Two's Company, Three's a Crowd——兩人成伴三人不和
** a third person spoils the privacy of a pair of lovers(第三者破壞了一對戀人的獨處)
** a third person complicates the ideal combination of a couple(第三者使一對夫婦的理想組合變得複雜)
** two persons can more easily reach a consensus than three or more(兩個人比三個或更多人更容易達成共識)
~~ 兩人成伴,三人不和;兩人結伴,三人不歡;兩個是伴,三個是亂;兩人結伴,三人添亂
~~ three's a crowd // two is company but three is none
!! In 1546, John Heywood recorded in his Book of Proverbs: "two's company, three is none."
(一五四六年,約翰 · 希活在他的《諺語書》中記錄:“兩人是同伴,三人等於沒有。”)
!! In 1706, this proverb was in John Stevens' Spanish-English Dictionary: "a company consisting of three is worth nothing.
(一七○六年,這句諺語出現在約翰 · 史堤芬的西班牙語英語詞典中:“由三人組成的隊是無價值的。”)
!! In 1897, Edna Lyall had it in Wayfaring Men: "Two is company, three is trumpery." (一八九七年,阿蘭 · 萊爾在《遠行的人》中表示:“兩個是同伴,三個是一文不值。”)
>> The number of partners of our newly established company has finally changed from three to two, because two's company, three's a crowd.
(我們新營運的公司,最後決定合夥人由三位改為兩位,因為兩人成伴,三人不和。)
>> On a honeymoon, three's a crowd.
(在蜜月期間,兩人結伴,三人不歡。)
學勤進修教育中心英語專科導師 李啟文 教授