Do you know Candy?
今天和大家討論用Do you know?的問句,Do you know?就是問別人:‘你知不知道?你懂不懂?’如果問你懂不懂煮飯,可以說:Do you know how to cook? 你知不知道那條路?Do you know the way? 或者要問你認(rèn)不認(rèn)識(shí)一個(gè)叫肯蒂的女生,可以說:Do you know Candy? 如果你不認(rèn)識(shí)她,可回答:I don't know her.,如果你跟她很熟,可以說:I know her very well.,如果只是泛泛之交,可以說:I'm acquainted with her.。
對話
A: Do you know Candy?
B: Candy? Does she have curly blond hair and a really beautiful face?
A: Yes, that's her.
B: Yes, I know her very well. She was my girl friend during my first year in university.
A: Really? Candy told me that she's only 19 and she's your boss' daughter.
B: Oh, Candy Cooper! My mistake. I thought you meant Candy Rose.
甲:你認(rèn)不認(rèn)識(shí)肯蒂?
乙:肯蒂?是否那個(gè)金色卷發(fā)的漂亮女子?
甲:對,就是她。
乙:是,我跟她很熟絡(luò),她是我大學(xué)一年級時(shí)的女友。
甲:真的嗎?肯蒂告訴我她只有19歲,是你老板的女兒。
乙:噢,肯蒂吉譜!我搞錯(cuò)了,我以為你指的是肯蒂羅絲。
某乙聽某甲談到一位金發(fā)美女肯蒂,以為是自己的舊女友說:I know her very well.(我和她很熟絡(luò))。假如某甲帶笑問道:In the biblical sense? 讀者知道是什么意思嗎? Biblical即‘《圣經(jīng)》(Bible)的’,例如biblical language是 ‘《圣經(jīng)》的語言’。In the biblical sense?等于說‘是否《圣經(jīng)》里那個(gè)意思?’。
在《圣經(jīng)》和其它古籍里,know字有‘和...有性關(guān)系’的意思。讀《御用圣經(jīng).路加福音》第一章,你就會(huì)看到天使對圣母瑪利亞說:You will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus(你會(huì)懷孕,誕下麟兒,取命為耶穌)。瑪利亞回答說:How can this be, since I do not know a man?(這怎么可能呢?我沒有跟男人親熱過)。今天,英語國家的人說跟某某有性關(guān)系,有時(shí)就會(huì)用開玩笑口吻說:I know him / her in the biblical sense。
留意I know her和I know of her很不同。I know her是 ‘我認(rèn)識(shí)她’,I know of her. 則是 ‘我知道她這個(gè)人’或‘我聽說過好這個(gè)人’。
說和某人交朋友,英文是to make friends with somebody,那復(fù)數(shù)形式的friends不可改為friend。為什么和一個(gè)人交朋友,都要用復(fù)數(shù)形式?原因很簡單:friends 除了指對方,還包括你自己。交朋友是至少兩個(gè)人之間的事。I should like to make friends with you. 即 ‘我想和你交朋友’。