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近日到石梨貝水塘一帶郊遊，沿途看見大批猴子結隊巡行，盯着過路的人和背包，眼珠滾來滾去，彷彿有所企圖，不太友善。遊人都小心翼翼，以防為猴子所傷，或被搶去物品。猴子行動敏捷靈活，總予人頑皮、搗蛋的印象。「猴子」的英文monkey亦由猴子這形象引申出各種用法。
頑皮、不守規則、愛搗蛋的小孩，也會比喻為猴子，或稱為猴崽子。廣東話也會把難以管教、不聽話的小孩稱為「馬騮」。英文亦同樣以monkey形容這樣的小孩。
Those monkeys made a mess of the house.
那些猴崽子把屋子弄得一團糟。
Stop that, you little monkey.
停下來，你這隻猴崽子。
由猴子的頑皮，引申出動詞詞組monkey about/ around，意思是「不用腦的四處亂走亂動」，「粗心大意地胡亂翻動東西」。
The kids started monkeying around after they had finished their meal.
這些孩子吃過飯後，就像猴崽子般到處胡鬧。
The boy carelessly broke the antique vase when he was monkeying about with it.
那男孩拿着古董花瓶亂舞時，不小心把花瓶摔破了。
還有所謂的monkey business，可用於形容小孩子的一些搗蛋事。
The teacher came into the classroom and immediately felt that there might be some monkey business going on in the class.
老師甫走進課室就覺得班裡可能在發生一些胡鬧事情。
引申至「不誠實勾當」
不過，monkey business有更深的負面意思，形容成年人不誠實、欺騙、不守法、麻煩或不能接受的勾當。
The police suspected there had been some monkey business in that company.
警方懷疑那間公司中有一些不誠實勾當。
The chairman has to step down because there seems to be monkey business in the accounting of his organization.
由於機構的會計賬目似乎有不當不誠實的項目，主席不得不下台。
The report will be made public to prevent any monkey business.
報告將會公開，防止任何不法欺騙的行為。
見到一大群猴子，聚在一起定睛望着路過的人，想起monkey business這短語，不禁會覺得猴子們在想些什麼勾當。大家一路上充滿戒心地小心前行，留心着猴子的一舉一動。■Lina CHU
隔星期三見報[ linachu88@gmail.com ]
隔星期三見報
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