PETS－2语法讲解(142)

　　You don't look a day over forty.
　　对话
　　Jean: So you're Mary’s friend. I'm very pleased to meet you.
　　Marion: It's a pleasure to meet you too. Mary has told me that you also work in marketing.
　　Jean: Yes, but as you know, she is in shoes, while I'm in cosmetics.
　　Marion: Were you at school together with her?
　　Jean: No, no, I'm ten years older. We met much later.
　　Marion: What! I can't believe it. You don't look a day over forty.
　　珍：啊，你就是玛丽的朋友。幸会，幸会。
　　玛丽恩：我也很高兴见到你。玛丽说，你也是从事销售工作的。
　　珍：不错，但你知道的啦，她卖的是鞋子，我卖的是化？菻~。
　　玛丽恩：你们小时候是同学吗？
　　珍：不是，不是，我比玛丽大十年。我们是多年以后才认识的。
　　玛丽恩：什么！这真是难以置信。你看来最多不过超四十岁。
　　玛丽恩见珍说比玛丽大十年，颇为奇怪：What! I can't believe it. You don't look a day over forty。You don't look a day over forty直译是‘你看来最多四十岁，一天都不多’。类似说法一般用于四十岁以上的人，例如You don't look a day over fifty/sixty等。对二、三十岁的人，很少说You don't look a day over twenty/thirty。说人家样子和实际年龄相符，英文是to look one's age。She does not look her age一般是说‘她看来比实际年纪小’，但也可以指‘比实际年纪大’。She looks older/younger than her age则是说‘看来比实际年纪大一些/小一些’。珍其实超过了四十岁，这英文叫做middle age（中年），即四十到六十岁，例如：(1) He did not get married till he was in middle age（他中年才结婚）。(2) The speaker was a man of middle age（说话的是个中年人）。‘人生四十才开始’是英文Life begins at 40的直译。留意middle age不可写作Middle Ages。Middle Ages是欧洲所谓‘中古时代’，一般指公元一一○○至一五○○年这段时间。Life in the late Middle Ages was luxurious for the privileged, but hard for most people即‘中世纪末叶，特权阶级生活奢华，一般人却度日维艰’。最后谈谈I can't believe it 一语。这话常用来表示惊奇，也作I don't believe it，例如：She has won the lottery? I can't/don't believe it!（她中了彩票？这简直难以置信）。