| Change log entry 38624 | |
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| Processed by: | richwarm (2011-12-10 10:21:49 UTC) |
| Comment: |
<< review queue entry 34964 - submitted by 'alanwatson' >> Lots of examples of the 'quality' meaning, for example: 如何鑑定中古車的好壞? (from http://cars.icars.com.tw/knowledge/003.html) As well as this meaning, MoE gives 'very bad' (很壞。如：「你這人好壞，為 什麼忍心害他呢？」) I leave the editors to judge whether this meaning is just a construct or is worth adding. Editor: I think it is indeed a construct in MoE's 2nd sense. Their first MoE sense is 好與壞, which looks to me like "good and bad". How would you translate MoE's example 「事情既已如此，不論好壞，你都得說清楚。」 if you see 好壞 as meaning "quality"? Our definition was no doubt copied from dict.cn, an unreliable source. However, I think the first part of their definition is right on this occasion. Sometimes, "quality" works reasonably well in translating a sentence, but really it's not quite the same thing, in my opinion. The example quoted is about identifying the good things and the bad things about a used car, and that is certainly how one goes about determining its quality. But "quality" does not work in other examples (see below). In short, "good and bad" works pretty much every time; "quality" doesn't. 我们应仔细检查，鉴别其好坏。 "differentiate the good from the bad" 耐久性是质量好坏的一个尺度. Here, it's 质量 that means "quality" and 质量好坏的一个尺度 = yardstick of good and bad quality "There is nothing inherently good or bad about squareness; ..." 方形本身没有好坏之分，... "quality" doesn't fit in this example Every age produces both good and bad literature. 每个时代所创作的文学作品好坏都有。 都有 = "has both", so 好坏 is *two* things ("good" and "bad") not one ("quality") |
| Diff: |
- 好壞 好坏 [hao3 huai4] /good and bad/advantageous and disadvantageous/ # + 好壞 好坏 [hao3 huai4] /quality/very bad/ + 好壞 好坏 [hao3 huai4] /good and bad/ |