給小朋友讀的英文應該更注重品質,但不知何故舉目所見的英文無論程度高低,都是錯誤滿天飛。就以這篇「中英文俱差」的文章為例,「被擊中的機率有多低」英文應該是 how small are your chances of being hit (by falling space debris) . . .,原句寫的 how small of a chance was there that something could have hit you . . . 問題很多,顯然是將 there is a small chance that . . . 的句型直接倒裝成「疑問句」,可惜英文不是數學,硬套公式不見得都會得到正確答案,何況時態應該是「現在式」而不是「過去式」。
其次,並無 small of something 的用法,只有 the small of the back(腰椎)的慣用語(small 為「名詞」)。 再者,could have hit you 是「與過去事實相反」的「假設語氣」,意思是「可能就撞到你(算你命大)」,跟機率統計的時態邏輯(現在式)毫無關聯。
第三句 compare that to winning the Taiwan Lucky Big Lottery 是標準的「非同等比較誤謬」。compare A to B 的 A 和 B 必須相同性質,compare that 的「代名詞」that(=「受詞」)所代表的「先行詞」是「21兆分之1的機率」(a one-in-21-trillion chance),但相比較的卻是「中大樂透頭獎」(winning the Taiwan Lucky Big Lottery),正確寫法應該是「中頭獎機率」(the odds of winning the Taiwan Lucky Big Lottery),機率才能跟機率比,而不是機率跟中頭獎比。
「低於1400萬分之1」的寫法是 less than one in 14 million,原來的 one in just under 14 million 實在看不懂到底是多少。況且原句的意思是「被擊中機率低於中頭獎機率」,寫法應該是 the chances of being hit are lower than the chances of winning the lottery,換言之,整句話從 compare 開始就寫錯了。
最後,she was still okay 根本不知所云,OK 字義雖然是「沒事」,情境上卻是指「沒有大礙」(nothing serious),也就是「有事但不礙事」,still OK(仍無大礙)有預期掛點卻無大礙的意思,但中譯又寫「毫髮無傷」(intact),不知道搞什麼鬼,較恰當的寫法應該是 she was not injured,全段改寫整理如下,提供同學們參考:
So how small are your chances of being hit by falling space debris? NASA scientists say that the chances are one in 21 trillion — much lower than the one-in-14-million chance of winning the Taiwan Lucky Big Lottery. Only one person has ever been hit by space debris, but she was not injured.
延伸閱讀:
- 1樓. kevin2018/05/28 09:22
不敢相信,要教小朋友的,怎錯成這樣?
^^~ Tutor_Mike 於 2018/05/28 18:43回覆