核心问题
‘This symbol is the original icon for male,’ he told her. ‘A rudimentary phallus.’
'Quite to the point,' Sophie said.
'As it were,' Teabing added. (Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, p. 321)
[原译]他接着说道：“这是最早代表男性的图示。男性生殖器的基本形状。”
索菲说道：“确实很像。”
提彬补充道：“原本如此。”(《达·芬奇密码》, p. 217)
上面引文中的 as it were 到底是什么意思？
词典解答
as it were 的真正含义, 见下条。
[试译]……“似乎是这样。”