『喝湯該怎麼說? 』(4)

英語漫談系列 (4)

『喝湯該怎麼說? 』

“Children are told to make as little noise as possible while eating their soup.” 他們吩咐孩子

們喝湯時盡量不發出大聲。

東方食物所指的“湯”和英文所謂的 soup 不盡完全相同，前者有清、濃之分; 後者

則全屬濃湯，如玉米濃湯(含cheese乳酪)或clam chowder(海鮮湯)，故只能用 eat (因

湯和食物一起吃，eat指需用牙齒咬動-chew)。而英文所謂 drink，是指「濃度稀或高

的飲料-beverage當然不必咬動」如wine, beer , liquor (烈酒) 或coca-cola等; 都是冷的或

冰凍的(iced)；(西方人尤其是美國人喜歡所謂的iced tea，台灣人的波霸奶茶- gulp tea

w/milk，已享譽全球)，而其 soup 都是微溫(lukewarm)，絕非似亞洲人喜歡的熱騰騰的

(scorching hot)，如雞湯 (chicken soup)等。

比較：take, 有時亦可作「吃」或「服用藥物」：

*“Seafood is best taken fresh, same for computers.” --Acer (宏碁電腦廣告) 海鮮趁新鮮時吃

最好，同樣地，新電腦最好用。

*The patient was instructed to take the three tablets of medication a day.病人每天需服三粒藥。

即使一些chewable tablets(可咬啐的藥片)，

也用take。
take另可做「接受」解釋：
*Take my advice, and be a good boy. 聽我的話，當個好孩子。

*Take it or leave it!要就接受，不要拉倒。(是最後通牒ultimatum或攤牌的話)

比較：

* eat one’s words  自認失言；收回說過的話。

We challenged his statement, and before long had him ~ing his words. 我們挑戰他說過的話；

不久他就收回。

* eat one’s heart out 十分傷心；

He is ~ing his heart out because his girl friend hasn’t written to him for two months. 因他女朋

友兩個月未寫信給他，他十分傷心。

* 事+ eat + someone 使人不高興：

I don’t know what’s ~ ing Mary. 不知何事使瑪琍不高興。

* 人 + eat humble pie (低聲下氣；忍氣吞聲)

“It is not a pleasant experience to have to eat humble pie to those whom you know to be your

inferiors.” 對那些你知道比你差的人不得不忍氣吞聲，是令人不舒服的事。

Justin Lai, U.S.A.

stupid-u2@hotmail.com
05/05/2010