Overly suspicious

近日每每有墮樓、遇溺死亡個案，便有人將之聯繫到警方。這會否疑心過重（overly suspicious）﹖有益的討論應該基於事實。形容詞suspicious解「可疑的、引起懷疑的」；至於甚麼情況下會引起懷疑，適合用suspicious一字，可從字典的定義了解得更詳細。牛津字典對於suspicious一字的定義有三個。首先，就上述的語境，suspicious指「having the belief or impression that someone is involved in an illegal or dishonest activity」（相信或有印象某人參與非法或不誠實的活動）。例句︰Recently whenever there are drowning death cases, someone will be suspicious that the police was involved.（最近每當有遇溺死亡個案時，都會有人懷疑警察牽涉其中。）

其二，suspicious可以指「causing one to have the idea or impression that someone or something is questionable, dishonest, or dangerous」（使某人覺得某人或某物可疑、不誠實或危險）。例如，The fire was very suspicious.（那火災很有可疑。）

Suspicious還可以指「having or showing a cautious distrust of someone or something」（對某人或某物表現出謹慎的不信任）。這不正好形容市民現在對警隊缺乏信任嗎﹖No wonder people are suspicious of the police's actions.（難怪人們懷疑警察的行為。）

（本欄逢周一、三、五刊登）