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天天閱讀英語島,在這裡感知世界,汲取英文的養分。
 

You are enough 不是駡人「你夠了喔」

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是對人的一種安慰,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。

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。

要駡人「你夠了沒」,可以說"I have had enough." "I have had enough."也有吃飽的意思,要看前後文來判斷,這句因為前面有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." "Enough said."「 必需有人向她說明一下情況。」「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,應用的場景大概是這樣: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." "Fair enough.’" 「我工作到很晚,沒辦法去。」。「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 XXX 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,到底多少叫夠,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. 

高階主管一對一,學英文,有策略、有方法

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