Spring and Seasons

春回大地，萬物欣欣向榮。

 

英國人和澳洲人見到喜喜洋洋、跳跳躍躍的人，喜歡說：“She’s full of the joys of spring  ”, meaning she is very happy。  Another idiom, “spring fever,” denotes the feeling of restlessness experienced with the onset of the season；美國幽默大師馬克吐温形容這股令人內心激動的奇妙現象 : “It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want—oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!”

 

一年之計在於春，一日之計在於晨。英國詩人白朗寧尤其喜歡春天： The year’s at the spring  /And day’s at the morn 。 （ “Pippa’s Song”  by Robert Browning）

 

Someone is no spring chicken = she is no longer young。這句不算文雅的俚語，多指女子年齡不小了 a person well past youth：That actress is no spring chicken, but she does a pretty good job of playing a seventeen-year-old girl 女演員不再年輕，扮演青春少艾的⻆色，依然唯妙唯肖。

 

 

一年四季，春夏秋冬。Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter 的形容詞也稍有不同, 例如：a spring like day;  summertime concert;  autumnal leaves;  wintry weather。

 

洋人習慣以 an Indian summer 形容秋天的小陽春 a period of warm weather which sometimes happens in early autumn，以及生命中一段成功舒暢的日子  a successful or pleasant period in someone’s life, especially towards the end of their life。One swallow does not make a summer，一燕不足以知夏：燕子是一種候鳥，喜歡温暖的地方，一隻燕子來了，不表示夏天己經來臨；同樣的，我們不能單憑一個例子而下定論：You should not assume that something is true just because you have seen one piece of evidence for it。

 

他們也習慣以 autumn years 形容某人已過中年，邁向垂暮：the later years of a person’s life, especially after he has stopped working，而 in the dead of winter 表示 in the middle of winter, when it is very cold and dark 。

 

季節可以依天氣劃分。SEASON can be marked by weather : the cold season 寒冷季節、the warm season 溫暖季節, or marked by  greater activity of some kind： the slow business season after Christmas 聖誕節後的商業淡季；the social season of upper society 上流社會的社交季節；the football season begins next week 足球季節下週開始。In season 表示應時， 應時水果最便宜 fruit is cheapest in season；應時蔬菜最新鮮 vegetables are freshest in season；旅館旺季時收費較高 hotels cost more in season。至於 out of season 表示不合時令 not at the right time of the year : the fishermen knew that salmon were out of season at the time 不是盛產三文魚的最佳季節 。 

 

 

SEASONAL 是季節性的意思 depending on the seasons, especially active or happening at a particular season ：a seasonal employment 他在度假區找到一份季節性工作：He gets a seasonal employment at a holiday resort; a seasonal business : Selling ice cream in summer is a seasonal business  夏天售賣冰淇淋是一門季節性的生意。 

 

 SEASONABLE 是及時的、合時宜的意思：來得及時的勸告 seasonable advice；及時的援助 seasonable aid ；適合時令的氣温 seasonable temperatures。 

  

說人時，SEASONED 指富有經驗的，老於此道的 having a lot of experience of a particular activity：經驗豐富的表演者、政治家、外交官、旅行家：a seasoned performer/ politician/ diplomat/ traveller。說到食物時，SEASONED 用來形容經調味的菜餚，例如調味甚濃的小菜：highly seasoned dishes, with salt, pepper and other spices added to it。These substances adding flavour to food are called seasoning 調味品，作料 。

 

An open season 除了指漁獵開放的季節外，也可指對某人或某事持續公開批評的時期： 

 a time when a lot of people criticize someone 。An open season is a period when people  unfairly treat a particular person or group of people : British newspaper editors at one time have declared open season on the royal family 有段日子，英國報章特別喜歡公然恣意批評皇室成員。英國夏天國會不開會，重大新聞材料較少，報章常用無聊瑣事的內容充塞版面：行內有 silly season “無聊季節”的說法：the silly season is a period of time in summer when there is not much news, especially political news, so the newspapers have articles about events that are not important 。

 

四季人 a man for all seasons is a man who is very successful in many types of activity。This phrase comes from the title of a British play by Robert Bolt and later adapted into a famous movie about Sir Thomas Moore who stood up to King Henry VIII when the King rejected the Roman Catholic Church to obtain a divorce and remarriage。布蘭森是一個成功的四季人：Richard Branson is chairman of an international record company as well as a successful hot air balloon adventurer– really a man for all seasons。

 

Concerto in E Major opens with Spring  :

Springtime is upon us. 

The birds celebrate her return with festive song,

and murmuring streams are softly caressed by the breezes.

Thunderstorms, those heralds of Spring, roar, casting their dark mantle over heaven,