Saturday, January 14, 2023

amass

devised
專門做來
a machine devised to generate electrostatic charge (van de Graff generator)

amass
聚攏, 積攢
amassed a fortune from shipping and railroads (Vanderbilt)

base
落腳
where he based himself in Genova and studied Titian (Van Dyck)

(from OERD)

Tuesday, January 10, 2023

reach

reach for his pipe
伸手去拿煙斗

reach to
my income would not reach to it
磬盡所入, 猶不可企及


reach = hand/pass 遞
reach me that book


react to/against/upon
how did they react to the news?
they react upon each other

react with
nitrous oxid reacts with the metal


(from OERD)

Monday, January 09, 2023

Ray

ray out/forth (v.)
(of light, thought, emotion, etc.)
放射

raze (v.) to the ground
(also rase) 夷平

Rayleigh scattering
It accounts, for example, for the blue colour of the sky, since blue light is scattered more efficiently than red.

razor-edge
found themselves on a razor-edge
(or razor's edge)

(from OERD 1995)

Friday, August 07, 2015

must

A camel must be killed.
非殺一匹駱駝不可.

(夏丐尊, 文心)


Wednesday, April 02, 2014

decrepit

The years between 50 and 70 are the hardest. You are always being asked to do things and yet are not decrepit enough t turn them down.
人生五十歲到七十歲最難熬,人家總愛找你做些事,你又還不到七老八十,不便回絕。

(語出T.S. Eliot, 董橋譯. 載於橄欖香一翦梅)


Sunday, July 18, 2010

ail

He has been ailing for several days.
他病了幾天還沒好.

He was ailing (or ill) long before his death.
他病了很久才過身.
他生前久病纏身.

Nothing at all ails him.
他甚麼都不以為苦.
他這人看得開, 天塌下來當被蓋.



(英文例句摘自世界書局英漢四用辭典, 1936)

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

妙譯

媽媽阿四, 馬太留言:

You should seriously think about building C's resume/Portfolio. I offer my sage advice…

我勸你醒醒定,老老實實開始幫小C整靚個履歷。嗱我而家塞錢入你袋……

1. Language
The more obscure, the better. Suggest Estonian or Finnish.

一、語言

越了lung越好。可考慮愛沙尼亞文或芬蘭話。

2. Sports
Again, the smaller the niche, the greater chance of success. Fencing skills in a toddler would impress most kindergarten interview committee members.

二、體育

又係越偏門贏面越高。舉個例,相信沒有校長主任會不愛煞能使劍的孩子。

3. Volunteer work
Candidates need to demonstrate an obligation to the community. Youtube footage of laundry is a good start.

三、公職

考生務必表現出對社會的承擔。唔……在家幫忙洗衣都叫做好過冇。

And for you, mama 4, I suggest you learn Tae Kwon Do. You never know when it would be helpful when struggling with another candidate’s parent.

至於阿四你本人,我提議你去學跆拳道,必要時在學校門口跟其他考生家長爭起上嚟,都叫做打得下。



怒火日誌, 兩台聯播友誼賽:

Daryl: "It's a foul!"
嗲噢說: 茅波!

Daryl: "Now back off 10 yards and I'll bend it like Beckham."
嗲噢說: 家陣退後10碼, 等我拉腳靚波過你睇

Ryan: "Are you alright? Sorry for the tackle. Ref, don't book me for this!"
歪仁: 你無事丫嘛? 唔好意思呀. 球證大佬, 高抬貴手丫.

Ryan: "Ref, I said don't book me! I'll give you all the milk powder I have."
歪仁: 球證大佬, 我話高抬貴手丫...最多俾晒D奶粉你丫.

Ryan: "Ref!"
歪仁: 球證大佬

Daryl: "Ryan, this is the key to the ref's locker and you can take away his yellow card and red card. You can take away his clothes as well. You may also find some pacifiers as well. I heard that the refs suck them, among other othings, really well."
嗲噢: 歪仁, 呢條係球證個LOCKER 匙, 你走去拎鬼晒佢D黃牌紅牌咁啦, 攞埋佢D衫都重得. 丫, LOCKER入面可能有奶咀添呀. 聽講個球證好鬼中意啜架.

Ryan: "Got it."
歪仁: 接住

Daryl: "Let's play ball!"
嗲噢: 踢番場丫

Daryl: "Oh yeah!"
嗲噢: 正!

Sunday, November 25, 2007

sterling

sterling
重磅

China once had excellent translators such as Fu Lei, Cao Ying, Wang Daogan and others. But today, there does not seem to be many translators with such sterling reputations.
(The Translation Crisis in China, ESWN)

中國曾經誕生傅雷、草嬰、王道乾等優秀譯者,如今卻幾乎没有幾個叫得響的翻譯家。
(中文原句)

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

loathed

loathed
神憎鬼厭

scrap
廢棄

MACAU TO BRING IN LOATHED LAW. The hated Article 23 anti-subversion law - scrapped in Hong Kong following massive protests - is to be enforced in Macau.
(英文虎報 2007-11-14)

Friday, November 02, 2007

litter

A large number of bottles littered the ground after the festivities.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

carpet

carpet
鋪滿

Bullet casings carpet a street in Monrovia (the capital of Liberia), at the heart of the battlefield between government and rebel soldiers.
(War Underfoot [2003], World’s famous photos)

Monday, June 05, 2006

scrutiny

scrutiny
打量, 細察, 監視

Unfortunately, that avoidance of scrutiny has left him the victum of misunderstanding and anachronistic judgements.
(Cathering Phillips, Robert Bridges: A Biography. Introduction)

Friday, May 26, 2006

acquiesce

acquiesce
默認, 默許, 默從

allegiance
支持

As the representative of [prince-bishop] Johannes Hinderbach, the podesta had to acquiesce, for Hinderbach had pledged allegiance [of Archduke]. (Trent 1475, ch4)

Friday, March 10, 2006

engrossed

He was so engrossed in his work that he completely forgot the time.

