看笑話學英語：我欲與狗試比高

A man went to visit a friend and was amazed to find him playing chess with his dog.

He watched the game in astonishment for a while.

"I can hardly believe my eyes!" he exclaimed. "That's the smartest dog I've ever seen."

"Nah, he's not so smart," the friend replied. "I've beaten him three games out of five."

　　翻譯一

某人去朋友家拜訪，發現朋友竟然在跟自家的狗下象棋，大爲錯愕。

他旁觀了一會兒，當時就震驚了。

“我簡直不敢相信!”他大叫，“我從沒見過那麼聰明的狗!”

“哪裏聰明瞭，”朋友回答，“五局中我贏了三局呢!”

　　NOTES:

1. in astonishment 驚訝地

我們來看這樣一句話：His mouth dropped to the floor in astonishment. 這就是我們所說的“驚訝得嘴都掉地上了”。

另外，to one's astonishment 表示“使某人驚訝的是……”：

To my astonishment, the man lifted the rock effortlessly. 使我吃驚的是，那漢子毫不費勁地把石塊舉了起來。

用 astonishment 表示驚訝還能怎麼說呢?再來舉兩個例子吧：

He was overcome with astonishment. 他驚呆了。

I am all astonishment. 我真感到驚奇。

最後，我們經常會說“驚得說不出話來”，這個又該怎麼說呢?以下兩種說法都可以：

He was struck dumb with astonishment. 他驚訝得目瞪口呆。

Astonishment held me dumb. 我驚愕得說不出話來。

2. I can hardly/barely believe my eyes! = I can't believe my eyes! = I can't believe what I saw! 我簡直不敢相信自己的眼睛!

同樣，I can't believe my ears! 就表示“我不敢相信自己所聽到的，難以置信”，例：

The cat is babysitting the kids? I can't believe my ears! 貓在照料小孩?真是難以置信!

3. three games out of five 五局中的三局

out of 可以表示“部分”，又如：

This is but one instance out of many. 那不過是衆多例子中的一個。

nine times out of ten 則是一個習語，表示“十之八九，幾乎總是”，例：

He talks about you nine times out of ten when we have a chitchat. 每次我們閒聊他幾乎都談及你。