The word “account” can mean a variety of things, depending on the context in which it is used. It also has many idiomatic uses. As a result, if not used with great care, the word can cause ambiguity and make sentences difficult to understand.

　　根據不同的語境，account這個詞可以有很多不同的解釋，也有很多約定俗成的固定用法。因此，如果在使用account這個詞時未加注意，那么就有可能造成歧義和理解上的困難。

　　Consider the following sentence (it’s an exaggeration, but I have often seen similar):

　　來看一下下面這個例句(雖然這是個極端的情況，但我確實經常看到類似的句子)：

　　On account of a payment made on account of the service charges on the Lessor’s account, no further payments on this account are necessary.

　　由于與服務相關的賬目費用已經匯入Lessor的銀行賬戶，因此沒有必要再付任何費用了。

　　The word “account” appears four times, and has three different meanings. This makes the sentence thoroughly confusing for a reader, and so some serious editing is necessary.

　　在這句話中，account這個詞出現了四次，包含了三種不同的含義。這就讓讀者很難理解這句話想表達的意思，因此需要做出一些必要的修改。

　　First of all let’s look at each phrase in turn: (1) On account of a payment made (2) on account of the service charges (3) on the Lessor’s account, no further payments (4) on this account are necessary.

　　首先讓我們來看一下每個用到account的詞組搭配：(1) On account of a payment made (2) on account of the service charges (3) on the Lessor’s account, no further payments (4) on this account are necessary.

　　(1) The first phrase, on account of means literally “by reason of”. The writer could also use “due to”, “as a result of”, or “because of”.

　　(1)第一個詞組“On account of”就是“由于、因為”的意思。作者也可以用“due to”，“as a result of”或者“because of”等來表示。

　　(2) The second use of on account of is ambiguous because it does not mean “by reason of”. Rather it means “on the service charge account”, i.e. the record of credits related to the service charges.

　　(2)第二個詞組中的“on account of”就有些歧義，在這里它并不表示“由于、因為”的意思，更傾向于表示“服務費賬目”，即與服務費相關的信用記錄。

　　(3) The phrase on the Lessor’s account contains an error that I frequently see. It is a serious mistake because it changes the meaning of the sentence. What the writer means is “into the Lessor’s (bank) account”. However, the phrase “on someone’s account” is idiomatic and means “on someone’s behalf”. But this payment was not made on the Lessor’s behalf, rather it was made into his bank account!

　　(3)第三個詞組中的“on the Lessor’s account”出現了一個我經常看到的錯誤。這是一個嚴重的問題，因為它改變了整句話的意思。作者想要表達的意思應該是“匯入Lessor的銀行賬戶”。但是“on someone’s account”是有固定用法的，相當于“on someone’s behalf”(代表某人)。但這個詞組的意思并不是“代表Lessor的賬戶”，而是把錢匯入Lessor的賬戶!

　　Remember that in English payments are made “into or to a bank account” and NOT “ona bank account”.

　　記住，在英語中，付款是“匯入(into或者to)某人的賬戶”，而不是“在(on)某人的賬戶上”。

　　(4) The last phrase – on this account – has three possible meanings. It contains the same ambiguity as the second use of on account of: Does the writer mean “for this reason”, or is he referring to the record of credits related to the services charges? The third possible meaning is “into a bank account”. Although this phrase is very ambiguous, it does not actually cause a problem here because the sentence ultimately means the same thing whichever way you understand this phrase.

　　最后一個詞組“on this account”有三種不同的含義。首先，和第二個詞組on account of一樣，on this account到底是表示“由于(for this reason)”的意思，還是表示“與服務費相關的賬目”的意思?以上就包含了兩個不同的意思。第三種意思是“匯入銀行賬戶(into a bank account)”。雖然這個詞組很有歧義，不過在前后文中它的意思還是很明確的，不管你怎么理解這個詞組，它所表達的意思都是一樣的。

　　But I think you’ll agree that it is not very satisfactory to write something that can be interpreted in three different ways.

　　但是，我想如果一個詞組可以有三種解釋，你也不會對這種用法感到滿意吧。

　　本文來自新東方在線論壇

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