原 文:
When there is anything wrong, he'll just beat it.
原 译:
出什么问题时, 他便战胜它。
辨 析:
beat确实有「打败、战胜」的意思,如The England team once again beat its opponent.(英格兰队又一次战胜了对手。)
但是在he'll just beat it中,beat it 是一个短语。
《英语习语大词典》(商务印书馆)的解释是:[俚]逃走;拔腿就跑;快快地逃走。
而The New Oxford Dictionary of English的解释是[informal] leave。(可惜《英华大词典》、《英汉大词典》等许多词典都未单独列出该短语,对初学者来说不方便。这也告诉我们,翻译时要多查几本词典。)
所以全句应译为:出了问题他就溜之大吉/匆匆躲开。
此外,beat it也可以用于祈使句,意为「滚蛋」:Don't stay here-beat it! (别呆在这儿,滚开!)
当然也会出现在间接引语中:He kept bothering me so I told him to beat it.(他老烦我,我只好叫他滚蛋。)
从语法角度说,这种用法中的it不指任何事物,没有实际意思,有人称之为「假宾语(sham object)」。下面是一些常见例子:
I can't help it either.我也没有办法 / 帮不上忙。
He shouted excitedly, "I've made it ! I've made it!" 他激动地喊:「我成功了!我成功了!」
John knew he would catch it when he got home in the evening.约翰知道晚上回家他准会挨骂。
有时亦用于临时作动词的名词之后,如:
They finally legged it back to the camp.最后他们还是步行回到了营地。
The Broom family of four adults and five children had to pig it in the two rooms.布鲁姆一家四个大人五个孩子只好挤在那两间屋里。
There's no time to prepare. I guess we're just going to have to wing it.没有时间准备了。我看我们只好凑合着对付了。
Cool it, man!冷静一点,老兄!