The Civic Party respects your personal privacy and is committed to maintaining your trust and confidence. We believe in ensuring the security of your personal information. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns. The purpose of collecting the information in this form is to complete the purchase concerned and allow the Civic Party to contact you in the future. We are the sole owner of any information we collect. Your personal information is not lent or sold to anyone for any purpose.
28/05/2013
「伏筆」英文的不同說法
伏筆的英文怎麼講呢，確有難度。一般的伏筆，或可叫做︰(There was) a symbolic link… 有象徵意味的聯繫。(It contained) a subtle suggestion… 含蓄的告示。
(It was) an omen… 兆頭。
要翻譯「就××埋下伏筆、種下伏筆、已有伏筆」，可用動詞foreshadow，解「預示」。Those dark clouds fore shadow a storm. 黑雲預示將有風暴。
The beginning of the story fore shadows the tragic ending. 故事的悲劇收場，在開場已有伏筆。
The scene carries a foreshadowing of what is to come later on in the story. 那一幕為隨後的劇情發展，埋下伏筆。（留意這句的foreshadowing 是名詞。）
The tax hike was foreshadowed in the financial chief’s speech. 加稅一事，已在財長的演說中種下伏筆。
不太肯定的伏筆，像說「他的手段，似乎是要為未來的改變先作伏筆」這一類不清晰的預示，可直接用seem to indicate,suggest, signal 等字眼。
Her statement seems to indicate a likely change of mind. 「她的聲明似乎預示她可能改變心意。」看， 「似乎」、「可能」這款預示，就未必信得過。若是肯定的伏筆，像要評述一個人「為自我毁滅埋下伏筆」、一項政策「為社會不穩定種下伏筆」，可否直譯The policy planted a cause for social upheavals？這個，文法上可以，但聽起來讀起來就是不對頭，不是常人常說的英文，最好還是改說sowed the seeds of， 播下×× 的種子。
The policy sowed the seeds of social upheavals.
The politician sowed the seeds of his own destruction.
許多的伏筆，事發時不知，是事後才看得到的結論，也就是新聞跟歷史的分別。這一類的後話，說「事發之際已埋下伏筆」，可說：The signs were there at the time.