AN EASY SENTENCE TO STUDY

Before reading on, please consider the following short sentence：

They cannot see enough of each other.

What do you think this sentence means？ Well，please consider and consider before reading on.

This is a very easy sentence，indeed，and I think every English or American schoolboy or schoolgirl understands it. In fact，it occurs in a story-book for children. But I have been asked to explain it by a senior middle school student, who，so far as I can see, has studied English earnestly for years and has acquired a fair knowledge of grammar and rhetoric and a fairly large vocabulary.

Why，after all，does the student fail to understand this short sentence？ My answer is that it is because its way of expression does not have its corresponding way in the Chinese language. There are many ways of expression in English that do not have their corresponding ways in Chinese. These are puzzling to most Chinese students of English.

The above-quoted sentence means that the two persons love each other so dearly that though they see each other often，they think they see each other but seldom. By the way，the of in the sentence also deserves attention. “See enough of each other” means see each other often enough. “See much of you” means see you often.

In your reading you will do well to pay special attention to those ways of expression for which you do not find corresponding ways in Chinese. This will help you both in reading and in writing. I am sorry to find that many Chinese students do not realize the importance of doing this，with the result that while they can read English by Chinese authors and write long and tolerably grammatical essays，yet they may not be able to understand an Englishman’s social letter thoroughly or write a short paragraph purely idiomatic.