Lost in English

When T.V. entered the prisoner’s room alone, Chiang looked up in surprise and began weeping bitterly. Sweeping over him was an overwhelming sense of frustration and utter hopelessness. Ten years of fighting to neutralize the warlords and suppress the Reds had seemed only “five minutes” away from either a final military victory or an acceptable political solution, negotiated from a position of strength and guaranteed by Stalin. Now, by contrast, Chiang was in no position to negotiate with the Soviet Union, and if he agreed to the united front, it would appear he had been coerced into doing so. (The Generalissimo by Jay Taylor)

宋子文單獨走進囚犯的房間時，蔣介石驚訝地抬眼望去，同時開始痛哭起來。一種巨大的挫折感以及徹底的絕望，向他席捲而來。致力掃平軍閥和壓制紅軍的十年奮戰，離最後的軍事勝利或者可接受的政治解決，似乎就只差「五分鐘」了，而且這種政治解決當可依據我方實力談成，並得到史達林的保證。然而此刻已是今非昔比了，蔣介石不再有立場與蘇聯討價還價，如果他同意組成統一戰線，給人的印象必將是他受到脅迫不得不然。（蔣介石傳/陶涵）  

箇中奧妙 

無論被視為民族救星抑或國家罪人，西安事變中的蔣介石毋寧更是一介有血有淚的凡夫俗子，你我不妨設身處地，試想生命中出現如是巨大轉折，其方向卻遠非原先所想所盼，心情上該是何等不堪。作者如臨現場地描述近代中國歷史上極其關鍵的一刻，更對主人翁當下的所思所感提出了相當令人信服的分析。

關鍵字詞 

1. weep: 同樣表達哭泣之意的動詞當然還有cry，sob則是放聲痛哭，甚至到了喘不過氣來的地步，與中文講法雷同的shed tears，意為落淚。

She’s been crying the whole evening.

We could hear someone sobbing in the next room.

Most men will not want to be seen shedding tears in public.

2. sweep: 詞性上可作及物或不及物動詞與名詞，可能的意思包括橫掃或掠過(如在主文中的用法)、清掃、徹底地搜查等，由此衍生的單字包括minesweeper (掃雷艦)。

“All was silent across the bleak moon-swept fields.” (The King of the Elves/Philip K. Dick)

It was once common for the poor to sweep chimneys for a living.

A thorough sweep of the place turned up nothing.

3. overwhelming: 這是一個典型的由及物動詞的現在分詞轉化而來的形容詞，意為人、事、物給人一種如潮湧來近乎壓迫之感，若要表達你我感受到此等感覺，則須改用過去分詞轉化而來的形容詞overwhelmed。類似的對比用法不勝枚舉，最常見的包括disappointing/disappointed, exciting/excited, interesting/interested。另外，overwhelming majority意為壓倒性的多數。

The temptation to call it quits becomes increasingly overwhelming by the day.

The three finalists are overwhelmed with joy.

A recent poll found that an overwhelming majority of the population opposes the new policy.

4. utter: 用來表達完全、徹底、絕對之意的形容詞還有complete, absolute。另外，utter也可用作及物動詞，意為發出(聲音)、說出。

We are astonished by his complete lack of sympathy.

She was the first to break the absolute silence of the room.

Without uttering a word, she went out into the rain.

5. neutralize: 形容詞neutral加上字尾-ize之後，成為及物動詞neutralize，意為使中立、中和、無效等，軍事上則指採取行動讓敵人不再有攻擊或構成騷擾的能力。

Several extra ingredients are needed to neutralize the unpleasant smell of the final product.

Our army has managed to neutralize all enemy troops in the region.

6. negotiate:無論是政治、軍事或商業上，這個動詞(及物或不及物均可)最常用來表達談判之意，名詞是negotiation，而talk則是二者的同義字。出面談判的人(談判代表)稱為negotiator。

Most governments insist they will not negotiate with terrorists.

The two sides have been negotiating a compromise deal for weeks.

P.K. Chiang is Taiwan’s top negotiator at talks with the China mainland. His Chinese counterpart is Chen Yunlin.

7. guarantee: 即使語意上有些細微的差異，同樣表達保證之意的動詞還有ensure, pledge, promise, warrant。如果是名詞則包括guarantee, assurance, pledge, promise, warranty。

Every precaution has been taken to ensure your safety.

All food companies have been asked to warrant that their products do not contain this banned ingredient.

You have my guarantee.

The comrades signed a pledge never to betray one another.

Don’t make promises you don’t intend to keep.

The new laptop came with a one-year warranty.

8. coerce: 語意上比一般所謂的強迫(force, compel)更加強烈，與bully(霸凌), intimidate比較接近，也就是以暴力或權威脅迫他人就範之意。

We happened to see Mary being bullied by some girls who appeared to be her schoolmates.

There is no justification for intimidating your own people.

A shortage of funds compels a downsizing of the project.

I force myself to exercise every afternoon.