒用過 it 來做句子開首。這句句子,給香港的學生來寫,應該會寫成:A good politician should have many good qualities.

[7]   Mr. Tsang and other ministers are unelected leaders of a near democracy who must double as politicians. They got where they are not by identifying with the people through elections, but through a lifetime in the civil service. But our unique system still requires them to make policy decisions for a politicized public that has become very demanding.

[8]   Understanding those demands is something that Mr. Tung now admits his administration has failed to do. The question is, will he be smart enough to instruct his ministers to climb down from their lofty intellectual perch so they can be one with the people?
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發表於 19-12-2016 04:54:45 | 顯示全部樓層
支持!!希望可以持續落去!
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發表於 12-1-2019 21:06:29 | 顯示全部樓層
thank you for the sharing
it is meaningful and useful for studying english~
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