他全神貫注於工作, 全然忘了時間.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

strange

a stranger in a strange land (Exodus 2:22)

獨在異鄉為異客

Sunday, February 12, 2006

howto 060212

我絕對有理由相信香港之Podcast數量,沒有可能與國內城市差得太遠。(A vs B)


*香港podcast的數量與國內城市相比沒可能相差太遠, 這一點我絕對有理由相信.

*香港podcast的數量跟國內城市相比應該相差不遠, 這一點我絕對有理由相信.

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

BBC Shakespeare

Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind.
---A Midsummer Night's Dream

Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more! Macbeth doth murder sleep."
---Macbeth

He's mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf, a horse's health, a boy's love, or a whore's oath.
---King Lear

Though this be madness, yet there is method in't.
---Hamlet

(BBC Shakepeare collection DVD)

Friday, December 09, 2005

Schreibt mir einen Brief!

Schreibt mir einen Brief!
Erzählt mir eine Episode aus Eurem Leben, egal ob echt oder erfunden, schön oder tragisch. Aber schreibt mit der Hand. Ich sammel die Briefe bis... sagen wir Ende Dezember? Und stelle dann alle oder eine Auswahl auf meiner Homepage aus.... und verbreitet den Link zu diesem Artikel, vielleicht kommt ja mehr als ein Brief? Adresse gibt es auf Anfrage...

Writes me a letter!
Tells me an episode from your life, all the same whether genuine or invented, beautiful or tragic. But writes with the hand. I collect the letters to... say we at the end of December? And place then all or a selection on my homepage out.... and spread the left to this article, perhaps comes more than one letter? Address gives it on request...

(from unkreativ)

Thursday, December 08, 2005

scrutiny

... in the theatre monarchy becomes a performance and as such is subject to scrutiny by the audience.

(Germaine Greer, BBC Radio 3 Shakespeare Lecture)

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

pneumono

估計應是紀錄中最長的英文字,總共四十五個字母:

pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

這字解作「黑肺病」,大致是因為火山塵埃引
致的矽肺病。這字可分為幾部份

pneumono - 關於肺部的
ultra - 超過
microscopic - 極微小的
silico - 矽(silicon)
volcano - 火山
coniosis - 塵埃引致的疾病


(from somebody's website, url not to be disclosed.)

Sunday, December 04, 2005

draw, part

O Love, O fire! once he drew / With one long kiss my whole soul thro' / My lips, as sunlight drinketh dew.

(Tennyson's Fatima)


Good night! Good night! / Parting is such sweet sorrow. / That I shall say good night till it be morrow.

(Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet)

Friday, December 02, 2005

Alterations to lineation

Alterations to lineation

THE following list records this edition's changes to the Folio's printing of verse lines, as well as emendations adopted by previous editors but rejected by this edition in favour of the Folio's arrangement. It does not cite every attempt at recordering the play's verse, or instances of short lines shared by two speakers that editors combine as single verse-lines (since the Folio never follows the modern practice of indenting the second half of a divided line to indicate this). All Folio entries appear in original spelling.


Index

THIS is a selective index to words and expressions explained in the Commentary, and to names and original works mentioned throughout the edition. It excludes biblical quotations, proverbs and classical allusions. A group entry, `productions' is subheaded according to director, place or company, and date (e.g. Hands, RSC (1977)). An asterisk indicates a note that supplements information given in the Oxford English Dictionary.


(Henry IV Part Three, The Oxford Paperback Shakespeare)

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

murky, crackle

* murky 隱晦

Margot's intentions are more murky; she appears to be giving off mixed signals which Gaspard occasionally misinterprets.

* crackle 打得火熱

The sexual tension crackles, emphasizing the fact that, in the hands of an expert director, no nudity or graphic skin-to-skin contact is necessary to develop a state of highly charged eroticism.



(James Berardinelli's film review on Rohmer's A Summer's Tale )

Saturday, November 26, 2005

rhythum

The days unfold in their own rhythums. There are no weekends. No Mondays. It is timeless and ageless, measured by the sun, the stars, and floods. (Reader's Digest, 2005.04)

山中無甲子, 歲月不知寒.

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

read

Silence must not always read as consent.
默然不語不等於默許默認.
(別把沉默當作許可.)

The sign reads `No admittance'.
告示牌上寫著請勿內進.

The article reads very well.
這篇文章不錯.

What does the thermometer read?
溫度計的讀數是多少?

Do you read me?
收唔收到?

For `madam' in line 3 read `madman'.
Read `madam' in line 3 as `madman'.
第三行 `madam' 一字當作 `madman'.

She reads law in Oxford.
She is reading for a law degree in Oxford.
她在牛津唸法律.

(from OALD, 自譯)

record

The thermometer recorded a temperature of 40 deg C. (OALD)
溫度計錄得溫度為攝氏40度.

The coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death. (OALD)
驗屍官判定死者死於意外.

Sunday, July 31, 2005

dense

of high density
重身, 墜手

of low density
輕身

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

run away

They run away from him with all speed and diligence.
避之唯恐不及.

---`The Question, "What Is an Arminian?" Answered by a Lover of Free Grace' by John Wesley

Sunday, April 24, 2005

urban legend

urban legend
坊間傳聞

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

geared

People in Provence generally think, dream and live food; most people's working day is completely geared around satisfying their insatiable appetite for dining well.

Friday, April 15, 2005

favour

She favoured him with a charming smile.
她報以嫣然一笑.

assume

He assumes a well-informed manner but in fact knows very little.
識少少扮代表.