社交網站 Facebook 用戶遍及全球，世界上最多人認識的和喜歡的，很可能是 Like 這個英文字。
Liking and not liking 喜惡有強弱程度上的分別。
另眼相看
大致來說，Liking people 的 English idioms 英文習用語，有多種講法。最流行的 The apple of somebody’s eye = someone you love most and are very proud of，相等於漢語的另眼相看，或垂青眼。
假如你有三個孩子，而又特別溺愛年僅三歲，活潑可愛的孻仔，原因很難解釋：You have a soft spot for him，即是說：You feel a lot of affection for one particular person, very often without knowing why.
一見鍾情，重點在快
假如你觸電地愛上某人，you are moonstruck by her，像羅密歐看中朱麗葉：You take a shine to her and you like her immediately，一見鍾情，重點在快，一瞬間擦出火花。
假如兩個人十分投契，一拍即合：You two guys get on like a house on fire = You like each other very much and become friends very quickly.
幽默的成語：a mutual admiration society = a situation in which two people express a lot of admiration for each other，兩人惺惺相惜。
至於你喜歡某個人，英文常用說法多元化：very fond of somebody or something, take a fancy to somebody, keen on somebody, she appeals to you, he goes down well with me 等等都可以。A likeable person grows on you and you get to like him more and more. 同聲相應，同氣相求：You both are on the same wave length.
他不是我那杯茶
你不喜歡某人，可以說：I can’t stand him, I can’t bear him（不能忍受，難以接受），甚至：I can’t stand the sight of him。He is not my cup of tea 他不是我那杯茶。
你喜歡某些東西：You like something very much, you love or adore something, you are crazy or mad about it, you have a passion for it, you are addicted to it, you cannot stop doing it.
反之，你討厭某些東西：If you don’t like a thing, then you don’t care for it.
格格不入
A course of action that you dislike is said to go against the grain，我感到違反常理，或者格格不入。
Words and expressions related to disliking，單字方面，除了 hate 之外，有 loathe 厭惡、detest 憎恨、despise 鄙視。你對某些事物強烈不滿，極之反感：You are disgusted, appalled or repelled by it.
你由反感，轉至接受，再到喜歡的情況，例如：I don’t like coffee at all. As a child, I loathed coffee. I hated the smell, but I’ve got to like it now. Got to like something = start to like，相等於開始培養好感的意思。又例如：I absolutely detested cheese. I’d rather die than eat cheese. But I adore it now. 因為喜歡芝士，懂得欣賞，需要花點時間，英語人士說：It is an acquired taste.
品味無可爭論
說到 taste 口味，各人有不同的偏好。Which do you prefer, tea or coffee? 你簡單回答：I prefer coffee over/instead of/to tea，都可以。
喜惡各人不一樣：One man’s meat is another man’s poison. 對甲是肉，對乙是毒，人各有所好。Beauty is in the eye of the beholder：情人眼裏出西施。品味無可爭論。人的愛憎好惡是無法解釋的，所謂：there’s no accounting for taste，談到品味無爭辯。
Taste can be in the form of judgment，品味可以是判斷力、鑒賞力。Good taste 高尚品味 or bad taste 低級趣味，品味有時真的很主觀，taste is very subjective。
Everyone has different likes and dislikes.
愛爾蘭大文豪 Bernard Shaw 蕭伯納說得好：”Forget about likes and dislikes. They are of no consequence. Just do what must be done. This may not be happiness but it is greatness.”
本專欄逢周二、五發表
