Maggie和外籍同事討論新產品上市計劃,時間一改再改,到最後她真的受不了了、很生氣,就對同事說:You are enough!
外籍同事愣在那裡,這是苛責還是鼓勵?原來"You are enough."是一種安慰,而不是責備。Enough這個字雖然不太起眼,但口語錯誤率卻很高,今天就來看看enough怎麼用。
1.You are enough.
(X)你夠了沒。
(O)你已經夠好了。
有書名、歌名都叫做You are enough;甚至還有You are enough手環。我們有時會安慰人:你夠好了、你夠努力了、你做得夠了……"You are enough."就有點像這樣的勵志語言,你已經足夠,別再苛責自己。來看一個例句:
You are enough.You shouldn't have to prove it to anyone.(你已經夠好,不必再向任何人證明。)
2.Cut it out. I have had enough.
(X)別再切菜了,我已經吃飽了。
(O)別說了,我受夠了。/煩透了,別再講了。
要罵人:「你夠了沒」,可以說"I have had enough"。另外,"I have had enough."這句話也有吃飽了的意思,要看前後文來判斷,例句因為前面有cut it out,意思是「停止、別鬧了」的意思,整句意思是叫人住嘴。類似enough用法還有:
Enough is enough(夠了、行了,適可而止。)
Enough is enough - I don't want to argue with you anymore.(好了好了,我不想再跟你爭了。)
Enough said(不必再講,無需多說)
"Someone has to explain the situation to her."「 必須有人向她說明一下情況。」
"Enough said."「已經說得夠多了。」
That's enough(不要那樣、夠了/制止不好的行爲)
That's enough, Peter. Give those toys back, please.(夠了,彼得。把那些玩具還回去,聽話。)
3.Fair enough
(X)非常夠。/非常公平。
(O)可以接受。/說的也對。
"Fair enough"是一句常見口語,表示同意,應用的場景大概是:你本來不太認同對方,不過聽了解釋,可以認同和接受。
"I can't come because I'm working late."「我工作到很晚,沒辦法去。」
"Fair enough." 「也對。」
4.我的字彙量不夠。
(X)My vocabulary is not enough.
(O)My vocabulary is limited/weak.
來聊一聊和enough相關比較深一點的文法。中文裡我們常會說我的OOO不夠。就會直接用"My OOO is not enough."
這樣的英文聽起來就會很不自然。例如:
我們的錢不夠。
(X)Our money is not enough.
(O)We don’t have enough money.
時間夠嗎?
(X)Is time enough?
(O)Do we have enough time?
這些句子為什麼錯呢?只要是主詞不帶有「數量」含意,就不能用enough,因為這樣太含糊;例如,你說字彙量不夠,到底多少才算夠?形容字彙不夠,用limited(有限)或是weak(很弱)就好。
但這個句子裡主詞含有數量概念用enough就說得通:
5個人就夠了。
(O)Five men will be quite enough.
美國人覺得一百萬退休存款就夠了。
(O)Americans think that $1 million in retirement savings will be enough.
商業英文學得又快又準:http://bit.ly/2HSHW7p
責任編輯:易佳蓉
核稿編輯:鍾守沂