内容正文:
高中英语核心语法点汇编 part 16 常见易错数词使用释疑
1 several thousand和several thousands of都对
有读者问一道选择题:
(1)Several_________houses were washed away by floods.
A. thousand B. thousands of
答案为A,为何不选B? 我遇见过这样的句子:
(2)The seagulls ate up several thousands of locusts in a short while.
你是对的。既可说several thousand,亦可说several thousands of,还可说several thousand of。
2 thousands upon thousands of与thousands and thousands of同义
有读者问: thousands upon thousands of是否与thousands and thousands of同义, 是否可以互换?
是的, upon与and皆意为in addition to, 但前者似乎较为文气。
3 be reduced ten times何意?
有读者问: 我在阅读材料时发现这样一个句子:
(1)The length was reduced ten times.
其译文为:长度缩短了十分之九,或:长度缩短为十分之一。我不理解为什么这样译? 如把ten换成nine, eight等,又该如何翻译? 又是否可以说:
(2)The length was reduced one time.
上述句(1)的译文是对的。你如果将句(1)中的reduced换作increased,全句的意思即为“长度增加了9倍”(不少人作如此理解)。由此可见,句(1)的意思应是“长度减少或缩短了9倍”,亦即上述译文之意。
一般不说句(2),正如不说increased by one time一样。建议用reduced by half。
4 one times和two times正确否?
有读者问: 下面两个句子中的one times和two times是正确英语吗?
(1)One times five is five.
(2)Two times one hundred and one is two hundred and two.
one times与two times并没有错。times在这里是指倍数,相当于乘。但有人说它们只可用在非正式文体中,也有人说它们是美国英语。这就是说,在正式文体中,或在英国,它们应分别改作once或twice。如表“次数”,twice同样也可代之以two times,如:
(3)Saudi Arabia beat the Chinese 2-0 in 1984 and 1-0 in 1988 before going on to win the Asian Cup two times in a row.
注意在某些习语中,必须分别用time和times,如:
(4)at one time 曾经有一度
(5)this one time 这一次
(6)one time in ten 十次中的一次
(7)two or three times 两三次
(8)a two-time champion 二连冠
在倍数上,下面句中亦必须用times:
(9)In the next 40 years the old age population will grow two and one half times faster than the overall population.
最后还请注意两点:two times作倍数的用法现在已很流行,甚至已进入一些有名的辞书之中;上述例(1)中的times已非复形名词,而是一个公认的介词。
5 twice是否可用在比较级之前?
有读者问: twice是否能用在比较级之前?
用twice表两倍时,只可用twice as...as..., 不可用twice more... than..., 如:
(1)He is twice as old as his son. (不可说twice older than...)
(2)There are twice as many houses in this area as there used to be. (不可说twice more houses...than...)
如用two times,则其后既可接as...as..., 亦可接more than...
6 可否说 for very difficult four years?
有读者问: 高中英语课本有这样一个句子:
(1)Here for four very difficult years they worked every moment that they could spare, weighing and boiling and measuring and calculating and thinking.
这里的 for four very difficult years 可否换作 for very difficult four years?
这里不可说 for very difficult four years。 一般地说,在英语里,名词之前如既有形容词又有数词用作定语的话,数词必须置于形容词之前,再如:
(2)She has two beautiful girls. (two 必须置于 beautiful 之前)
(3)I have three husky boys. (three 必须置于 husky 之前)
在表时间的名词之前,数词也一般必须置于形容词之前,再如:
(4)We sat there for three long hours. (three 必须置于long之前)
(5)There I spent two delightful days with a friend. (two 必须置于delightful 之前)
但如“数词+时间词”为一不可分割的概念时,形容词则须置于数词之前,如:
(6)the difficult four years (difficult 置于 four 之前)
(7)a full five hours (full 置于five 之前)
注意上述两例中皆有冠词,但偶尔也有不用冠词的情况,如:
(8)in scant ten years (scant 置于ten 之前)
7 关于half a month和half a year
有读者问: 我曾看到这样的话:“英语国家的人不说half a month,而说two weeks或a fortnight;他们也不说half a year,而说six months”,可是《现代英语惯用法词典》则说可以说half a year,请问这是怎么回事?
英语国家的人一般是较少说half a month或half a year的。
8 a half a glass of coffee 为何意?
有读者问这样一个句子:
(1)It has been his habit to sit there and play while drinking a half a glass of coffee.
这里的 a half 是什么意思?能否应改为 half of?
不定冠词 a 在此限定的不是 half, 而是 half a glass of coffee, 换言之, half a glass of coffee (半杯咖啡)在此被用作一个单位。 a half a glass of coffee 的意思是“一个半杯咖啡”(不是“一杯半咖啡”),正如 a half (an)hour 的意思是“一个半小时”(不是“一小时半”)一样。
数词 half 之后常省去 of。 所以half a glass of coffee 不必改为 half of a glass of coffee。再如:
(2)Half a loaf is better than no bread. 聊胜于无。
(3)Half his time was wasted.
(4)Half the apples are bad.
与其后省去of 的 half 相似的数词还有 quarter, dozen 等,实例如:
(5)for a quarter the price
(6)a dozen eggs
9 应选用 dozen 抑或 dozen of?
有读者问: 有这样一道选择题:
I want two_________these trousers.
A. dozen B. dozens C. dozens of D. dozen of
老师说正确答案是D, 但我认为应该是C。 不知何者正确,请答。
你的老师是正确的。这里应填 dozen of。如填C也不算错,但现在在此用复数形式已较为少见。
10 可否说the first one?
有读者问: 我曾看到如下一句话:
(1)The image is ultimately derived from mediaeval warfare, when archers (or “bowmen”)were well advised to have a second bow-string in case the first one broke.
但我从一本TOEFL资料中看到如下表述:在序数词后面不可用one代替前面所说过的名词。对此应如何理解?
TOEFL的规定有时倾向于严格或保守。具体到上述问题,我们愿引述一位荷兰著名语法家的看法。他说one用在序数词后面的情况并不罕见,但在多数情况下是不用的。他接着举了好几个含有“序数词+one”的例子,其中之一是:
(2)The first two varieties of bacilli are found in the human being, and the third one belongs to cattle.
颇有趣味的是,在前后相接的句子中,序数词之后有时用one,有时则不用,以取得多样化的效果,如:
(3)We shouted when we came opposite the first island, but there was no response; so we went to the second , and tried there, and obtained the same result. “Oh! I remember now,” said George. “it was the third one .”
有一位丹麦的著名语法家也谈到过上述问题。他的见解与前面所提到的荷兰学者稍有不同。他的原文大意是:现今有不愿在比较级,尤其是最高级(包括first, next这样的词)之后用one的倾向。
根据上述具有权威性的看法,上述句(1)中的the first one并不算错,只是亦可(或大可)不用one而已。
11 分数之后可省去of
有读者问这样一句话:
(1)The average automobile traveling at 57 miles per hour gets only two-thirds the gas mileage of a car moving at 50 miles per hour.
如何分析the gas mileage?
the gas mileage之前应是two-thirds of, 但of在此被省去了。分数之后省去of的情况并不罕见,再如:
(2)He did it in one-third the time it took me. (one-third后省去了of)
(3)The cost of a telephone meeting is no more than one-seventh the cost of a standard face-to-face meeting. (one-seventh后省去了of)
顺便提一下,百分比之后亦可省去of, 如:
(4)According to the survey, the industrial output value of the country's collectively-owned enterprises was 42.52 per cent that of the States-run ones. (42.52 per cent之后省去of)
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