生活美語《That's one of the loveliest engagement rings I've ever seen》
That's one of the loveliest engagement rings I've ever seen
我很少見到這麼可愛的訂婚戒指
對話
Mom：Hello, who's there? Is that you Jeannie. Hi! Welcome home!
媽媽：喂，是誰？是珍妮嗎。嗨，歡迎回家！
Jeannie：Hi Mom, you're looking great. How's Pop?
珍妮：喂，媽媽，你看來氣色很好。爸爸怎樣？
Mom：He's in the yard fixing the fence. You look as if you've got something to tell me.
媽媽：他在院子修理柵欄。看樣子，你似乎有什麼事情要告訴我。
Jeannie：Mom, I have and to show you too. Look!
珍妮：是啊，媽媽，還有些東西給你看。看！
Mom：Oh! What a beautiful diamond! That's one of the loveliest engagement rings I've ever seen. When did you get it?
媽媽：啊，多麼漂亮的鑽石！我很少見到這麼可愛的訂婚戒指。你什麼時候得到的？
Jeannie：I got it on the weekend. Greg took me to Zemmany's and just asked me to choose exactly the ring I wanted. And this is the one.
珍妮：是上個周末。格雷哥和我去曾曼妮公司，叫我按自己心意挑選，我就要了這一枚。
Pop：Well he sure must think a lot of you to buy you such a beautiful ring.
爸爸：他買這樣漂亮的戒指給你，對你一定很好。
多學一點點 「似乎」和訂婚戒指
珍妮的母親對女兒說：You look as if you've got something to tell me。讀者可以用另一些字取代as if嗎？
你可以用as though，隨便一點還可用like。As if或as though都是「似乎」的意思，用法沒有分別。說「似乎如此，事實也可能如此」，as if子句(clause)動詞的時式，和一般句子沒有分別，隨事情發生的時間而異；說「似乎如此，事實並非如此」，則as if子句的動詞一律用過去式說現在或過去的事，例如：(1) He speaks as he is an expert / He spoke as if he was an expert（他說話的語氣像個專家）。(2) He speaks as if he were（或was）an expert, though in fact he isn't / He spoke as if he were（或was）an expert, though in fact he wasn't（他說話的語氣像個專家，其實他卻不是專家）。例句二he之後用were，是假設語氣；用was則是隨便的說法，可能被視為錯誤。
至於You look like you've got something to tell me、He spoke like he was an expert等說法，嚴格而言並不正確，因為解作「好像」、「似乎」的like是介系詞(preposition)，其後須用名詞。不過，美式英語口頭上常把like當作連接詞(conjunction)，其後用子句(clause)，謹再舉一例：You must do it like you have been told(你必須依照吩咐去做)。書面上，這個like宜改為as。
珍妮的母親見到女兒的戒指，說That's one of the loveliest engagement rings I've ever seen。「訂婚戒指」還可叫betrothal ring，例如：The betrothal ring is worn on the third finger of the left hand since that finger was thought to be connected to the heart, the seat of love（訂婚戒指穿在左手無名指上，因為古人相信無名指和心相連，而心是愛情所在）。
