没想到‘将心比心’也会被翻译成英文，除了"What would you do if you were me?"之外，还有其它几个说法，你也可以说："What would you do if you were in my shoes?" ‘如果你站在我的立场，你会怎么做呢？’或者是："What would you do if you were in my position?"或者是"What would you do if you were in my situation?" ‘如果你遇到相同情况，你会怎么做呢？’

对话
A：I can't put up with this anymore.
B：What's happened? Was John drunk again?
A：Yes, he got back at almost four this morning. What would you do if you were me?
B：I'd lock the door and sleep.
A：Well, I knocked him out.
甲：我再也不能容忍了。
乙：发生什么事呀？约翰又饮醉酒吗？
甲：嗯，他今晨四时才回来。如果你是我，你会怎么做？
乙：我会把门锁上和倒头大睡。　　　
甲：嗯，我把他揍了一顿。

今天要谈假如子句(if-clause)的三种句式。
第一种是‘If + 现在式动词(present tense) + will’，说现在或未来可能发生的事，例如：If he knows, he will tell me.（假如他知道，就会告诉我。）换言之，他可能知道，也可能不知道。
第二种是‘If +过去式动词 (past tense) + would’，说现在或未来不可能或不会发生的事，例如：If he knew / If he were here, he would tell me.（万一他知道 / 假如他在这里，他就会告诉我。）这一句表示‘他不可能知道’、‘他目前不在这里’。留意这种if子句的I, she, he, it之后用were，用was虽然也可以，但不是正式用法。
第三种是‘If +过去完成式动词 (past perfect tense) + would have’，说过去未有发生、纯粹假设的情况，例如：If he had known, he would have told me.（假如他当时知道，就会告诉我。）换言之，他当时不知道，自然没有告诉我。

甲女士恨丈夫今早四点钟才醉醺醺回家，问乙女士：What would you do if you were in my shoes?（你是我的话，以后会怎么办？）这是商量日后治夫大计。假如她要问‘你是我的话，今早会怎么办？’那是说过去的假设情况，应用第三种句式：What would you have done if you had been in my shoes?乙女士可以回答说：I would have thrown a bucket of cold water on him.（我会拿起一桶冷水泼到他身上。）

作者：古德明（香港）