1. 用作名詞,表示“臉”,注意其前連用介詞的大致情形:
(1) 表示打在臉上,通常用介詞 in。如:
He hit me in the face. 他打了我的耳光。
His wife slapped him in the face. 他妻子打他耳光。
【注】有時也可能用介詞 on, 如下面兩句均摘自權(quán)威英美詞典:
He was struck on the face. 他被打了一記耳光。
She hit [struck] him hard on the face. 她用力地打他耳光。
(2) 表示面部表情等,通常用介詞 on。如:
He had a surprised expression on his face. 他臉上露出了驚訝的表情。
He came with a smile on his face. 他微笑著走來。
比較:He came with a smiling face. 他微笑著走來。
(3) 表示直視某人的臉,通常用介詞 in。如:
He looked her in the face. 他直視她的臉。
【注】這里的不及物動詞 look 后不用介詞 at。
(4) 表示當(dāng)著某人的面,通常用介詞 in, to, before 等。如:
He slammed the door in my face. 他當(dāng)著我的面把門砰地關(guān)上了。
He wouldn’t say rude things about her to her face. 他不會當(dāng)著她的面說她的粗魯話。
2. 與漢語一致的習(xí)慣表達:face to face (with) (與……) 面對面,面臨,have the face to do sth(居然有臉做某事),save face(顧全面子),lose one’s face(丟臉)等。
有些表達與漢語意思相差較大:make faces [a face] at [to] sb(對某人做鬼臉或做苦相),pull [wear, put on] a long face(板著臉,哭喪著臉),have two faces(口是心非,耍兩面手法),in (the) face of(在……面前)等(from www.yywords.com)。
2. 用作動詞,用于本義,表示“朝向”,可用作及物或不及物動詞。如:
Turn round and face me. 轉(zhuǎn)過身來面對著我。
The window faces (on) the street. 窗戶對著街道。
The building faces (toward the) north. 建筑物座南朝北。
【注】用作引申義,表示“面臨”“正視”等,通常只用作及物動詞。如:
He faced the danger bravely. 他勇敢地面對困難。
有時用于 be faced with, 表示“面臨”等。如:
They are all faced with the same problem. 他們都面臨同樣的問題。