Interesting and Boring

有些老師的講座蹩脚透頂，使學生厭煩得要命！Some teachers are dreadful lecturers, they bore the pants off all their students. Their talks are very long, dull and boring.

 

 

著名詩人余光中是少數的例外，中山大學的畢業典禮， 由鎮校之寶余光中演講，生動有趣，短短20分鐘，完全沒有冷場。他還告訴學生，演講要如國學大師林語堂所說，應該像女人的迷你裙，愈短愈好。余光中勉勵學生，學英文要學道地的英文，不能把英文習慣用到中文來。他舉例，有學生說，「老師扮演教授很成功」，老師不是演員，是真的老師，所以不必說扮演，這是英文 play a role as 的講法；他希望，以後學生希望老師寫介紹信時，能用正宗的中文。希望學生使用正宗中文，原本是很嚴肅的講題，但是余光中用詼諧的口吻，帶出最深的期許，in other words, he is very successful in making a boring subject very interesting。

 

If something is interesting, you give it your attention, because it is unusual or exciting or because it is something that you want to know about; you find it interesting. What an interesting idea!

 

Synonyms of Interesting:

Absorbing 吸引人的，holding your attention for a long time because it is interesting and enjoyable；

engrossing 引人入勝的，an engrossing tale is very interesting and so interesting that you don’t notice anything that is happening around you；

exciting 令人激動的，a very exciting story；

thrilling 使人膽顫心驚的，causing one to feel thrilled；

sensational 聳人聽聞的，causing excited interest；

exhilarating 令人振奮的，causing one feel exhilarated；

breathtaking 激動人心的，very exciting: the race was quite breathtaking 比賽十分緊張；

fascinating 有極大吸引力的，extremely interesting: a fascinating holiday destination, a fascinating story。

 

既感興趣而又令人心情激動，一般的說法：Getting interested and excited; you are interested, excited, thrilled or enthusiastic; there is never a dull moment.

 

 

假如你對某些事情感到很有興趣，你可以說：

 

You are all ears，你準備好，很樂意洗耳恭聽人家的談話：You are very eager to hear what someone is going to say，你會全神貫注地去聽。

If you have a thing about something/somebody, that means you like something or someone very much, you are very interested in them 正合你的心意。

You are champing/chomping at the bit 等於 you are eager to do something 你急於開始，急不及待去做某件事，you are very keen to start an activity or to go somewhere。

You are bright eyed and bushy tailed 表示你輕鬆愉快，you are full of energy and eager to do things。

If you are an eager beaver，你像水獺一樣，非常熱衷於工作，做事異常賣力，you are working very hard and very enthusiastic。 

 

至於沉悶方面的說法：something boring is not interesting in any way, it makes people feel tired and annoyed 令人厭煩的，乏味的，it is causing one to be bored。沉悶的電影 a boring film。

 

Synonyms of Boring:

形容詞 boring 乏味，令人厭煩的同義詞，小心習慣用法有時並不一樣：

frustrating 令人灰心的、洩氣的、沮喪的，a frustrating experience；

tedious 冗長乏味的，tiring and boring 沉悶的, 冗長乏味的：a tedious lecture；

monotonous 單調乏味的，千篇一律的，boring because always the same: a monotonous lesson；

tiresome 令人厭倦的，a tiresome man。

 

 

強烈表達 boredom 沉悶和厭煩的口語慣用語（colloquial idioms）和俚語（slangs），特別生動：

 

bored stiff 悶透或無聊極了，to be very bored；

bored to deaths/to tears 厭煩得要命；

bore the pants/arse/ass off somebody；

bored out of your mind；

bore the socks off somebody；

bore someone silly；

bored to distraction。

 

All these idiomatic expressions carry the same meaning of extremely bored.

 

 

最後，十分沉悶的幽默有趣說法：

 

If you say that watching an activity is like watching grass grow, you mean that it is very boring. Some people say watching a Japanese Noh play is like watching grass grow.

 

Similarly, if you say that watching an activity is like watching paint dry, you also mean that it is very boring，你覺得某事太過乏味和無聊。To me, watching a dull movie on television is about as interesting as watching paint dry. When the novelty wears off, something that was new and interesting for a short time is no longer interesting，潮流一旦過去，不再有新鮮感，人們便會失去興趣。

 

本專欄逢周二、五發表