Tip of the iceberg

2011/12/01 08:44:54 網誌分類: 生活

01 Dec

        　　Last week I pointed out the mistakes legislator Ronny Tong Ka-wah made in the way he used English idioms and expressions. We are friends, so I hope he isn't mad at me! Today I'll point out more mistakes in the use of expressions made by two other people. They are Under-Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok and executive director of the Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women Linda Wong Sau-yung. Lai Tung-kwok was being interviewed in English about the new register for sex offenders when he made the mistake.

        　　Right now the register works only on a voluntary basis. The reporter asked Lai how long the government will take to review the current policy to make it compulsory for job applicants to reveal their past sexual offences. Lai replied: "At this point of moment we cannot say categorically how long the review will take." The expression is wrong. The correct expression is "at this point in time" which simply means "for now". For example, you can say: "At this point in time we don't know who will be Hong Kong's next Chief Executive." But I think the expression is long and unnecessary. It's simpler just to say: "For now we don't know who will be Hong Kong's next Chief Executive." Categorically means clearly or absolutely.

        　　Linda Wong Sau-yung was being interviewed about sexual assaults against women on MTR trains when she made the mistake. Police have received 160 reports of such assaults in the first eight months of this year. But Wong said: "This is only the iceberg of the problem." The correct expression is tip of the iceberg. An iceberg is a huge piece of ice floating in the sea. The ship Titanic sank after it hit an iceberg. Usually, you can only see the tip, or the top part, of the iceberg. Most of the iceberg is under the water. The expression tip of the iceberg means you can only see a small part of a much bigger problem, which is mostly hidden.

        ＊＊＊

        　　上周我指出湯家驊議員說錯英語成語和習語。我倆是朋友，希望他不生氣。有兩位人士近日也說錯習語，他們是保安局副局長黎棟國及關注婦女性暴力協會總幹事王秀容。黎是以英語受訪，談論性罪犯名冊時說錯習語。

        　　現時性罪犯名冊屬自願參與，有記者問黎政府何時會檢討，以強制機構查核求職者的性犯罪紀錄。黎回應：「現在（at this point of moment）還沒有具體（categorically）檢討時間表。」他把習語搞錯了。正確說法是at this point in time，意思很簡單，解現在（for now）。例如，你可說：「現在（at this point in time）我們還未知道誰是下任特首。」但我認為這習語太長，且不必要。這樣說會更簡單：「現在（For now）我們還未知道誰是下任特首。」Categorically解清楚或肯定地。

        　　王秀容談女性乘搭地鐵時遇到性侵犯問題時亦說錯習語。警方在今年首八個月收到一百六十宗地鐵性侵犯個案。王說This is only the iceberg of the problem（這只是問題的冰山一角）。正確的說法應是tip of the iceberg。Iceberg指在海上飄浮的巨大冰塊。鐵達尼號郵輪就是撞到冰山（iceberg）後沉沒。通常你只可看到冰山的尖端（tip）或頂部，它大部份的地方都是沉在水裏。Tip of the iceberg解你所知道的只是問題的一小部份，遠比嚴重的往往是隱藏着，不為人知。mickchug@gmail.com

        中譯: 利以嘉

        Michael Chugani 褚簡寧

回應 (0)

我要發表

Tip of the iceberg

網誌分類

最新網誌

月曆