英倫翻譯社/ Trsmaster

前幾天剛好在英語新聞裡聽到一個詞Off the cuff，某官員談到社會住宅問題時，說到這不是一個Off-the-cuff idea，而是深思熟慮之後的想法。Off-the-cuff是什麼呢？Cuff就是襯衫的袖口。Off the cuff的意思是：不經心地，臨時想起的，或者是很隨便的。當你回答一個問題，而你對你的答案又不太確定時，你就可以用off the cuff這片語。舉一個例子。
 
You want to know how many people work for our company? Off the cuff, I'd say about two thousand. But I'll have to look up the exact number and get back to you later. 

你想知道我們這個機構有多少工作人員？我的印象好像是2千人。但是，我得去查一下確切的數字，然後再告訴你。 

或者，還有個例子，某人正在考慮買一棟房子。他正在跟他的房地產經紀商討論借款和利率問題，計算每月要付多少錢。房地產經紀商說： 

If you want to borrow 80% of the total amount, with the interest rate at 3.5%, off the cuff, you probably will have to pay a little over fifteen hundred dollars a month. But I've got to do a detailed calculation before I can give you an exact number. 

◎張沛元

"Cronut," you just can’t win them all. On Wednesday, Dictionary.com announced that it had chosen "privacy" as its word of the year, beating out other finalists including the croissant-doughnut hybrid that became a national phenomenon in 2013.

「可頌甜甜圈」，你不可能處處吃香的啦。Dictionary.com網站週三宣布，「隱私」一字獲選為該網站的2013年度字彙，擊敗包括在2013年蔚為全美風潮的可頌加上甜甜圈的混合字等其他決選字彙。

Other finalists included "sequester," "shutdown," "share" and newly coined words such as "Obamacare" and "3D printing."

另外進入決選的字彙，包括「自動減支計畫」、「關門」、「分享」，以及「歐巴馬版健保」與「3D列印」等新創字。

The dictionary website says it chose "privacy" over the other finalists in large part because of the debate over government surveillance programs led by groups such as the NSA that recently came under heightened scrutiny.

該線上字典網站表示，「隱私」之所以能脫穎而出，主要肇因於近來遭嚴格檢視的國家安全局等機構主導的政府監聽計畫所引發的論戰。

Dictionary.com defines "privacy" as "the state of being free from intrusion or disturbance in one’s private life and affairs."

Dictionary.com將「隱私」定義為「維持個人私生活與事務不受打擾與妨礙的狀態」。

新聞辭典

When you get to the rainforest, you start hiking. Everything is green and beautiful, and you hear birds and buzzing insects. After walking for an hour, you see an amazing red frog. You stop to take a picture, but when you look up, you don't see your group anywhere. Calling out, you go in search of them, but with no luck. Eventually, you find a place to rest, but all your water is gone. You can survive without food, but not water. Then, the sound of running water hits your ears. Luckily, your OKO filter can clean the dirtiest water and make it drinkable. The next day, your group finds you. Thanks to your OKO filter, you are still strong enough to continue your adventure.

當你抵達雨林時，你開始健行。周遭景物翠綠而美好，你聽到鳥叫聲和嗡嗡的蟲鳴聲。走了一小時後，你看到令人驚訝的紅蛙。你停下來拍張照片，但抬頭一看，到處都找不到團員。你大聲呼喊並四處尋找其他人，但運氣實在不好。最後，你找到一個地方休息，但帶來的水都喝光了。沒有食物還可以存活，但沒有水就完了。這時，你突然聽到流水聲。幸運的是，你的OKO過濾器可以清潔最髒的水並把它變得可以飲用。隔 天，你的團員找到了你。多虧你的 OKO 過濾器，你仍然有充足的體力可以繼續這趟冒險。

文章出處：<a href="http://iservice.libertytimes.com.tw/Service/english/">自由時報電子報中英對照新聞

小編曰：practice這個字大家都認識，是練習、實踐，但是它有個“習慣”、“慣例”的意思，我們很少會想到要這麼用。如Social Practice（某個社會中的常見做法）、Common Practice （司空見慣的事）。

來看看幾個practice的用法吧：

It is my usual practice to pay on the nail when going shopping.
購物時我習慣當場付錢。

◎魏國金

Think kindly of the dragon Smaug. Shed a tear for Gollum. And give an orc a hug.

仁慈地想想巨龍「史矛革」，為「咕嚕」掬一把淚，並給半獸人一個擁抱。

If only they had tucked into the occasional quiche and salad or a touch of smoked salmon, or had a few sessions on a sunbed. How much kinder history would have been to them.

只要他們偶爾痛快吃個法式鹹派與沙拉，或一點煙燻鮭魚，或者來幾次日光浴。或許歷史將對他們仁慈許多。

So suggests an offbeat study which concludes that the evil characters in J.R.R. Tolkien’s "The Hobbit" lost their battle against men, elves and dwarves because they suffered from vitamin deficiency.

一份特異的研究提出如此建議；該研究結論說，J.R.R.托爾金「哈比人」中的邪惡角色在與人類、精靈及矮人的戰爭中敗陣，是因他們的維他命攝取不足所致。