Ask & Learn聞問(wèn)切英語(yǔ)口語(yǔ): It’s not that
讀者Derek 看電視劇時(shí)聽(tīng)到以下對(duì)白:
A: You don't approve of the policy?
B: It's not that.
Derek 想問(wèn),如果回答 "No",意思是不贊成該項(xiàng)政策。如果說(shuō) "No, it's not that",反而是表示贊同。他希望我在欄目里討論一下這個(gè)現(xiàn)象。
英語(yǔ)的 question tag 對(duì)初學(xué)英語(yǔ)的人來(lái)說(shuō)很容易混淆,例如:
You don't like hot weather, do you?
如果你不喜歡熱天氣,答案應(yīng)該是 "No, I don't";喜歡的話,則回答 "Yes, I do",跟中文的習(xí)慣剛好相反。
Derek 提出的對(duì)白卻跟上面的例子略有不同,因?yàn)榇鸢覆皇呛?jiǎn)簡(jiǎn)單單的 "No" 或者 "No, I don't approve",而是 "No, it's not that",答案的主語(yǔ)由 I 變成 it。我們于是可以問(wèn) that 指的是什么。很明顯 that 指的是"You don't approve of the policy"的說(shuō)法。這樣一來(lái),意思就很明白了。
Have you any questions about English usage? Don't hesitate to send them to us!
更多信息請(qǐng)查看口語(yǔ)交際