"Wrong—doer", "good—doer" "do—gooder"以及"good—lo

I wondered what these two starry-eyed do-gooders could really accomplish.

——Reader's Digest， May l974， p. 80

值得注意的是，“do-gooder”据WNWD乃是“an earnest usu. impractical and often naive and ineffectual humanitarian or reformer"（空想的社会改良家），而不是我们所说的”好人好事“的”好人“或”做好事的人“。如果我们望文生义地把汉语”做好事的人“，译成英语 ”do-gooder"，那就会引起误解——误解我们对好人好事所持的肯定态度。

说了“do-gooder”和“good-doer”的区别之后，不免要联系到“good-looker”这个词。此词得从常用的“good- looking”说起——“good-looker”该是由“good-looking”逆生而来的吧。从词义来说，后者是“好看的”，前者当然该是“好看的人”了。请看：

“I can quite understand that two attractive young ladies like your daughters might find it dull here，" said Cleveland. ”Good lookers， aren't they？" said Mr. Dinsmead with fatherly pride.

——Agatha Christie： The Hound of Death， Fonata／Collins， 1933／78， p. 178