Lost in English

Ching-kuo also had to deal with the 800,000 or so old soldiers who, after marching back and forth through China and fighting battles for the Generalissimo for as many as thirty years, had been brought to Taiwan almost twenty years earlier. They were effectively an ocean and a war away from their home villages. (The Generalissimo by Jay Taylor)

經國同時還有大約八十萬名老兵有待處理，他們為委員長在大陸上來回奔波、獻身戰場長達三十載之後，被帶到台灣也即將逼近二十年了。事實上，阻隔在他們與家鄉之間的，不僅是一片汪洋，還有一場戰爭。（蔣介石傳/陶涵） 

箇中奧妙 

在這短短的幾十個字當中，一片汪洋與一場戰爭突出地成就了畫龍點睛之妙。衡量距離往往並非是單純的地理問題，更多時候是一種主觀的想像，心理上的可望不可及。

關鍵字詞 

1. deal with: 這個片語(及物)動詞可用來表達好幾種意思，包括處理、懲罰、與…有關、與…交易等。

     We’d better start dealing with all these problems confronting us at once.

The criminals will be dealt with according to law.

     I’m reading a book that deals with the ultimate question if afterlife exists.

     John works for a firm that deals with dozens of overseas clients.

2. or so: 與這個副詞片語同樣表達大概、約略之意的副詞還有about, approximately, around, roughly, some等。特別值得一提的是or so必須置於其修飾對象之後，而其後諸同義字則要放在前面。

The victim appears to be about 40 years old.

     The job took them approximately three and a half days.

     I’ll say that thing weighs around 30 kilograms.

     Our expenses came in at roughly NT$25,000.

     Some 50 applicants turned up for the vacancy.

3. march: 表達穩定前進之意的march可以是動詞(及物或不及物)或名詞。

     After resting a brief moment, the troops marched on.

     “To march the common people to the battlefield untrained is to throw them away,” says Confucius.

Mao Zedong ascended to power during the Long March, a massive military retreat undertaken by the Chinese Red Army between 1934 and 1935.

4. back and forth: 同樣表達反覆來回之意的片語還有to and fro，除了常見的副詞用法，二者也都可(最好加上連字符號)以形容詞形態出現。

     It is no more than a back-and-forth attempt to correct a mistake that should not have been made in the first place.

     Trees on either side of the road whipped to and fro as the typhoon swept across the city.

     To-and-fro services are available, either by bus or by ferry.

5. battle: 與戰爭相關的字彙當中，battle是個別的戰鬥，campaign是較大規模的戰役，war則用來概括整場戰爭。另外，battle與 combat也可用來描述戰場上的爭鬥廝殺。

     It was considered one of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific campaign.

     The Chinese people showed admiral perseverance over the course of the Second Sino-Japanese War.

     The general came to the hospital to extend his personal thanks to soldiers wounded in battle.

     The medal is the military’s highest honor for individual acts of bravery in combat.  

6. effectively: 語意上可能是有效地也可能是實質上、事實上，因之，同義字或同義詞就可能包括efficaciously, proficiently, virtually, really, essentially, in effect, in fact, in actuality, in reality。另外，efficiently一般譯為有效率地。

 A good night’s sleep efficaciously helped John regain his strength.

     Some sort of incentive is needed to have the team work more efficiently.

The strike virtually paralyzed the city.

Tom is essentially an honest boy.

     His latest confession was in effect a slap in the face of the mayor.

     In reality, we must acknowledge, the damage of the accident is far worse than expected.