2009年4月9日星期四

让我纠结大半天的一句英语


"no revision and normal classes will be held this week"

我的理解是“复习课取消了,普通课程本周照常进行”,更多的人则是认为“复习课跟普通课程全部取消了”,于是,问题就产生了。到底要不要上课?

实际上,校方想表达的意思是,“复习课跟普通课程全部取消了”,然而此句表达并不清晰且带有歧义。我问了好几个我以为英语还不错的本地学生,只有一人很坚定的认同我的解读方法,其他人却都能正确理解校方的意思。然后我很固执的问了老师,一开始因为他支持我的翻译,去找出这个告示的suraya更正,但后来明显是suraya说服了他,Mr Lye 回来居然还教我们这句话是正确无误的……

纠结啊,顿时我无比纠结,整堂课都上不下去,发短信到处问这句话的解读,大多数本地人居然没觉察出这句话很有问题。

我还是不死心,找厦大英语系的高材生,原来我们持相同观点。起码,在这个语境下连词 “and”是不合适的,“or”才是正确的。

但是英语为第二语言的人的说辞自然没有多大说服力,我还是很执着的上网问来自加拿大的feng37,他倒是帮我挖掘出了这句话更具体的错误所在:
feng37:I think it sounds more academic to use "and", although it could just be an australianism, I would argue that gramatically it's incorrect that you can't lump 'revision' (an activity) with 'normal classes' together into one compound noun.

me: do you think it's better to use "OR" or "AND" in that sentence?

feng37: definitely or

me: will it be misleading using "AND" in english speaking countries?

feng37: slightly, yes
trying to think of a grammar rule for compound subject+negative verb
all I can say is, one never hears 'and' in a compound subject+negative verb
at least, not with negative 'to be'
ok,终于解开这个结了,可安睡矣