英文中的否定,你真的会吗?
我曾经有个很幼稚的幻想,看不懂,把单词背下来不就行了吗?可是单词以后呢?
看下面的句子:
The social progress is not so much the improvement of tools as the sparkling minds of some geniuses.
就算单词都认识,也很难理解not so much A as B,究竟是什么意思,想把它翻成“改进工具不如天才的灵机一动多”,又不是“人话”。
读得多了,才发现,英语表达中有个很难的not结构. 这种结构有好多,都有一个共同特点,英语有not,中文没not, 或者反之,英语没有not,中文却是否定含义。
不信你瞧:
I didn’t leave until 8 o’clock. 你不能翻译成“直到八点前,我没有离开”吧?可以你翻译成“到了八点我才走。”中文倒是顺了,可是not又在哪呢?这句话还算简单的,如果来一句“The complete written record of English didn’t exist until seventhcentury.”又是什么意思?“什么叫七世纪前,完整的英语书面记录没有存在?”其实应该是,“到了七世纪,才存在完整的英语书面记 录。”
英语有not,中文无not, 或者反之,英语无not, 中文有not, 不习惯这些结构,阅读的速度怎么可能快?
通常来讲,英语的否定结构从简单到复杂有十种以上,一半归为三类:
第一类:比较简单:
1)not…until, 以及it was notuntil +时间+that+句子其他成分
2)no sooner had …than…以及Hardly…when…
这 种结构没有什么挑战,看两遍也就会了。前者把not…until想成“才。。。就。。。)例如:It was not until 1945 that the World War II came to an end. (第二次世界大战直到1945年才结束。)。后者把no soonerthan, hardly when想成as soon as, 例如:Hardly had I entered when the telephone rang. (我刚进门,电话铃就响了。)
第二类:略显复杂,通常和一些词汇有关:
1) 动词否定: fail todo something,overlook something, neglect something, ignore something,deprivesomebody of something, lack, 此类词汇的解释通常含有否定的内涵,但是中文感觉不到,看英语释义才行。比如fail to do的内涵是:If you overlook some problems, you don’t notice it, ordon’t realize how important it is. (Collins Cobuild Dictionary); 这些词汇的否定含义都藏在英语解释里,和中文释义关系不大。
2) 形容词否定:如be farfrom being, 字面上是“远”,其实还是否定,如It is far from being a good solution.类似的还有:be short of等,还有一大堆un-,im-形容词否定前缀构成的派生词。
第三类:虚拟语气和双重否定句。
这 就比较复杂了,需要慢慢积累。比如CharlesDickens就经常写一些这类的句子。不仔细读,就跟迷宫一样,比如,在Oliver Twist(雾都孤儿)的第三章,说到Oliver Twist的命运的时候,有这样一句话,It appeared, at first sight, not unreasonable 1 to suppose,that, if he had entertained a becoming feeling of respect for the prediction ofthe gentle man in the white coat, he would have established that sage 2 individual’s prophetic character, once and for ever, by typing one end of hispocket handkerchief to a hook in the wall, and attaching himself to the other. 天哪!Dickens到底在说什么呢?OliverTwist死了还是没死?它的死亡方式又是什么呢?你可以猜一猜!到了第八章,Dickens又写了一 个类似的句子,In fact, if it had not been for a good-hearted turnpike-man, and a benevolent 3 old lady, Oliver’s troubles would have been shortened by the very same process which put an end to his mother’s;in other word, he would most assuredly have fallen dead upon the king’shighway. 这种语言风格比较“高冷”,如打哑谜,玩文字游戏,我们一起猜猜Dickens到底说的是什么?
阅读理解里也出现一些如it is not uncommon 4 that…It is not unusual that…,含义是it is common, itis usual?不过语气的强弱不同。
第四类:最难的还是第四种,文字的内涵和熟词僻义
比 如too…to,就是否定的内涵,I amtoo busy to visit my aunt. 但是too的前边加上一个not, 就不见得反应得过来,如You can’t learn too much. 到底是不能学太多,还是学得再多也不为过?再比如,英国大诗人William Blake在Chimney Sweeper系列中有一句,If you follow the God, you shall never want joy. 到底是不想快乐,还是不缺快乐?want的一个意思是:If you want something, you lack something(Collins Cobuild),所以这里WilliamBlake的意思If you follow the God, you shall never lack joy. 即“听从上帝的旨意,你就不缺幸福了.“
再想一想英文字母表,一串dis-,一串mis-,一串mal-,一串im-, 一串un-,全是否定前缀,看吧,一时记不住,不看吧,受不了“良心”的谴责。
这样看,英语真是一个越学越没技巧的事,越简单的东西越复杂,比如这个not。
- I know that they made the most unreasonable demands on you.我知道他们对你提出了最不合理的要求。
- They spend an unreasonable amount of money on clothes.他们花在衣服上的钱太多了。
- I was grateful for the old man's sage advice.我很感激那位老人贤明的忠告。
- The sage is the instructor of a hundred ages.这位哲人是百代之师。
- His benevolent nature prevented him from refusing any beggar who accosted him.他乐善好施的本性使他不会拒绝走上前向他行乞的任何一个乞丐。
- He was a benevolent old man and he wouldn't hurt a fly.他是一个仁慈的老人,连只苍蝇都不愿伤害。