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What does that mean? 你真的瞭解這個慣用語嗎?
【英文學習】
 很多字詞並非表面所見的意思,字詞的組合會產生不同的解釋。這樣的慣用法,我們稱之為「比喻」。一個成功的比喻,作者本身必須相當瞭解字詞的源起。以下的句子為讀者介紹一個比喻及其來源。
Imagery buries itself in language and takes on new meaning. The transplanted and transformed sets of words are called “figures of speech.” For a figure of speech to be effective, however, a writer must first understand the original meaning of the phrase. The following sentence contains a common figure of speech. Its original meaning is explained.

“The young playwright and his lady were quite happy to waste the afternoon cleaning the grimy shelves together, becoming grimy themselves, for love is blind.”
「年輕的劇作家和情人興高采烈地浪費一個下午,一起清理髒兮兮的架子,自己也弄得髒兮兮,畢竟愛情是盲目的。」

Blindness is a matter of degree. A totally blind person discerns no light striking his pupils and lives in a totally dark world. People who are legally blind sometimes still see light and can make out shapes and shadows enough to function haltingly in a familiar environment. In either case, the absence of clear vision is a handicap that most people can only imagine. It affects all the senses, with smells, sounds, and tactile sensations becoming more pronounced to offset the loss of sight. Even physical movement is affected, with blind people moving very cautiously.
眼盲有程度區別,全盲的人完全無法分辨射進瞳孔中的光線,活在完全黑暗的世界裡。法律上宣判為眼盲者,有時仍可見到一些光線,能分辨形狀與影子,在熟悉的環境中摸索著行動。無論是哪一種,失去清晰的視力這種障礙,多數人都只能想像。這會影響所有的感官,嗅覺、聽覺與觸覺都會變得更敏銳,以抵銷失明的影響。連動作也會受到影響,失明的人動作會比較小心翼翼。

In saying that love is blind, the writer first of all is not being original. He is guilty of using a cliché. The phrase generally is attributed to English writer William Shakespeare, who actually used it in several of his plays. What is meant by it is that, like a person without sight, a person in love cannot always see the reality of a situation. The object of his love—whether it be a person, an object, or an abstraction—clouds his judgment and muddles his thinking. Some university researchers have shown that love can alter the way a brain functions as an analytical organ.
本句說愛情是盲目的,首先這句話並非原創,用在句中略嫌老套。這句話一般認為由英國作家莎士比亞所創,他在自己好幾齣劇本中都用了這句話。這句話的意思是,陷入愛情的人就像失明的人一樣,無法看清狀況的真相。他愛情的對象-無論是人、物或是抽象概念,都蒙蔽了他的判斷力,混淆他的思慮。有些大學研究者發現,愛情能夠干擾大腦的分析功能。

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