続 今日の英語

はてなダイアリーで地味に続けていた「今日の英語」の続き。日常出会った気になる英語表現を、オンライン辞書の例文などとともにメモしています。

The more I kill, the better off they’ll be.

(殺せば殺すほど、子どもたちに金が残せるってわけさ。)
 BBCドラマ「シャーロック」エピソード1 "A Study in Pink" より(※ネタバレあり)。自分の殺しにはスポンサーがいる、という衝撃の事実をホームズに告げる犯人。

  • "be better off"という形で「暮らし向きがよくなる」という意味で使う。(having more money than someone else or than you had before/having more money and possessions/more well-to-do/to have more money )この表現、昔どこかで見たことあって、意味は覚えていたんだけれど、どこで目にしたのか全然覚えてないなあ。
    • She'll be about $150 a week better off.
    • Her promotion means she's $100 a week better off.
    • The better off he became, the less he thought about other people.
    • The better-off people live in the older part of town.
    • Families will be better off under the new law.
    • Obviously we're better off now we're both working.
    • When his parents died, he found himself $100,000 better off.
  • お金のことだけじゃなく、「もっと幸せ、もっと成功した」というように、「よりよい状態になっている」こと全般にも使う。(happier, improved, more successful etc/in a better position)
    • I think she's better off without him.
    • He'd be better off with a new job.
    • He'd be better off starting with something simpler.(※アドバイスする時に使われる。)
    • He'd be better off working for a bigger company.
    • They would be better off in a cheaper apartment.
    • We'd all be better off if we were in Florida.
    • I know I'd be better off in a warmer climate.
    • The weather was so bad we'd have been better off staying at home.
    • I think you'd be better off if you bought a new car and didn't try to repair your old one.
  • どちらも反意語は "worse off"。
    • The increase in taxes means that we'll be $30 a month worse off than before.
    • I only broke my arm; other people are far worse off than me.