生活美語《Who will be your best man?》
Who will be your best man?
你的伴郎是誰？
對話
Gordon：Not so long to go now and you and Joy will be married. You'll have to behave yourself then.
戈登：你和喬伊不久就要結婚了，婚後你得規規矩矩啦。
Allan：Joy's very sweet and nice. Things won't be any different. We get along fine.
亞倫：喬伊是個可人兒，日後一切不會有任何改變。我們向來相處得很好。
Gordon：Don't you believe it. Women change once they become wives.
戈登：你別信那一套。女人結婚之後就會改變。
Allan：You're an old cynic. I don't believe you.
亞倫：你什麼都往壞處看，我不相信你的話。
Gordon：Well, we'll see. Who will be your best man? Anyone I know?
戈登：走著瞧吧。你的伴郎是誰？是我認識的人嗎？
Allan：Yes, it's Myron Trendle. We were buddies in the army.
亞倫：你認識的，是邁倫?特倫德爾，我當兵時的夥伴。
Gordon：He's a great guy and he'll give a great best man speech. And I'm sure he'll find some really embarrassing things to say about you.
戈登：這傢伙很不錯，他的伴郎講詞一定也很不錯。我相信他會找些你最尷尬的事情來說。
Allan：I know. That's something I'm not really looking forward to.
亞倫：我知道。這可不是我盼望的。
多學一點點「犬儒」
戈登說亞倫不久就要結婚了：Not so long to go now。To go常用來說「還剩下多少時間某事就會來臨」或「還剩下多少事情要做」，例如：(1) There are only three days to go before they get married / before their marriage（還有三天，他們就要結婚）。(2) "Have you finished reading War and Peace?" "No, I still have three chapters to go."（「你看完《戰爭與和平》了嗎？」「沒有，還剩下三章。」）
亞倫說結婚之後，生活不會改變。戈登回答：Don't you believe it。Don't you believe something / someone是「你切勿相信某事╱某人」的意思，說時句末聲調下沉；假如句末聲調上揚，則是問句，意思是「你不相信某事╱某人嗎？」例如:(1) She says she is from a rich family, but don't you believe her（她說自己出身富有家庭，你可不要相信）。(2) She says she is from a rich family. Don't you believe her?（她說自己出身富有家庭。你不相信嗎？）
亞倫說戈登只懂得看事情壞的一面：You are an old cynic。古希臘有一派哲學家叫Cynics，主張生活樸素，蔑視俗世浮華。Cynic一字，出自拉丁文cynicus，意思是「狗一般的」，也許是因為一般人視這派哲學家行為像惡狗一樣。現在，cynic指憤世嫉俗、經常語帶譏諷的人，中文有時譯做一般人未必明白的「犬儒」，例如：He is a cynic and is convinced that lawyers work only for money（他什麼事都往壞處看，認為律師只會為金錢工作）。
戈登問亞倫：Who will be your best man?「伴郎」英文叫best man；假如伴郎不止一個，首要的叫best man，其餘的叫groomsman。
