先来看一个句子:
I had heard from other students that Mr. Marain was just shy of a Ph.D.in mathematics。
这句英语里没有什么生词,往往被人忽视,比如,有人会翻译成:我从别人学生那儿听说,马林先生一遇到有数学博士学位的人就害羞。
其实这个句子把shy译成了害羞,意思就满拧了。原来shy of 是个词组,意为 short ,lacking.尤其为美国人使用,所以上面那个句子的最后部分应译为:马林先生只缺一个博士头衔了。
关于这个短语我们还可以再看两个例句:
The stew is a little shy of seasoning. 这汤缺点儿佐料。
Weve still votes shy of the number we need to win.距离获胜的票数,我们还差一点。
Shy还可用来组成复合词,表示对某样东西惧怕。如
Publicity shy 怕出名的
Book-shy children 怕读书的孩子
Camera-shy 怕上镜头的
Girl-shy 怕女孩的
Gun-shy 怕枪的
Shy of 除了上面所说的缺乏这层意思外,还有一层含义是担忧有顾虑,因此要仔细视上下文而判断到底属于哪个意思。
试译下句:对于这个敏感的话题,我不敢说得过多。
答案就是Im shy of saying too much on this delicate subject. 你翻对了吗?
上一篇: 说永远不只有Forever!
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