词汇学汉语2.doc

- 教学研究论文- 教案与讲义- 教育技术应用研究 注意否定的应用 英语中否定词的用法对学生来说也是个难题。初学者最容易用错的一个词是not，往往其位置摆不正，以汉语表达方式来套英语的用法，如：I think that the statement is not true按英语习惯表达方式，应改成：I dont think that the statement is true. 进入高年级学习阶段，随着阅读量的增加，又会产生其它问题。如not在问句中所表达的含义捉摸不定。英语中有一种问句叫反诘式问句（rhetorical question），它不要求回答，只是要求听者确认或证实说话人的看法，如：Dont you think it foolish to act like this? Didnt I tell you so? 这种否定方式可用汉语难道这两个词来解释，但这种解释并不能概括这一种问句所蕴含的一切意义。 例如： Cant you speak more specifically? Isnt your refrigerator working? Hasnt the train arrived yet? Arent you ashamed of yourself? 第一句表示说话人嫌你讲得不够详细，有点埋怨之意。第二句含有责怪之意，明明冰箱运转正常，而你偏说它坏了。第三句含有失望之意，按火车时刻表，火车该到了，但事实上还没有到。第四句意指你该感到羞耻。 上述例子说明否定词的用法和意义是灵活多变的。现将否定词的应用归纳为以下几点： 一、形式否定，意义肯定 英语中有的句子用了否定词并不表示否定意义。上文提到的反诘式问句就是个例子。此外，not与why连用构成的问句也属同样的情况，用来表示一种请求或催促，如：Why not try again? Why dont you take up the matter with him? 这两个问句意指你该再试一试，你该与他交谈这件事。 nothing like + noun或 gerund表示没有什么比得上，这里nothing与like连用不表示否定意义，而是为了突出名词或动名词所要表达的意思，如：There is nothing like blue serge for mens wear这句意思是：蓝色哗叽最适合于男子穿。再如: There is nothing 1ike jogging as a means of exercise这句的意思是：锻炼身体的最好办法是跑步。 nothing but相当干 merely或 only。例如： He did nothing but grumble. Nothing but socialism can save China. nothing short of表示简直可以说是。例如： His escape was nothing short of miraculous（或a miracle） 这里 nothing可改用little，意义相同。例如： He is little short of a genius. 英语中 cannot.too或 cannot over + verb这种结构往往被误解为具有否定意义，而实际上表示的却是肯定意义。例如： A book may be compared to your neighbour；if it be good, it cannot last too long；if bad, you cannot get rid of it too early. The value of the information he has provided cannot be overestimated. 这两个例句中 cannot . too和 cannot over- 对事物的否定达到极端程度，接近于否定之否定，最后导致肯定。第一句的意思是：一本书好比你的邻居；如果是本好书，保持的时间越长越好；如果是本坏书，处理掉越早越好。第二句的意思是：他提供的情报的价值无论怎样估计也不过高。 这种结构形式可改变，但万变不离其宗，即其中心意义是：过分否定，导致肯定。抓住了这个中心意义，可举一反三，由此及彼。cannot可改用impossible，not可采用其变体scarcely hardly，never等。例如： It is impossible to over exaggerate the importance of the event. It is impossible to criticize too severely his conduct. The role he played in mediating the dispute between the two parties could hardly be exaggerated. We can scarcely pay too high a price for national security. 二、形式肯定，意义否定 Quirk等人在 A Grammar of Contemporary English一书中指出，如 seldom， little， rarely， few等词是形式肯定，意义否定。除了这些词以外，有些词组也有此特点。如英语中too . to结构，形式是肯定，意义是否定。例如： The chains of habit are too strong to be broken. There is too much criticism of the resolution to be approved. 再如 anything but与 nothing but相反，形式肯定，意义否定，如： The decision is anything but final这里anything but相当于 far from。又如：I will do anything but that. 这句可改为I will never do that. 三、双重否定 按照标准英语的习惯用法，双重否定相当于肯定。例如 He is too wise not to know it= He is so wise that he surely knows itHe is too much a man of the world not to know better= He is so world-wise that he knows what to do and what not to do. 在非标准英语中，双重否定用来表示否定，如： No one never said nothing（标准英语应是 No one ever said anything）双重否定表示否定的用法最早可追溯到乔叟时代。在莎士比亚的笔下，也出现过双重否定表示否定的例子。例如： Nor what he said, though it lacked form a little, was not like madness. 有时讲话人不留意，一段话较长，说到后半段话忘了前半段话已用过否定词，再加上一个否定词，这样便造成双重否定，如: Let it not be supposed because we are building for the future rather than for the present that the Bills proposals are not devoid of significance. 这里说话人实际上要表达的意思是：Let it not be supposed . that the Bills proposals are devoid of significance. 再如：There is no reason to doubt that what he says in his statement . is not true. 说话人的原意是：There is no reason to doubt that his statement is true. 四、否定的强调表示法 英语中用来强调否定的方式相当多，且变化无穷，往往以词组形式来表示，学生不易理解和掌握。现将较特殊的表达法分述举例如下： (1) not half照字面上的解释是少于一半地，似乎语意不太强，而实际上比单独用not要强得多。试比较以下两个例句： This book is not so interesting as that one. This book is not half so interesting as that one. 显然第二句比第一句的语意要强得多，含有远不比的意思。not half在俚语中解释不是少于一半地，而是多于一半地，非常的意思，如：He didnt half fear death这句意指他怕死怕得要命。再如：A：Was he disappointed? B：Not half?这里 not half意指非常失望。 (2) not so much as也起强调作用，相当于 not even。例如： I dont know him; indeed I have not so much as heard his name. He did not so much as say good-bye to us before his departure. not so much as的变体形式是without so much as。例如： He left without so much as saying good-bye to us. nothing like（near） as（或 so）. as .比 not as（或 so） . as . 的语意强得多，含有远远不像那样的意思。例如： His latest novel is nothing like as interesting as his earlier novels. The problem is nothing near as complicated as I expected. nowhere near相当于far from，意指远没有。例如： His argument is nowhere near convincing My explanation is nowhere near as clear as his. no nearer to这种否定方式意指一个人化了不少时间做某件事，而没有取得什么进展。例如： A: I am finding it difficult to save these days. B: So am I. A year ago I promised myself Id put by 25 a month, but Im no nearer to saving 25 a month than I was * * * * * * A: Hows your claim against the driver who dented your door getting on? B: I wish ld never bothered to claimThe correspondence has been going on for months, and I am no nearer to getting him to pay than I was when I started. not anywhere near to表示根本不，有时与 come连用。例如： He did not come anywhere near to knowing what you were driving at.（他根本不知道你讲的话是什么意思。） none常与too或so连用表示一点也不。例如： The salary you pay him is none too high. The motorcycle is none so expensive. He admitted his guilt none too late. none与the加比较级连用，后面跟上介词for，含有并不因而的意思。例如： We are none the wiser for your explanation.（我们并不因为你作了解释而思想上有所开窍。） A good story is none the worse for being told a hundred times （好的故事百听不厌。） 以上否定的表示法有一个共同特点，那就是在表示概念时，比一般的否定表示法多了一层曲折，在思想上要转个弯，才能理解和使用。如not even这种表达方式容易为学生所接受，与汉语甚至不相近似，而 not so much as就比较复杂，与汉语表达的习惯有一段距离，须稍思考一下，才能学会运用。再如not anywhere near更为复杂，不如not at all那样容易掌握，因为这与汉语表达法相差更远。本节列举否定的强调表示法并不是