Borrowing and Lending

Borrow 與 Lend 這两個字常被混淆，借入用 borrow，借出用 lend：These two words are often confused: You borrow something from someone else, while they lend it to you.

“Can I borrow your book?”（我可以借用你的書嗎？）

“Of course, I’ll lend you my book.”（當然，我可以把書借給你。）

“Can I borrow a suitcase from you?” “Sorry, this suitcase was borrowed from my father.”

Borrow 還有引用、借用的意思，例如思想、言語、文字等多方面：The author borrows heavily from William Shakespeare（那位作家大量引用莎士比亞的作品）。

英語有不少從其他語言引入的字彙：Many English terms are borrowed from other languages. They are called loan-words，例如來自漢語的 tea, kowtow, chopsticks, ketchup, chop suey。

借來的地方借來的時間

To live on borrowed time 表示時日不多，有苟延殘喘，大限已近的意思：This phrase is often used in the form “living on borrowed time”, meaning not likely to live very long: He knew he was living on borrowed time after two heart attacks，就是 He was still alive after the time when he was expected to die 活過壽限，他的生命意外地延長的意思。She’s been terminally ill for some time and I’m afraid she’s only living on borrowed time 她患上了絕症，我擔心她只能活到比預期辭世的時間稍長些。英國殖民地香港回歸中國以前, 流行的說法是：Hong Kong is a borrowed place in a borrowed time 借來的地方，借來的時間。

Lending 最常見的用法是銀行或金融機構的貸款：The bank refused to lend us the money.

Lend 以下的常見說法，都有增添的意思，或給予（give, provide, support）等生動用法：You lend support, weight, credence, etc. to something：

To lend a hand to someone 助他人一臂之力：to give someone some help, not necessarily with the hands: Could you lend me a hand with this piano? I need to move to the other room.

To lend a helping hand 意思相同：幫助某人，處理某事：Peter and Mary expected their children to lend a helping hand when they were needed.

To lend your ear to someone or something 留心傾聽並對惹了麻煩的人表示體恤：to listen attentively and with understanding to someone: She lent a sympathetic ear to my troubles. She listens to me and offers me some kind words.

To lend color to something 使某事物看來顯得更真實：to make something seem true or probable：Your clever and interesting comments lent a great deal of color to the slide show of your vacation.

To lend itself to something 適宜於：to be suitable for something: I like this black dress, it lends to almost any occasion（我喜歡這黑色的上裝，它幾乎適宜於任何場合）; Her voice doesn’t really lend itself well to blues singing（她的噪子不是很適合於唱憂怨的布魯斯歌曲）.

英諺有云：Lend your money and lose your friend（借錢反失友）。You should not lend money to your friends; if you do, either you will have to bother your friend to repay the loan, which will make your friend resent you, or your friend will not repay the loan, which will make you resent your friend。另一句相似的諺語：When I lent I had a friend; when I asked he was unkind（借錢時稱兄道弟，討債時翻臉無情）。