英语中的许多语词,我们一般都是根据英汉词典中的释义来理解,且仅记其通常的解释,并将初学时所得的印象铭记在心.这样一来,我们对某些语词的理解便会有错误的倾向:先入为主,拘泥字面,主观臆断.试举例如下:

　　accident在a surgical accident(手术事故)以及He had a bad accident.和He was killed by a sudden accident.这些语句中,accident均有"不幸"的含义.但在另一些情况下,accident只表"偶然",实无"不幸":

　　She had an accident.("未婚先孕"的委婉说法)

　　Columbus discovered America by accident.

　　I met her by happy accident.

　　It was a lucky accident.

　　animal有时也指"人",如:

　　human animal(即"人")

　　Men, dogs, birds, flies, fish and snakes are all animals.

　　Man is the only animal that can blush-or needs to.(Mark Twain)

　　bachelor除指未婚男子外,也与女性有关."经济独立的未婚女青年"称作bachelor girl.作"学士"讲时,兼指男女,如:

　　She is a Bachelor of Arts.

　　chairman兼指男女.如:

　　She is one of our best and most experienced chair- men.

　　(也有人用chairwoman来指女性主席)

　　child除指不满14岁的儿童外,还可指胎儿.成年的子女在父母面前永远是child.有时child(children)还指某个民族、地区的人:

　　My wife lost her first child a month ago before it should have been born.

　　Moses led the children of

　　Israel out of Egypt.(指摩西领以色列人出埃及,见《圣经·旧约·出埃及记》)

　　come out英汉词典中有"显现"、"消失"两种相互矛盾的解释.在Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English中,对此短语的第一个解释是

　　appear,第八个解释是disappear,释义也是相反的,所给的两个例句是:

　　The stars came out as soon as it was dark.(相当于appeared)

　　I've washed this shirt twice and the ink still hasn't come out.(相当于disappeared)

　　但从这两个句子中可看出一种"相反相成"的现象.come out本意是"出来".天一黑,繁星便"出来",即"显现"(appear);墨水迹留在衬衣上不"出

　　来",也就是不"消失",即未能disappear.这个短语的两种相反的解释有"同一性".

　　down在多数情况下与up意思相反,go up the hill是"上山", go down the hill是"下山".但go up the street和go down the street却意思

　　相同,此二短语中的up和down均意为along.to slow up和to slow down意思也一样.

　　freshman虽以-man结尾,但兼指男女,意为a student in his or her first year at university.

　　in broad daylight比较下面两句话:

　　They robbed the bank in broad daylight.

　　We expect to see bats in the evening, not in broad daylight.

　　对比后可看出,in broad daylight意为"在大白天",不同于汉语成语"在光天化日之下",因汉语中的这个成语仅就干坏事而言,而in broad

　　daylight一语则不含贬义.在两种不同的语言中,难以找到完全对等的成语.

　　Indian若指"语言",则指美洲的"印第安语".印度通行的语言叫Hindi(印地语).

　　midwife指男女两性的接生人员.若怕人误解,在指男性接生人员时可用accoucheur.

　　thanks to此短语意为"由于",指好事或坏事均可,但并不表示"感恩".比较下列三句:

　　Thanks to modern medicine,

　　man's life span is growing longer.

　　Thanks to a sudden rain, the children came home with wet clothes.

　　Our arrival was delayed, thanks to the fog.

　　(文/宋宁　英语辅导报大学一年级版03~04学年第39期;版权归英语辅导报社所有，独家网络合作伙伴新浪教育，未经许可，不得以任何形式进行转载。)