“敵人”的故事

何苗

There are many expressions using the word “enemy”. So today， lets talk about the stories of the “enemy”.

英語中有很多表達中使用了“敵人”一詞，所以今天我們就從敵人的故事說起吧。

Do you have an enemy？ An enemy threatens you， attacks you or tries to harm you. Hopefully， you dont.

你有敵人么？敵人會威脅你，攻擊你，或者試圖傷害你。希望你沒有。

If you do have enemies， I have some advice for you：

如果你有敵人的話，我有幾點建議給你：

“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.1” Many believe it was wrote in the old Chinese military book The Art of War. Others say Machiavelli wrote this sentence in The Prince.

“密切關注你的朋友，更要密切關注你的敵人。”很多人都相信這個說法來自于中國偉大的兵書《孫子兵法》中。也有人說馬基雅維利在《君主論》中也寫過類似的話。

We may not know for sure who said it first. But many know who said this line in the movie The Godfather II. Gangster boss Michael Corleone advises a member of his crime “family” on how to deal with an enemy who is causing trouble. “My father taught me many things here. He taught me in this room. He taught me， ‘Keep your friends close but your enemies closer.”

我們也不太確定是誰最先說的這句話。但很多人知道在電影《教父2》中誰說過這句話。黑幫老大邁克爾·可萊昂給他的犯罪家族中的一名成員提建議，如何處理引起麻煩的敵人。“我爸爸在這間房子里教會了我很多事。他教會了我，‘密切關注你的朋友，更要密切關注你的敵人。”

Here is another piece of advice， “An enemy of my enemy is my friend.2” Lets say you have two enemies who also hate each other. If you are smart， you may be able to use their hatred of each other to get what you want.

有另外一條忠告：“敵人的敵人就是朋友。”我們說的是，你有兩個敵人，但這兩個敵人相互討厭彼此。如果你是聰明人，你可以利用他們討厭彼此的情況，來獲得自己所想要的東西。

Lets say you dont have a formal enemy. But what if you have a friend who treats you badly？ People around you might say， “With a friend like that who needs enemies？3” This expression means that if a friend treats you badly， they behave as an enemy. It also means you should get another friend.

我們來說說你沒有正式敵人的情況。但如果你有一個對你不好的朋友呢？你周圍的人可能說：“有那樣一個朋友，要敵人來干嘛？”這個短語表達的意思是，如果一個朋友對你很不好，他們就像你的敵人。這意味著你應該換個朋友了。

We are supposed to hate our enemies. But when something is so bad， so terrible， we often say， “I wouldnt wish that on my worst enemy.4” For example， “I was so sick last weekend！ I wouldnt wish that flu on my worst enemy.”

我們應該討厭自己的敵人。但是當有不好的、糟糕的事，我們常會說：“就算是我最大的敵人，我也不希望他怎么樣。”比如，“我上周生重病！我不希望自己最大的敵人也感冒。”

Public Enemy5 No. 1 is a status given to the worst criminals in the United States. During the Great Depression， John Dillinger was named Public Enemy No. 1. He was a killer， bank robber and the most feared gangster in the U.S. A gangster works in a group of people， like a network， or system.

頭號公敵是指美國最壞的犯罪情況。在經濟大蕭條時代，約翰·迪林格被稱為頭號全民公敵。……