再來讀懂一句英文

下面這個句子來自紐約時報（The New York Times）International Business 版，談的是法國對企業不友善的法規和文化，讓不少想創業的年輕人選擇離鄉背井。

原標題：Au Revoir, Entrepreneurs 再見了，企業家

Guillaume Santacruz, an aspiring French entrepreneur, brushed the rain from his sweater and headed down to a cavernous basement inside Campus London, a seven-story hive run by Google in the city’s East End, where people were hunched over laptops , working on plans to create the next Facebook or LinkedIn. (51 words)

這句的主幹是由主角 Santacruz 以及兩個動作組成的：

Guillaume Santacruz, an aspiring French entrepreneur, brushed the rain from his sweater <and> headed down to a cavernous basement inside Campus London, a seven-story hive run by Google in the city’s East End, where people were hunched over laptops, working on plans to create the next Facebook or LinkedIn.

其他都是修飾或說明用的訊息。其中有幾個（介系詞 + 名詞字組）形態的修飾語（紫字）：

Guillaume Santacruz, an aspiring French entrepreneur, brushed the rain (from his sweater) <and> headed down (to a cavernous basement)(inside Campus London), a seven-story hive run by Google in the city’s East End, where people were hunched over laptops, working on plans to create the next Facebook or LinkedIn.

和前一篇分析的句子相似，括弧部分回答了副詞性質的問題：

Ÿ From what did he brush the rain?  From his sweater.

Ÿ To what direction did he head?  To a cavernous basement.

Ÿ Where was the basement?  Inside Campus London.

此外還有三種新型態的修飾語，第一種很好辨認（綠字）：

Guillaume Santacruz, an aspiring French entrepreneur, brushed the rain (from his sweater) <and> headed down (to a cavernous basement)(inside Campus London), a seven-story hive run by Google in the city’s East End, where people were hunched over laptops, working on plans to create the next Facebook or LinkedIn.

這兩個名詞字組（an…entrepreneur，a…hive）指出前面的名詞是什麼：

Ÿ Who is Guillaume Santacruz?  An aspiring French entrepreneur.

Ÿ What is Campus London?  A seven-story hive.

以名詞來說明名詞，門當戶對。

第二種開頭有個連接詞，也算好找（亮藍字）：

Guillaume Santacruz, an aspiring French entrepreneur, brushed the rain (from his sweater) <and> headed down (to a cavernous basement)(inside Campus London), a seven-story hive run by Google in the city’s East End, where people were hunched over laptops, working on plans to create the next Facebook or LinkedIn.

這個修飾語也解答了一個問題：

Ÿ How did people position their bodies in the hive?

  People were hunched over laptops there.

不過這次的答案有句子的主幹（People were），要把這一串接到原本的主幹上，可得找個連接詞。此時作者靈光一閃：「咦？句尾的 there 不就是說 in the seven-story hive 嗎？何不利用這個重疊點來連接？」於是把表示地點的 there，換成也表示地點、又可以當連接詞的 where，就結啦！

第三種修飾語就稍微怪了點兒，長相常讓人誤以為又是動詞（橘字）：

Guillaume Santacruz, an aspiring French entrepreneur, brushed the rain (from his sweater) <and> headed down (to a cavernous basement)(inside Campus London), a seven-story hive run by Google in the city’s East End, where people were hunched over laptops, working on plans to create the next Facebook or LinkedIn.

Ÿ Who runs [=manages] the hive?  It is run by Google.

Ÿ What were the people doing there?  They were working on plans.

這次的答案又有句子的主幹，應該要有連接詞才能接到原本的主幹上。此時靈光再度乍現：「耶？It is run by Google 的 It 就是指前面的 hive；They were working on plans 的 They 也是指前面的 people，都是重疊點哩！」於是把 it 換成也表示事物、又可以當連接詞的 that，把they 換成表示人、又可以當連接詞的 who：

Ÿ a seven-story hive that is run by Google

Ÿ people…, who were working on plans

這時靈光大神提醒作者：「你不過是要修飾兩個名詞 hive 和 people，可以簡潔一些，用形容詞就行了。」

作者回答：「哪裡有形容詞呢？」

「在 is 和 were 後面的不就是嗎？」

「那不是動詞嗎？」

「已經不算了，它們都變了裝，跟在 is/are/am/was/were 後面就可以算是形容詞啦。」

於是作者明快地砍掉連接詞及 is 和 were，果然意義還在，用字也精簡多了。

最後送上中譯。雖然原文只算一個句子，但是訊息實在太豐富，翻譯者拆成三個中文句，先說明主角身分，然後他的動作，最後以一群人收尾，由近及遠，頗有層次！

桑塔克魯茲是個有抱負的法國創業家。他拭去運動衫上的雨水，下到谷歌在倫敦東區經營的「倫敦園區」七層大樓的洞穴狀地下室。在這裡，人人埋首以筆電擘畫各種方案，想要創造下一個臉書或LinkedIn。

參考中譯：陳世欽，聯合報週二紐時特刊，2014年4月15日，頁9

原文出處：http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/business/international/some-french-entrepreneurs-say-au-revoir.html?_r=0