Trouble is only opportunity in work clothes. --- Kaiser
困难只是穿上工作服的机遇。--凯泽
【世博精解】
这里我们来分析“机会”的表达方法。
opportunity, occasion, chance, break这组词的一般含义是“时机”或“机会”。不管在口语中或者在文学作品中,这几个都是常用的词。
opportunity表示某时机符合自己想干某事的意愿、目的、雄心甚至野心。比方:“伺机而动”,这“而动”即去做自己想去完成的事情,此语可译为wait for an opportunity to take action;“借此机会说几句话”,这“说几句话”即说明该时机符合自己想干某事的意愿,此语可译为to avail oneself of the opportunity to say a few words.
例如:
Perhaps there is an element of truth in both these pictures,but few of us have had the opportunity to find out.
或许这两种想象中都有一定的真实成分,但是我们中很少有人有机会去发现它。
A man without an education,many of us believe,is an unfortunate victim of adverse circumstances deprived of one of the greatest twenty-century opportunities.
我们许多人都相信,没有受过教育的人是境况不佳的不幸牺牲品,他们被剥夺了20世纪最了不起的机会之一。
occasion含有opportunity所能表达的这样一层意思:某时机能激发或唤起某人的某种行为,如:在“必要时”一语中便包含着激发某行为的时刻,此语可译为When occasion demands…;“这不是哭泣的时候。”这句话可译为It's no occasion for crying。在to have no occasion todo…固定词组中,occasion之所以能够引申为reason或cause的含义,也是与occasion的上述基本词义有关的。
例如:
This sort of thing is usual on occasions like this.
这类事情在这种场合是常见的。
This is not an occasion for laughter.
这不是笑的时候。(指不适合于笑,或不是笑的场合。)
chance表示幸运或偶然的时机。
例如:
Perhaps it is the desire for solitude or the chance of making an unexpected discovery that lures men down to the depths of the earth.
可能正是寻觅幽静的去处,或者找个猎奇的机会的欲望引诱着人们进入地球的深处。
No one discovers a rarity by chance.
侥幸发现一件珍品的人是没有的。
break作为时机解,一般要求修饰语,如:a good break, a bad break,即“走运”或“坏运气”。这个词的基本意思是:走运不能老走运,倒霉不能老倒霉,总有个break的。
例如:
That fellow gets all the breaks;he has been working there for only six months and has already been promoted to the position of vice-president.
那个家伙真走运,在那里才干了6个月,就已经被提升到总副经理的职位了。
He has been assailed by bad breaks all these years.
这些年来他接二连三地倒霉。
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