“brother/sister”之意，想必国人（包括连幼儿园的英语“学”者）并不陌生，而且不乏在其前面加上elder/eldest以区别大小的“定性”思维习惯，其实不尽然！如下例证出自 “Gone With The Wind”（即《飘》或《乱世佳人》）等小说，若各位结合上下文品咂一下，或许可从中获取一丝不一样的启迪：

1. …what they should write to Milady’s brother…怎么给米拉迪的小叔子写信…

2. Soon you’ll have a brother and he’ll get all attention and you’ll take second place.

3. But it was the part she did not read that tormented Scarlett, that drove her to surreptitious reading of her sister-in-law’s mail. 但是她没有读出来的那部分让斯卡利特放心不下，并促使她去偷看姑妹的信。

4. Towards the end of the first week in December Rastignac received two letters – one from his mother, and one from his eldest sister. 十二月份的第一个周末，拉斯蒂涅收到两封信，一封是母亲的 – 另一封是大妹妹的。

5. ‘Well, I won’t be happy to have Scarlett for my sister, because she’s a fast piece if ever I saw one,’… “可我不高兴让斯卡利特做我的嫂子，因为我从来没见过像她这样轻浮的人，”

6. …even Melanie’s soft whisper, ‘Now, we’re really and truly sisters’ were not real. …和梅拉妮温柔地耳语， “这下，我们真正成了亲姑嫂了，” 都是那么不真实。

7. Melanie said: ‘You must kiss Scarlett, Ashley. She’s my sister now,’…梅拉妮说： “你该吻一吻斯卡利特，阿希礼。她现在是我的嫂嫂了，” …

8. I have two sisters-in-law in Charleston and I know. 我有两个小姨子就住在查尔斯顿，我知道的。

9. Folks set a store by that niece of yours, Henry. 人们都会看望你的侄媳妇的，亨利。

10.Scarlett is my niece by marriage, after all.斯卡利特毕竟是我的侄媳妇。

11. Ben and his older brother, Curtis, grew up in a crowded apartment building near the school.

由此看来，英语单词常有很多意思，并非我们教材New Words and Expressions中所列出的那一两种。要做汉译英练习，请务必多读英文材料，且边阅读边思考！

12. Finally Nancy was unable even to raise her head from the pillow, and she could not talk above a whisper. Beckoning Abraham and his sister to her, she tried to speak. They bent over to catch her words: she pleaded with them to be good to each other, to live as she had taught them, and to worship God. 最后，南希连抬头的力气都没有，只能发出喃喃之声，于是把亚伯拉罕和姐姐叫到床前，试图有话要说。姐弟俩弯腰凑近她，以便听清她的嘱托：她恳请他俩要善待对方，按照她所教导的方式生活，且要信奉上帝。

说明：例2无译文，但不难知晓那个brother应该为“弟弟”，例9的译文有误，请读者自行纠正！例12出自Lincoln the Unknown，笔者曾经误译为“妹妹”，后有资料表明其为比林肯大两岁连两天的“姐姐”。顺道说一句，丈夫可以叫妻子“mother”，其中原因，待后说！

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