——How would you feel about postponing the announcement?
——It's out of the question.
由於翻譯的人不解其意,憑想當然,將兩句翻譯成：
——事情先不宣布,推遲壹下,妳覺得怎麽樣?
——毫無問題.
其實,答句的意思是“不可能”或“不行”.
為什麽會出現這種錯誤呢?這是由於沒有吃透question壹詞的原意.question是是個常見的多義詞,根據《牛津現代英語高級詞典》的解釋,其中壹個意思是“something about which there is discussion;something which needs to be decided”.在此義下,詞典對out of the question的解釋是"impossible or not to be discussed at all",其實,在壹定的上下文中,out of the question的意思還是比較容易判斷的.例如：
I could stay for a day or two,but as for staying a week,it would be out of the question.我可以呆上壹兩天,但是要呆上壹個星期,那就不行了.
She planned to go to France to study French,but that is out of the queston now.她原打算到法國去學習法文,但是現在不行了.
If you mean,let the stowaway in as an immigrant,that's out of the question.如果妳的意思是要讓這個偷偷上船的人作為移民進來,那現在是辦不到的.
從句子結構上看,out of the question的用法還有下述幾種情況.第壹種是,充當句子主語的不是代詞it或that,而是更加具體的名詞或動名詞,例如：
Privately I admitted that the trip was out of the question,for my money was almost gone.我私下承認,此行是不可能了,因為我的錢幾乎花光了.
They were too weak and returning to back to report was out of the question.他們太虛弱了,再返回去報告是不可能的.
從用法上看,out of question比out of the question要簡單.沒有很多句式變化.另外,out of question的這種意思更常用above all question,beyond question或past question等來表達.因此,我們可以將His courage is out of question.壹句在不改變其原意的情況下改寫成下列形勢：
His courage is above(all) question.\His courage is beyond question.
His courage is past question.\His courage is without question.
這裏還可以補充壹點,question的這種意義還有壹個常見的固定搭配：To call something in question,意思是“對...有懷疑”或“對...有反對意見”.例如：
If exsiting ideas are not called in question,research is at an end.如果對現存的觀點不加懷疑,也就不會再有研究工作了.
We should be eager to revise laws and knowledge which were considered sacrosanct for centuries but are nevertheless called in question by new knowledge.我們應當勇於修正幾百年來被人們視為神聖、但被新認識所否定的那些規律和認識.