精．英語 | 27/6/2016
充滿色彩的語言
中文比喻「眼紅別人」的英文不是 red-eyed，而是 green-eyed 或 green with envy。例如：When his younger brother received birthday presents from his relatives, he turned into a green-eyed monster. 意思是：He was jealous of his younger brother. (他妒忌他的弟弟。)
英文中的red-eyed 是指「一個人可能因為太累，眼睛充血變紅」。另外，也有 blue-eyed，a blue-eyed boy 是指「一個很多人疼愛的男孩」，就如上述例子，可說：His younger brother is a blue-eyed boy.。
．中英異「色」
以藍色作為片語很多，也不一定有色情的意思。例如out of the blue 解作「突然地」、「沒有預期地」，例如：He resigned out of the blue and said he had to see the world.（他突然辭職，並說他要去環遊世界。）另外，歌手 Adele 的歌曲Someone Like You 中，歌詞有“I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited”，當中的turn up uninvited是「不請自來」的意思，雖然uninvited是形容詞，但會與show/turn up合用，即是show/turn up uninvited。
．中英同「色」
顏色中英相同的例子如 raise the white flag，與中文的「舉白旗投降」意思完全一樣。
另外，red carpet 就是「紅地毯」，red carpet當然是有隆重的意思，因此又可以形容款待非常奢華，VIP般地招待一樣。
e.g. First-class passengers receive the red-carpet treatment on the ground and in the air.
至於 black and white 也與中文相似，既可解作「非黑即白的」，即是不存在灰色地帶的，也可以解作「白紙黑字」。
e.g. He is so naïve that he sees many things in black and white, but this world is much more complicated than he thinks.
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(例句)The last time Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived here in Washington for a state visit he was given the red carpet treatment by the Obama ... ... <看更多>