Two's Company, Three's a Crowd——兩人成伴三人不和

** a third person spoils the privacy of a pair of lovers（第三者破壞了一對戀人的獨處）

** a third person complicates the ideal combination of a couple（第三者使一對夫婦的理想組合變得複雜）

** two persons can more easily reach a consensus than three or more（兩個人比三個或更多人更容易達成共識）

~~ 兩人成伴，三人不和；兩人結伴，三人不歡；兩個是伴，三個是亂；兩人結伴，三人添亂

~~ three's a crowd // two is company but three is none

!! In 1546, John Heywood recorded in his Book of Proverbs: "two's company, three is none."

（一五四六年，約翰 · 希活在他的《諺語書》中記錄：“兩人是同伴，三人等於沒有。”）

!! In 1706, this proverb was in John Stevens' Spanish-English Dictionary: "a company consisting of three is worth nothing.

（一七○六年，這句諺語出現在約翰 · 史堤芬的西班牙語英語詞典中：“由三人組成的隊是無價值的。”）

!! In 1897, Edna Lyall had it in Wayfaring Men: "Two is company, three is trumpery." （一八九七年，阿蘭 · 萊爾在《遠行的人》中表示：“兩個是同伴，三個是一文不值。”）

>> The number of partners of our newly established company has finally changed from three to two, because two's company, three's a crowd.

（我們新營運的公司，最後決定合夥人由三位改為兩位，因為兩人成伴，三人不和。）

>> On a honeymoon, three's a crowd.

（在蜜月期間，兩人結伴，三人不歡。）

學勤進修教育中心英語專科導師 李啟文　　教授