看到go with the flow,你的第一反應是什麼?

喜歡聽音頻講解的點擊上方↑，文字版內容更豐富↓

望文生義可能是我們每個人都犯過的錯。有趣的是，我們不光對自己的母語想當然（差強人意、空穴來風等等），對英語也不例外。比如go with the flow這個習語，我見過很多人不假思索地把它翻譯為「隨波逐流」。

flow確實有流動、漲潮的意思，所以go with the flow乍一看和「隨波逐流」是絕配。但關鍵問題在於，「隨波逐流」是個貶義詞，形容某人缺乏判斷是非的能力，沒有堅定的立場，只能跟著別人走。

而go with the flow是個褒義詞，形容某人保持平常心的狀態，坦然接受現實，有好的結果最好，沒有好的結果也不糾結。

A: What was I thinking? I can't go to Montana!

B: I knew you'd be freaking out. Don't freak out. You're going.

A: But where will it even lead? And where do I want it to lead?

B: You don't know. That's the point of the trip. Just go with the flow. Don't get ahead of yourself.

A: But...

B: No buts.

C: Don't worry. There are no expectations here. Plenty of hope, but no expectations.

A: Right. Right. We'll just go with the flow.

C: Exactly.

此外，go with the tide也是一個常見習語，它倒確實是「隨波逐流」的意思。

舉個例子：I'm sorry, but I refuse to go with the tide just because it's the easier option!

美劇片段來自：Jane the Virgin

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補充說明：如果要較真，go with the flow也有「跟著主流走，缺乏自己的立場」這層意思，至少在詞典裡可以查到。但是，我很負責地說一句，在實際的日常情境裡，幾乎沒人這麼用。對現代英語使用者來說，go with the flow就是「順其自然」。

摘抄一下wiseGEEK.com的解釋：The English idiom, 「go with the flow,」 generally refers to someone letting things happen, being relaxed about random events, or being versatile or able to change plans. 

這個generally很能說明問題。

P.S. wiseGEEK是我常用的求證信息的網站，靠譜。

請順手點一下「在看」，或轉發，這樣可以讓更多人看到這篇文章。Happy learning in 2020！