109 怎么会“自由”得“忘乎所以”?
原 文:
They were making free with the old man's cellar.
原 译:
他们在老人的地窖里忘乎所以。
辨 析:
free有“自由”的意思,而make free with(亦作make bold with)确实也有“不受拘束”、“放肆”的意思,问题在于后面的with the old man's cellar。如果是“在地窖里胡闹”,介词应该是in;而当着某人或在某人面前放肆,with的宾语应该是人,如:Dennis makes too free with the girls in the office.(丹尼斯对办公室里的女孩子太放肆。)但是make free with后接事物时意思就不同了,指“随意或擅自使用(他人的财产)”(use or enjoy other people's things as if they were one's own),如:He made free with my car during my absence.(我不在的时候,他擅自开我的车。)在本句中也是这个意思。cellar意为酒窖,也可以指放在酒窖里的酒,所以这一句的意思是:他们在老人的酒窖里尽情痛饮那里的酒。
必须指出,英语中的许多习语的意思不等于构成该习语的各个词的意思相加,“make + 形容词 + with”的短语就有好几个,比如make free的意思不是“弄成自由”而是“胆敢”、“冒昧”(即be bold enough),如:The new worker made free to put forward a suggestion to the manager.(那个新工人壮起胆子向经理提了个建议。)make off with的意思是“顺手牵羊”或“偷”,The soldiers made off with everything valuable in the house. (士兵们把屋里所有值钱的东西全给抄走了。)而make through with的意思是“完成”,如:The team made through with the task in five days.(小组五天之后就完成了任务。)