名人教英文：他是个坚决不移的单身汉
he's a confirmed bachelor
他是个坚决不移的单身汉
jerry: who was that interesting old guy i saw you talking to in the bookstore yesterday?
哲力﹕ 我昨天见你在书局里跟一个有趣的老人交谈，他是谁？
andrew: oh, that was my uncle george, my father's eldest brother.
安德鲁﹕啊，是我的伯父乔治，家父的长兄。
jerry: is he retired? he looked to be in his sixties.
哲力﹕他退休了吗？看来他有六十多岁了。
andrew: yes, early seventies actually. he was a botanist. worked at the plant research institute.
安德鲁﹕不错，他已经退休。事实上，他七十二、三岁了，是个植物学家，曾在植物研究院工作。
jerry: gee, he must know all there is to know about plants.
哲力﹕啊，他对植物一定了如指掌。
andrew: well, he certainly knows a lot. plants were his whole life. never married. never had any interest in the opposite sex.
安德鲁﹕他的确所知甚多，一生心力都花在植物上，从来没有结婚，对异性从来不感兴趣。
jerry: so he's a confirmed bachelor.
哲力﹕那么，他是个坚定不移的单身汉了。
andrew: oh sure. but he's our favourite uncle because he always treated us kids as if we were his own children.
安德鲁﹕不错。不过，我们很喜欢这个伯父，因为他对我们有如己出。
安德鲁说乔治是他父亲的eldest brother。这个eldest可不可以改为oldest？
答案是「可以」。从前，说家庭成员，英文会用elder或eldest说「较年长的」和「最年长的」，但是，今天，不少人会改用older或oldest，例如﹕he has an older/ elder brother（他有一个哥哥）。
现在再请回答一个问题﹕my brother is elder than me（他比我年长，是我哥哥）这一句，文法正确吗？答案是「不正确」。作形容词，elder只可用在名词之前，不可和than字连用，例如「我哥哥比我大三年」是my brother is three years older than me。当然，你可以说he is the older/ elder of the two brothers（两兄弟，他年纪大一点）。
哲力问安德鲁﹕is he retired？这个retired是形容词，所以is不可改为has。请比较以下两个例子﹕（1）mr chan no longer works here. he has retired（陈先生不在这里工作了。他已经退休）。（2）mr chan goes fishing every day. he is retired, and has plenty of time（陈先生天天都去钓鱼。他退休了，有的是时间）。例一的retired是动词，指退休的行为；例二的retired是形容词，指退休的状态。
哲力说乔治是a confirmed bachelor。这confirmed一字，常用来说不结婚的男人，但凡是喜欢某种生活方式的人，都可以用这个字形容，例如a confirmed gambler（沉迷赌博者）、a confirmed smoker（不肯戒烟者）、a confirmed believer in eating organic food（力主吃有机食物者）。