luosteve的部落格

「Subway」這個字在國外一定都是指地鐵嗎？那可不一定。如果到英國，小心被騙。  

Is the word, Subway, always referred to as a transportation tool in many countries? Well, it’s not necessarily true. When in the Britain, you gonna be careful and not get tricked.

 

這次飛英國班和另外三個台灣同事一起飛，超high的啦！我們買了便宜的一日券（才六塊多英磅，若果買一般來回票的話一張就要八塊多說），搭著地鐵到處遊走；去了Soho區看看熱鬧的市區、到了西敏寺區的倫敦眼和大笨鐘拍照、走過日落時超美的千禧橋…也吃了不少好料。  

This time, I was so thrilled to operate a flight to London with the other 3 Taiwanese colleagues. In London, we bought a one-day pass (approximately 6 Ponds; as for a round-trip ticket, it charges around 8 Ponds) and visited many places by subway. We went to the hustle and bustle SOHO area, took pictures of the London Eye and the Big Bang in Westminster, walked across the famous Millennium Bridge from which the sunset view is breathtaking…etc. Also, we ate a number of delicious food.

好吃的餐點  Tasty dishes


用餐快樂 Happy Dinning

室友Alan和同學Lydia在泰晤士河旁  Hanging out along the River Thames with Alan and Lydia


知名的千禧橋  The famous Millennium Bridge


倫敦SOHO區  London's SOHO area

 

當我們走完千禧橋後要找地鐵站時，發生了一個很有趣的趣事。我們看到了至少有兩到三個「Subway」字樣的告示牌，並沿著指標走，要去地鐵站。但很奇怪的是，當我們從指標所指的地下道下去時，很快地又從對街出來了。真的好奇怪，不是寫著地鐵(subway)嗎？怎麼走來走去就只是個通道出口？然後我們問旁邊的阿伯，Excuse me sir, does this subway still work or is under construction? 阿伯說：I think it has no problem at all.  

There was something interesting happening while we were looking for a subway station after hanging around the bridge. We saw at least three sings on the street saying “Subway”, and we followed the directions in order to get to the subway station. Strangely, none of the signs and the directions led us to any subway stations but to the other exit out through an underground passage from one exit. How weird. They did say Subway, didn’t they? Why were we all brought to just passages instead of the subway station? We even paused to ask an elderly man by the street about the condition of the subway:” Excuse me sir, does this subway still work or is under construction?”, asked me. “I think it has no problem at all”, replied the old man.  

 

後來，才知道~我們都忘了英國很多的英文字是和我們一般所學的美式英文是不一樣的。比如英國人常會用「Loo」指廁所、美式英文的Apartment(公寓)在英式英文裡多用Flat、美語裡的can(罐頭)在英語常以Tin代替。而當我們知道Subway這個字在英國是意指「地下通道」時，我們也就不意外了，因為在英國，地鐵要用「Underground」或「Tube」比較多人聽得懂。  

We then realized that there are so many usages of the words in England different from those of American words that we Taiwanese normally learn. For instance: Loo is usually meant by Toilet; Apartment in American English means Flat in British English; Can (for canned food) in American English is more than often replaced by Tin in British English. We were actually not surprised when we knew that in England Subway stands for Underground Passage while the word, Underground or Tube, is commonly recognized as the Subway we usually refer to.  

 

** Cambridge Dictionary對Subway的英式解釋是：an underground passage which allows people on foot to cross a busy roadà讓行人可步行穿越繁忙街道的地下道。