日批在线视频_内射毛片内射国产夫妻_亚洲三级小视频_在线观看亚洲大片短视频_女性向h片资源在线观看_亚洲最大网

您現在的位置: Language Tips> Columnist> Zhang Xin  
 





 
When things don't add up
[ 2007-12-21 13:51 ]


Reader question: What does it mean when people say things "don't add up"?

My comments:

Two and two don't add up to five. Two and two add up to four. Five is incorrect.

When numbers don't add up, they don't work out right. For example, if a survey claims that 35 percent of its respondents say "Yes", 35 percent of others say "No" and another 35 percent say "I don't know", those percentages don't add up. 35 percent plus 35 plus 35 equals 105 percent. That's impossible. And what does than mean? Well, something is wrong with that survey – it doesn't know what it's talking about.

When people say things – theories for instance – don't add up, it means they don't make sense. Or in another saying, they don't hold water.

Hold water? Yeah, think of baskets with holes in the bottom. Baskets with holes in the bottom won't hold water. When theories are said to fail to hold water, they don't conform to logic. In the novel Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, Mr. Utterson, the lawyer, contemplates the disappearance of Mr. Hyde thus with Poole, the butler:

"This is a very strange tale, Poole; this is rather a wild tale, my man," said Mr. Utterson, biting his finger. "Suppose it were as you suppose, supposing Dr. Jekyll to have been – well, murdered, what could induce the murderer to stay? That won't hold water; it doesn't commend itself to reason."

Here are a few more up-to-date examples of things that don't add up:

1. Iraq's numbers don't add up, U.S. says (latimes.com, November 30, 2007).

2. Maths lessons don't add up for pupils (physorg.com, December 6, 2007).

3. Asian takeovers don't add up: Morgan (theaustralian.news.com.au, December 10, 2007).

4. AIDS figures, funds don't add up (in.news.yahoo.com, December 8, 2007).

5. Sister says findings in brother's death don't add up (knoxnews.com, November 22, 2007).

6. Arithmetic teacher's excuses don't add up (business.timesonline.co.uk, November 27, 2007).

7. Claims of vanishing middle class don't add up (deseretnews.com, December 5, 2007).

8. OOIDA says Mexican truck stats don't add up (tacitus13.newsvine.com, December 6, 2007).

9. My two cents don't add up to a penny on Technorati (technorati.com/blogs/patentpen21.livejournal.com, date unknown, no bother).

Ah well, apparently a lot of things don't add up when you put two and two together.

A lot of times in fact, it depends on how you put two and two together.

我要看更多專欄文章

 

About the author:
 

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

 
 
相關文章 Related Stories
 

 

 

 
 

本頻道最新推薦

     
  “有參考價值”怎么說
  To look or not to look is the question
  When things don't add up
  Words and rhetoric
  “國賓館”怎么說

論壇熱貼

     
  開個題目大家扯:hotel & restaurant
  追求某人
  請教工商年檢如何翻譯
  How to translate “中國老字號”into English?
  "港股直通車"怎么翻譯?
  兩免一補怎么說?




主站蜘蛛池模板: 黄色免费网站在线看 | 韩国精品一区二区三区 | 日韩在线中文 | 国产免费网址 | 懂色av一区二区三区四区 | 黄页网站在线播放 | 成人18视频 | 久久99久久99精品免费看小说 | 国产黄在线 | 人人射人人干 | 中文字幕永久在线 | 日韩免费视频一区二区视频在线观看 | 99久久国产精 | 视屏一区 | 成人毛片视频免费看 | 色偷偷偷偷 | 欧美三级网站在线观看 | 网站av在线 | 天天干天天谢 | 亚洲黄网在线观看 | 欧洲精品视频在线 | 91精品综合 | 欧美 日韩 精品 | 亚洲精品久久久久久 | 91一区二区 | 国产一区二区三区久久久 | 欧美大胆a视频 | 中文字幕久久精品 | 欧美一级特黄aaaaaa在线看片 | 亚洲激情在线 | 超碰在线观看免费版 | 自拍偷拍在线视频 | 久久久久久久一区二区三区 | 欧美精品久久久 | 国产精品视频久久久久久久 | 日韩精品视频在线免费观看 | 亚洲激情小视频 | 久久亚洲成人 | 日本a级黄色 | 免费在线观看一区二区三区 | 欧美偷拍一区二区三区 |