【在生活中學習語言】〈 職人英語通〉 見好就收 Quit while you’re ahead!
文／Dr.J.J. 圖／老唐

中文的俚語或成語往往是最難翻譯的，尤其是成語，往往只有四個字，又大部分是文言文，勉強直譯成英文，不免少了些原來的韻味。所以只要能找到相對應的英文用語，表達出句意就算成功了。

譬如「見好就收」這句成語，英文裡就有很多俚語都可以亟為貼切地用來表示該句意。舉個例子來說吧，比賽總是有輸有贏，有時會領先，當然有時也會落後，如果在領先時（ahead）就選擇退出（quit），當然就永遠不會再落後了。也因此〞quit while you’re ahead” （趁領先時就退出）這句英文，就可譯作「見好就收」之意了。

Patrick：Wow, we’re really leading now. Our scores are so much higher than all other departments in nearly all areas.

Patrick：哇，我們目前是遙遙領先?。在各方面的分數都比其他部門高。

Cindy：I know, but I feel players from other teams are catching up. They’re really aggressive and practicing every weekend.

Cindy：我知道，可是其他組的參賽者也都跟上來了。他們可積極的咧，每個週末都在練習。

Patrick：I feel the pressure, too. I just have to say the prize is too attractive – a round trip ticket to Rome.

Patrick：我也感受到壓力了。我只能說獎項太吸引人了──到羅馬的來回機票呢。

Cindy：I don’t understand then. Why do you want to agree to have the dateline extended? It’s supposed to end tomorrow.

Cindy：那我就不懂了。你幹嘛要答應把截止日延後呢？本來明天就要截止了。

Patrick：Well, some people mentioned about this and I just thought it wouldn’t make too much difference. Now you’ve got me worried about it, too.

Patrick：剛好有些人提起這件事，而我也覺得沒什麼差別。你現在一講，我開始擔心了。

Cindy：As they always say “quit while you’re ahead!” I really think we should just stick to the original closing date.

Cindy：大家老說「見好就收」！我真的認為我們應該按照原訂的時間才對。

Patrick：Perhaps it’s what I should be doing!

Patrick：也許我該這麼辦！

自由時報-971023
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