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我們以前聽過被「賣豬仔」去「舊金山」，「舊金山」乃San Francisco的其中一個譯法，因為百多年前那裡曾掀起「淘金熱」(Gold Rush)。金是人人趨之若鶩之物，因為難得，所以矜貴，正如中國文字「貝」一樣，貝殼須沿海採集，非當時久居中原之士所易得，故用作貨幣。
金是Gold，礦是Mine，合起來便是金礦(Gold Mine)了。古時技術落伍，採礦困難，金更是難得之物，因此在經濟市場上也會用作交易貨幣，不過價值鉅大，較少流通。相反，銀(Silver)則相對上價值較低，自宋代起在市場上流通，至明代中後期成為市場上的主要貨幣。古時中國沒有白銀，銀多由西班牙、葡萄牙開採而來。
可從Gold mine 中獲利
有關金(Gold)與銀(Silver)的用語例句，在網絡上隨處可見，茲採擷如下：
例句一：If you are famous enough, giving public lectures in America can be a real gold mine. Why, when Mister Gorbachev visited Virginia, he made $125,000 in speaking fees in four days.
要是你聲名顯赫，在美國演講可會財源滾滾來。這就是為何戈爾巴喬夫到訪維珍尼亞州的4天演講，收入達到1.25萬美元。
例句二：I've been in this stock business all my life. To some, it seems to be a gold mine, but I know how dangerous it can be. If you know nothing about stocks or you don't have a good stock broker, you could easily lose your money.
我畢生致力於股票生意。對某些人而言，股票買賣似乎可以賺很多錢，但我卻深明其風險。要是你對股票一無所知，或沒找到一個好的股票經紀，可是很容易把錢給丟了。
Silver Spoon 比喻家境富裕
例句三：I'll tell you the good thing about our boss. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and doesn't have to work at all. But he really works harder than anybody in the office.
讓我來告訴你我們上司的優點：雖然他生於富貴之家，根本不用工作，但他比別人都更用功努力。
例句四：My cousin Thomas was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He's now forty years old and has never worked a single day in his life. Sometimes I envy him very much. But in fact if I didn't work I would be very miserable.
我表哥湯姆斯今年40歲，家境富裕，所以他從不工作。有時候，我真的很羨慕他。可現實要是我不工作，生活可會變得很淒苦。
東西金銀 同樣矜貴
從以上例句一及二可見，Gold mine就是指使人能夠獲得很多利潤的事情。從以上例句三及四可見，A silver spoon in his mouth就是指出生於富有家庭的人。
A Silver spoon in his mouth，中譯是「有隻銀匙在他口中」，跟我們廣東話「含著金鑰匙出世」意思相同，或者可以解釋此粵語源流也說不定。
總括而言，東方與西方擁有同樣的價值觀，金(Gold)與銀(Silver)同樣代表矜貴、富有，用以形容華麗、高貴之物，如「金光閃閃」、「銀光粼粼」，當然，廣東話「打鑊金你」例外。 ■香港專業進修學校 語言傳意學部講師 劉美琪、區肇龍
聯絡電郵：clc@hkct.edu.hk
學部網站：http://clc.hkct.edu.hk
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