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LOOKS AND APPEARANCE
( 2012-10-19 )



      大文豪莎士比亞名著《威尼斯商人》的名句:外表往往與事實不符,世人卻容易被表面的裝飾所欺騙。
      男女的外表PHYSICAL APPEARANCE,外貌、身材、儀表的形容詞,有所不同, these adjectives have positive or complimentary meaning and negative or derogatory sense respectively,它們分別有正面的和負面的隱含意義 (good or bad connotations) 。
      男性方面height and build身高和體形典型的正面描述:The male has a good body . His figure is well built and he is in good shape。體格魁梧,相貌堂堂。The young and handsome gentleman has broad shoulders. He 's athletic and muscular。He's attractive, smartly dressed and very good looking一表人才,衣冠楚楚,風度翩翩。He is clean shaven鬍子刮凈,has fair complexion膚色健康 and sleek black hair 頭髮烏黑油亮 。
      男性外貌比較負面的描述:The fortyish middle aged man is not very good looking。He's quite plump with a fattish face. He has a double chin雙下巴 and a pale complexion臉色蒼白。The other guy is skinny and scrawny體型干瘦。He is scruffy and messy 蓬頭垢面,儀容不整。The lanky youth is thin and is tending to move awkwardly. He is sloppy –looking and unattractive儀表欠佳。
      女性方面典型的姿色:The beautiful woman with youthful appearance is stylish and elegant 儀態動人。She is always well dressed and is immaculately groomed衣着得體。She's slim, has a slender waist, with a good figure苗條可人。This woman has smooth skin and shiny hair .The other woman has wrinkled skin and she is getting grey hair.
      頭髮顏色,英語有不同叫法:The colour adjectives blonde (pale gold)金黃色, ginger (light brownish orange)薑黃色and auburn ( reddish brown)紅褐色 are only used of people's hair , not for their clothes or other objects 。 金髮女郎 a blonde is a woman with fair hair that is pale gold in colour。深褐色頭髮的白人女子 a brunette is a white-skinned woman with dark brown hair。
      平直而沒有光澤的毛髮Lank hair is thin, straight, and unattractive ; 亂蓬蓬的頭髮a mop is a mass of thick and untidy hair ; 披頭散髮disheveled hair is very untidy in general appearance ; 髮光可鑑the hair is perfectly or well groomed。
      髮式方面,you do your hair is to have it cut and arranged in a style by a hairdresser。 Hairstyle or hairdo花樣多多,常見的最少有: straight直髮/ wavy曲髮/ curly鬈髮/Afro非洲式髮型/beehive雀巢裝/crew cut平頭裝/perm 燙髮/ponytail馬尾辮等。
      從一頭濃髮,到漸生白髮thick and dark hair going grey or almost white, 由青絲開始脫落,到牛山濯濯from losing one's hair to going bald,歲月無情,難免令人唏噓!
      漢語中,有關外表的成語特別多。金玉其外、徒有其表、互為表裏,都涉及內涵和表像。英語中LOOKS and APPEARANCE林林種種的idioms慣用語,更是ESL學習者描述人物時必備的語言技巧 :
      You can't always judge by the looks人不可貌相。 Appearances are deceptive,傳統智慧勸諭我們不要憑直覺、單看外表,我們往往會被華而不實的皮相欺騙。
      There's more in it than meets the eye 眼看不可作準,看到的,未必是真實的,或者不是事實的全部,不宜太早下判斷,草率下定論:don't jump to conclusions and judge hastily。人性難料,human nature is unpredictable,有些人深不可測someone may be a deep person,有些人木訥寡言,可能胸藏丘壑:Still waters run deep。
      All that glitters is not gold 中看未必中用,閃閃發光的,未必都是金子。
      Handsome is as handsome does,中看不中用,美言不盡信,a pretty face or fair words are no guarantee of good behaviour。
      有諸內,形於外: Appearances can sometimes suggest a certain conclusion : It looks as if / It looks like it / it sounds as if 都很常見 。
      Where there's smoke there's fire,無火不生煙,無風不起浪。If there is a result, there must be a cause for it; there may be some truth in it,空穴不會來風。
      總之,親眼見到才相信:Seeing is believing。 If you see something, you can be sure that it is true or that it really exists。 If I see it, I'll believe it。

      文:文世昌
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