有的“-mate”，不见于《新英汉词典》，也不容易猜对其词义，如下例中的“coffeemate”并不是“同喝咖啡的人”：

Coffeemate: Artificial cream in powdered form for adding to coffee. (a convenience food which keeps indefinitely)

                                               —Richard Mabey: “Food”，Penguin Education, 1972/4, p. 20

最后，还有一点值得注意的。有时候，“-mate”未必就是汉语“同x”的唯一序名。如前文谈到过“同桌（指饭桌）”固可译作“tablemate”，但未必就只有“tablemate”这一种译法。请看：

9. I …was his table neighbor at occasional official dinners and exchanged pleasantries with him at many receptions.

                                               —F. D. Kohler: Understanding the Russians, 

                                                  Harper & Row，1970, P.138

10. While the late Pope John XXIII was still the Apostolic Muncio to France, he found himself seated at a banquet next to an elegant dinner partner who was wearing a gown of perilously low decollctage. Instead of being censorious or embarrassed or pretending to be unaware of the costume, when dessert was served, the prelate offered her an apple. She was a little surprised, but he explained with a smile, "Please do take it, madame — it was only after Eveate the apple that she became aware of how little she had on.”

                                              —Reader's Digest, November 1974, p.12

又如前文提到的“bedmate”，也有个与之同义的“bedfellow”。

责任编辑：admin