「避免新冠病毒傳播」英文該怎麼說？是 to prevent the spread of Novel Coronavirus 還是 to prevent Novel Coronavirus from spreading?「避免○○○傳播」，在台灣，多數人喜歡說 to prevent something from spreading，但英文的習慣則是 to prevent the spread of something。
若用Google搜尋，可得到底下統計：
“to prevent novel coronavirus from spreading” About 7 results (Google Feb. 12, 2020)
Graphic courtesy of Bookman 圖片:書林
“to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus” About 46,000 results
可見 to prevent the spread of something 才是道地的英文句型。2003至2004 年，禽流感在東亞多國嚴重爆發。此後，為避免禽流感傳播，台北捷運開始在各站入口立了以下標示：
為避免禽流感傳播，禁止鳥禽類動物進入車站。
To prevent bird flu virus from spreading, do not carry poultry and birds into the station.
其實，「避免禽流感傳播」，宜翻譯成 to prevent the spread of avian flu 才符合英文習慣。此外，中文的「鳥」與「禽」是兩種不同的概念，養來吃的鳥類動物叫「禽」，不稱為「鳥」；但英文的poultry 一詞，也屬於 bird 的範疇，並非中文中並列的概念。以下為聯合國糧食與農業組織對poultry 的介紹：
Poultry are domesticated avian species that can be raised for eggs, meat and/or feathers. The term “poultry”covers a wide range of birds.
由此可見，poultry 是 bird 的下位詞 (hyponym)，因此台北捷運用 carry poultry and birds 的說法就顯得很奇怪，宜修正為：
To prevent the spread of avian flu, do not bring poultry or other birds into the station.
如果用 Google 搜尋，把欲查詢的詞組用雙引號引起來限定搜尋，會得到以下結果：
“to prevent bird flu virus from spreading” About 8 results
“to prevent the spread of avian flu” About 47,600 results
“to prevent the spread of bird flu” About 27,300 results
“carry poultry and birds” 5 results
“poultry or other birds” About 55,700 results
而to prevent bird flu virus from spreading 以及carry poultry and birds 分別得到了八項和五項結果，其實大半是出自網路上我演講中所舉的「誤例」，由此可見，就算文法無誤，但不符合英語習慣。
文章由書林出版公司提供：
www.bookman.com.tw
蘇正隆 — 台灣翻譯學學會前理事長、師大翻譯研究所兼任副教授; 編著《英語的對與錯》，《世紀病毒：必讀防疫英文知識與詞彙》...等
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