60天口语社群里面有同学提到了一个问题:看电影能不能说see the movie?
“看电影”可以说watch/see the movie,但是用watch还是see,中间存在一些区别。
根据《剑桥词典》官网的解释,see the movie/film是指在公共场合看电影(比如电影院),而watch the movie/film是指在家看电影。
举个例子,我们不能说:We watched a wonderful movie at the cinema last night. 而要说:We saw a wonderful movie at the cinema last night.
又比如国外有一篇评论文章,标题是 Op-Ed: The Importance of Seeing Films in the Theater
不过我们可以说:We watched a wonderful movie on television last night. 在网上看电影,可以说watch movies online
这一规则对戏剧也适用,比如在剧院看戏剧,要说see the play,而不是watch the play
不过“看电视”是例外,看电视要说watch television,而不是see television
要表达“去电影院看电影”,也可以直接说go to the movies,比如:We are going to the movies tonight. 意思相当于:We are going to see a movie tonight.
此外,the cinema英式英语用得比较多,美式英语一般说the theater
如果要问别人有没有看过某一部电影(不管是在家里看还是电影院看),提问的语句是Have you seen XX,比如《牛津词典》的一个例句:Have you seen the latest Miyazaki movie? 你看过宫崎骏的最新电影吗?
要表达“看”,容易弄混的两个词还有look以及read
一些同学在表达“看手机,玩手机”时会说watch your phone,但正确的说法应该是look at your phone
比如英国《卫报》今年有一篇文章,标题是:You have one life. Do you really want to spend it looking at your phone? (你只活一次。难道你想把生命花费在看手机上吗?)
watch, look, read这三个词意思和搭配存在很大区别:watch侧重于“长时间地看”,常见搭配为watch television;look侧重于“看,瞧”,同时,look at用来表示注视不动的东西。而watch表示注视活动或变化的事物,比如:
(1) I asked him to look at the picture above his bed(我让他看他床上方的照片)
(2) He watched Blake run down the stairs(他看着布莱克跑下楼梯)
而read则侧重于“阅读”,常见搭配为read the book/newspaper
参考资料
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/look-at-see-or-watch
https://www.espressoenglish.net/difference-between-see-a-movie-and-watch-a-movie/
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