英语常用词疑难用法-252:come与go
用come或是go,有下列的辨别标准:
(1) 目的地为说话当时双方任何一方的所在地,用come。
—Maria, would you come here, please?—I'm coming (*going). —玛利亚,你到这里来好吗?— 我就来。
I want to come over there! You can put me in the spare bedroom. Or I'll sleep on the sofa. 我想到你那边去!你可以安置我睡客房。要不然我就睡沙发。
(2) 双方任何一方过去或将来的所在地,但这个过去或将来是正在谈论中的焦点时间。
Will you come and visit me in hospital when I have my operation? 我动手术的时候,你能到医院来探望我吗?
He came to see me in my office yesterday. 他昨天到我办公室看我。
Susan can't come to your birthday party. 苏珊不能来参加你的生日庆祝会。
(3) 参加说话双方任何一方前往他处(动作本身用go),参与一起去的动作用come而不用go(中文仍然用“去”)。
We're going to the cinema tonight. Would you like to come with us? 我们今晚看电影去。你跟我们一起去吗?
— My father is sick, I have to make a trip to Seattle. I thought I'd leave Monday. — Should I come with you? —我父亲病了,我要到西雅图去一趟。我想我星期一动身。—要不要我陪你去?
Wherever you're going, I'm coming too. 你到哪里去,我也一起去。但是,有时候如果是说话者参加对方到远处去的行程,也可以用go而不用come。
That's another reason why I want to go with you. 这是我要同你一起去的又一个理由。
可见,遇到英文的come,要斟酌究竟相当于中文的“来”还是“去”。例如Robert James Waller的著名小说《廊桥遗梦》中,Robert Kincaid在Francesca家中幽会的最后一天,劝Francesca同他一起私奔,说:Come (*Go) travel with me. (The Bridge of Madison County, p. 114) 改编为电影,这句话改为:Come away with me. 可见,本来away通常要同go一起连用,它的方向同come有点格格不入,但由于是“同我一起去”,即使有了away,仍然可以用come。又例如:英国小说家毛姆(Somerset Maugham)的《月亮和六便士》中有一段讲到两个人参加葬礼后坐马车回巴黎市区,一个人(作者用第一人称)对另一人说:"You'd better come and have lunch with me," I said to Dirk, "I'll tell him to drop us in the Place Pigalle." (The Moon and Sixpence, XXXVII) 中译文(傅唯慈译本)是:“你还是来同我一起吃午饭吧,”我对戴尔克说,“我告诉马车夫在皮卡尔广场停车好不好?”但是谈话的双方都是同坐在一辆马车上,这个come译成“来”是不妥当的,其实相当于中文的“去”。
(4) 目的地为说话双方之外已经成为话题中心(在间接叙述中尤其是在小说中)的另一个人的所在地,也用come而不用go。
He begged her to come back to him. 他求她回到他那里去。比较:He begged her to go back to her family. 他求她回她自己家去。