brace for

讀者Pico 來電郵問，他在西報上看到：Police were braced for ashowdown, politicians had warned protesters to cool it.他不明be braced for 的意思。

(1) brace for 即prepare for something unpleasantor difficult，表示「準備應付」，通常針對棘手之事，例如：The candidate braced for another defeat.候選人作好了再次失敗的準備。（陸谷孫《英漢大詞典》）註： 本句等同於The candidate bracedhimself for another defeat.

(2) be braced for 是被動式，譯成中文時可採用主動語氣，例如：UN troops are braced for more violence.聯合國部隊準備應付更多暴行。（《牛津高階英漢雙解詞典》第六版）

(3) 因此，Police were braced for a showdown,politicians had warned protesters to cool it可譯作：警方準備對抗最後衝突，政客籲示威者冷靜。

(4) Brace for 原本可改用prepare for，但新聞英文多半使用短字，故前者雖僅減省兩個字母，編輯仍加採用。