李克強訪港的「安保」安排,讓全港市民對警權和香港的言論自由起了極大的關注。
焦點之一,是唐英年為政府護航的言論︰
I think that is completely rubbish that we have violated civil rights, nor have we violated freedom of speech, because every single activity of the Vice-Premier has been covered by the media.
Jo見到報章專欄和不少博客都批評唐的語法(如這裡),常見論調是作為副詞的「completely」不能修飾名詞「rubbish」;並建議唐可用「sheer nonsense」、「absolutely ludicrous」或「it is not a fair comment」等語詞更好地表達他的意思。
不錯,副詞的功用是修飾動詞、形容詞或副詞,例如︰
1. They all lived happily ever after. (副詞 + 動詞)
2. It was virtally impossible. (副詞 + 形容詞)
3. He spoke virtualy inaudibly. (副詞1 + 副詞2)
然而在這裡,「rubbish」可作形容詞用(參 Macmillan Dictionary)。所以「completely + rubbish」於語法上並沒有問題。即使字典裡沒有把「rubbish」界定為形容詞,語感告訴Jo,「completely rubbish」是合符語法的。試想,「垃圾」在中文給人的第一聯想也是作名詞解,但我們也不會覺得說「他很垃圾」有不妥吧?在特定的語境下,詞語能賦予新的語義,也可從原先所屬的詞類 (word class) 延伸至另一詞類。更何況,無論是中文的「垃圾」還是英文的「rubbish」,其詞性早就從名詞延伸至形容詞。
事實上,英國也有人這樣寫,筆者在英國國家語料庫 (British National Corpus) 便找到兩條資料︰
4.The motor is completely rubbish , won’t be rubbish, but the profit bit is actually quite good. – Commercial Union: training session, 1993.
5. ” Anyone who buys this book needs their head tested, ” he says. ” It hasn’t even been reviewed yet and is already completely rubbish . I would sooner lose the use of both legs than read it. Some books are considered to be ” unputdownable ” but this one seems to be ” unpickupable “. – Daily Telegraph, 1992.
除了把「rubbish」理解成形容詞,Jo同意陶傑在其電台節目的解釋,副詞「completely」可以修飾聯繫動詞 (copular verb) 「is」,亦即
that is completely rubbish that we have violated civil rights… by the media.
紅色的部份(動詞補語)「是」能夠「完全地」成立的。若採用這種解釋,「completely」便是表示立場的標記詞 (stance marker)。
至於唐的修辭優雅不優雅,那是另一回事。有人提議用「it is not a fair comment that…」,不錯,這是受過教養的英國人的說法。唐先生衝口而出的一句「completely rubbish」,不一定是他修辭不好,筆者相信他這樣說,不過投主所好吧?至少說一句「completely rubbish」,方便慣於直譯的京官和大陸媒體拿著字典按字翻譯,總比婉委的英式英文更能「表述心跡」。而為甚麼平日溫文爾雅的唐唐為甚麼用上這麼強烈的字眼?啊,一年後的選舉不遠吧?快開始了,便得馬上憤怒鳥。
Jo 也在此疾呼︰Mr. Tang, your completely rubbish is completely rubbish!
(第一個「completely rubbish」,雖然是「副詞 + 形容詞」,卻已名詞化 (nominalised),「your COMPLETELY RUBBISH」性質便如「your SUNGLASSES」一樣,皆是名詞詞組 (noun phrase);第二個「completely rubbish」是動詞補語,用法便與唐司長的雷同。就是說︰唐生,你的垃圾論完全垃圾!)
C.A.Jo




