陶傑的英文

最近才知道原來陶傑也寫英文的評論文章，我只看了一篇題為 “The SAR Passport Row” 的，如果這篇文章可以顯示陶傑的英文寫作水平，我的結論便是：他的英文不算差，至少勝過一些香港的大學教授，但怎也說不上好，更遑論寫得漂亮，明顯是遠遜他的中文了。要不是他已成名，兼有才子之譽，以他這手英文，恐怕沒有人會找他寫英文文章。

母語是中文的人通常對英文冠詞（articles）的運用掌握得不好，例如該用 ‘the’ 的地方用了 ‘a’，不應有冠詞的地方無端端加上 ‘the’ 等；陶傑這篇不足五百字的文章便有三個這樣的毛病：

(1)  “fought to defend Hong Kong against Japanese invasion in 1941” 的 “Japanese invasion” 前應有 ‘the’。

(2)  “schoolchildren are made to visit the PLA barracks” 的 ‘the’ 應刪（再提這些 PLA barracks 時則要加 ‘the’）。

(3)  “learn to admire the Chinese soldiers’ military prowess” 的 ‘the’ 也應刪。

此外，這篇文章還有不少臃贅或彆扭的句子，以下這句為最甚：

(4)  “It is not fair to have your children ordered to learn how to love China in the same classroom as other Hong Kong Chinese schoolchildren, but because of the color of one’s skin, the love is not reciprocated with a passport, leaving the Indian and Pakistani governments to foot that bill.”

根據上下文的意思，可以改成這樣：

It is not fair for Indian and Pakistani children (who learn to revere the Chinese nation in the same classroom as other Hong Kong students) to have their love for China not be reciprocated with a passport, instead leaving the issue of citizenship to the Indian and Pakistani governments.

仍不算好，但至少比原句通順和清楚。