A Chinese new mother is producing so much breast milk that she baths her baby in the excess each day.

Mrs Luo, of Chongqing, says she is producing two liters of milk more than she needs to feed her six-week-old daughter Shan Shan.

Mother, husband and her mother-in-law had all been drinking the extra milk but she says they still have plenty left over.

Luo’s mother-in-law said they were all beginning to feel like they were drinking too much milk: “Then I suggested why not give the baby a breast milk bath, and they took my advice,” she said.

Luo said the milk bath makes her Shan Shan’s skin really smooth and white.

But she is looking for someone to donate her extra breast milk to as she feels that bathing her baby in breast milk is too much of an indulgence. (Chongqing Times – 重慶時報)

《字詞解析》

breast milk — (n.) 母奶。breastfeed (v.)：餵母奶。breastfeeding (n.)：餵母奶。

so…that — (phr.) 如此…以致於。在這個超常用的表示因果 (cause and effect) 關係的句型中 (其中 that 為附屬連接詞)，so 後面原本只能接形容詞和副詞，但若 so 和 that 中間有 few, little, many 和 much 等字，則此句型可寫成 so + few/little/many/much + 名詞 + that。

bath — (v.) 洗澡；給…洗澡。別以為 bath 僅當名詞用，在英國 bath 也用作動詞，其意思和用法跟 bathe 完全相同；美國通常使用 bathe。所以，標題的 bathes 和第一段的 baths 都正確，都是單數動詞。

excess — (n.) 過剩的奶水。

(be) left over — (v.) 剩下。

someone to donate her extra breast milk to — (phr.) 把她多餘的母奶捐給某人。特別注意：這句如果沒有後面的介系詞 to，那麼整句的意思就完全相反了，變成「某人捐出她多餘的母奶」，這顯然與事實不符。這句是 She is looking for someone who she will donate her extra breast milk to. 或 She is looking for someone to whom she will donate her extra breast milk. 的減化 — 由此可知，someone 是 to 的受詞。同樣地，在 There’s a big swimming pool for us to swim in. (有個大游泳池可讓我們游泳) 和 I gave her a chair to sit on. (我給她一張椅子坐) 這兩句中，介系詞 in 和 on 都不可省略，因為 swim 和 sit 皆為不及物動詞，而 swimming pool 和 chair 是受詞，所以不及物動詞和受詞之間必須要有介系詞。

too much of an indulgence — (phr.) 太多的嬌縱，即太過嬌縱。在英文中，too much of a/an + 名詞 (太過…，太多…)，a bit of a/an + 名詞 (有點…)，something of a/an + 名詞 (有幾分；可說是；算得上) 等這種片語或句型屢見不鮮。例如：She’s always been a bit of a mystery to me. (她對我來說總是有點神秘)；He’s something of an expert on growing vegetables. (他可說是位種植蔬菜的專家)。

延伸閱讀：新聞英語的語法結構

ShareThis

儘管意思相去甚遠、甚至截然不同，毫不相關，但這兩個 動詞極為相似的拼字很容易讓人搞混。dissemble 是個文學或書面用字，當及物動詞時意為 「掩飾，隱瞞 (感情、情緒、意圖等)」：”He tried to dissemble his disappointment with a joke.” (他企圖以玩笑來掩飾其失望)；”She dissembled her feelings of fear so well that no one suspected how frightened she was.” (她的恐懼感掩飾得很好，所以沒有人察覺她有多麼害怕)。當不及物動詞時，dissemble 意為 「假裝，隱藏，矯飾」：”The only way to fool his captors was to dissemble, to pretend to be cowed.” (欺騙綁匪的唯一方法就是假裝，裝作被嚇壞了)。

disassemble 意為 「拆卸，拆開，分解」 ，為 assemble (意為「組裝，裝配」) 的相反詞：”The child disassembled the alarm clock in record time.” (這小孩以從未有過的短時間拆開鬧鐘)。

本文亦刊載在下列網址：
http://www.cybertranslator.idv.tw/confusables/confusables5_text.htm#dissemble

ShareThis