#1 饭堂英语（1）：英语写作中部分常见病例(三之三)
英语写作中部分常见病例(续完）
26. Quotations / Deletions or Omissions:
在引文中, 若有删节, 句中点三个点, 句末点四个点, 例如:
“If monopolies could be made to behave…we would be able to enjoy the benefits of … large scale efficiency….”
27. Rather than/Instead of:
Rather than----concerned w/ what is preferred to what.
Instead of---- concerned w/ what is substituted for what.
错: He chose to stay rather than leaving.
对: He chose to stay rather than to leave.
对: He chose staying rather than leaving.
对: He chose to stay instead of leaving.
错: Rather than leaving, he chose to stay.
对: Instead of leaving, he chose to stay.
28. Same as:
Parallels must be placed (‘This’ is the same as ‘that’) so that there can be no mistake about what is being compared to what.
譬如，我曾在一本谈歌剧的书中，看到下面这句话：
Pavarotti also made his U.S. debut with the Met in the same season as Rodolfo.
不懂歌剧的人以为 Rodolfo 是另一著名男高音，其实是 Puccini’s “La Boheme” 中的男主角，故应改为：In the same season, Pavatotti also made his U.S. debut as Rodolfo with the Met. 这样才不会引起歧义。
29. Someday/Some day/Sometime/Some time:
Someday and sometime express future time indefinitely: e.g.,
We’ll succeed someday.
Come sometime.
Let’s meet sometime when your schedule permits.
This sense can also be conveyed by some day and some time.
But the two-word forms are always used when some is an adjective modifying and specifying more particular day or time:
Come some day soon.
Choose some time that is not so busy.
30. Till / Until:
Largely interchangeable,
但用在句首 until is more common.
31. To be (or Not to be) / Being:
何时用不定式短语, 何时用动名词短语, 常常也有固定搭配的问题. 以下为一些常见的例子:
To be (OR: to do):
Consider someone/something to be; forbid sb. to do sth; tendency to do sth; plan to do sth.; seem to be, etc.
Being (OR: doing):
Accuse sb. of doing sth.; assist in doing sth.; capable of doing sth.; persist in doing sth.; confident of doing sth.; discourage sb. from doing sth.; insist on doing sth.; intention of doing sth.; justified in doing sth.; etc.
32. Unique:
Unique (and other absolute terms such as: chief, complete, perfect, prime, circular, equal, parallel, perpendicular and so on) cannot be compared, as by “more” or “most” or used with an intensive modifier such as “very”, “so”, or “quite”. 但任何规则都会有例外, 如:
美国建国之父们 (the founding fathers) 要使美国 “to form a more perfect union.”
Chicago is no less unique an American city than New York or San Francisco.
He wanted to make his record collection more complete.
You can improve the sketch by making the lines more perpendicular.
可是, 下面例句中的最高级和 very 就不能用:
The two central tail feathers of Protopteryx are very unique in birds…
“…including asymmetric wing feathers, down feathers, and the most unique unbranched central tail feather.”
33. Varying / Varied / Various:
Varying: changing, esp. dependent on some factors, e.g.,
Work with varying degrees of enthusiasm.
Varied: diverse, e.g.,
His experiments achieved varied successes.
She led a varied life.
A singer with a varied repertoire.
Various: of several kinds, unlike one another; or more than one, e.g.,
These cups are in various shapes and sizes.
People come to the Police Department for various reasons, at various times, and sometimes under various names.
34. Which / That:
一般说来, 连接限定性从句时, 大多用 that 但也可用 which; 连接非限定性从句则必须用 which. (You can use either “which” or “that” to introduce a restrictive clause----the grounds for your choice should be stylistic----and “which” to introduce a nonrestrictive clause.). e.g.,
The radio that (OR: which) he had bought was defective.
The radio, which (NOT: that) he had bought the other day, was defective.
However, for stylistic reasons: He told me that the radio (which, but NOT “that”) he had bought was defective.
值得一提的是, 在许多情况下用非限定性从句作插入语, 往往是多余的. 例如:
Fair: The party, which had been carefully planned, was an enormous success.
Better: The carefully-planned party was an enormous success.
Fair: The ending, which comes as a surprise to most readers, is profoundly unsetting.
Better: The ending is both surprising and unsetting.
35. Zeugma (轭式搭配):
美国国家广播电台周末有一收听率极高的节目, 叫 “草原人家之伴” (The Prairie Home Companion), 主持人 Garrison Keillor 每次节目结束前的最后一句话是: “This is the Lake Wobegon, where all women are strong, all men good looking, and all children above average.” (请注意这句洋相声的 “包袱” 在于说女壮男靓而非男壮女靓, 而且说小孩子们都在一般水平之上.)
该句话是由三个并列从句组成, 其主语都是复数名词, 故后两个从句的系动词 are 可以省略掉. 但假如其中一个从句的主语为单数名词而将其系动词 (此时应为 is) 省去的话, 就构成了轭式搭配的语病.
A zeugma is a construction in which an adjective or verb is forced to apply to two words, even though it is grammatically or logically correct only for one of them. e.g.,
①adj. With weeping eyes and [不应省去 grieving 或 bleeding] hearts.
②verb. The walls of the office are green, the rug, blue,…… [同样, 这里应为 the rug is blue.]
请看美国著名史学家, 耶鲁大学教授 Jonathan Spence (史景迁) 在其新著<<毛泽东>>前言里, 开头第一句话的轭式搭配:
Mao’s beginnings were commonplace, his education (这里应改为schoolings) episodic, his talents unexceptional: yet he possessed a relentless energy and a ruthless self-confidence that led him to become one of the world’s most powerful rulers.
最后一幕 (Finale)
人类学家和语言学家普遍认为, 语言是人类与动物区别的重要标志之一; 文字更是这样. 中国传统知识分子的最高理想中的修齐治平, 也旨在立功立德立言. 胡适在国民党堵塞言路时, 最乐于送人的条幅是: “宁鸣而死, 不默而生.” 可见人们对表达自己思想的渴望以及潜在的对舞文弄墨的冲动. 但世上最难收回来的, 是泼出去的水及说出来的话. 至于 “一言兴邦, 一言丧邦” 之说, 亦非耸人听闻的夸大其词.
我走笔至此, 收音机里刚好传出布什总统的 “语不惊人死不休” 的一句话, 看来他的幕僚们混身是嘴, 这回也无法替他打圆场了. 布什说: “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we; they never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” 这位耶鲁毕业生竟然忘却类似于本文第11条所讲的, 在使用either或 neither时, 千万要注意前后的对应关系. 其实, 布什想要说的是: …and neither do we stop thinking about new ways to harm them (i.e., our enemies).
最后, 我有一句话与各位看官共勉: Words are all we have, and let us use them carefully, correctly, wisely, and gracefully!
致谢 (Acknowledgments)
记得很多年前尚能西院士曾对我说过, 一个能自由驾驭语言文字准确表达自己思想的人, 是自信的, 也是令人称羡的, 更是幸福的. 当时听起来只是觉得有点新奇, 如今才悟到她这番话的精到之处—原来自己竟也是: “平生自省无他短, 短在庸凡老姐知” (聂绀弩诗). 当然, 我还得感谢董X博士将本文收入中国XX学会的年会文集, 使这一 “试管婴儿” 能呱呱落地. (Otherwise, I would not have had the inclination to publish it, for it represents a hybrid of the unabashed Chinese idiosyncrasies and wacky American absurdities!)
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