#1 饭堂英语（1）：英语写作中部分常见病例（三之一）
英语写作中部分常见病例（一）
尚能饭
开台锣鼓 (Overture)
一个多世纪以来, 英语已成为国际上的强势语言, 影响着各国的语言文字, 中文也难幸免. 下面这句英式中文告诫我们, 作为科学家, 英语写作的重要性怎么强调也不会过分 (As scientists, we cannot overemphasize the importance of English writing). 我们靠文凭就业, 靠文章晋升, 靠文字交流, 靠洋人认可…… 英文码得好坏与否, 实在跟唱戏的有无一副好嗓子相差无几.
如果你怕英语写作中出错而视为畏途的话, 那真是大可不必. 你中文写作就那么完美无缺吗? 请看下面这个由地道的英国人写的地道的英语句子 (摘自一本体质人类学教科书):
Man, like other mammals, breast-feeds his young.
“雄兔脚扑朔，雌兔眼迷离；双兔傍地走，安能辨我是雄雌！”此公还未见到花木兰, 就连男女都分不清啦!
自报家门 (Character)
英语作为我的主要使用语言已廿年有余, 加上我有点爱钻牛角尖的毛病和在遣词造句上的洁癖, 在周围的 “英语土生仔”(native English speakers)中诳得 “语法沙皇”(the Grammar Czar)的虚名. 但我尚有自知之明: 我充其量还只能算是 “半瓶醋”(a dilettante), 我所能弹的也只是一些取悦于知音者的小曲(bagatelles) 而已. 我深信使用语言跟科学研究一样, 正确性(correctness)与创造性(creativity)是相辅相成而非互为消长的. 本文根据去年回我的老家中国科学院在几个研究所所做题为 “An Alphabet of Common Errors in English” 的报告整理而成. 它不是一出完整的戏, 只是一些选段和 “折子戏”. 香港作家李碧华说过: “任何创作, 宗旨是先娱己, 后娱人.—弄不好, 变成先误己, 后误人.” 我希望我不是卡拉OK场上蹩脚的唱家, 娱己有余, 误人也不浅.
要把众多选段凑成一台戏, 谈何容易. 我还是用英文报告时偷懒的办法, 按其字母顺序一一道来吧.
戏说蟹行文 (Scene)
1. A, An (不定冠词的用法):
在首音节发音为元音前用An, 为辅音前用A; 在h打头的词之前, 当重音不在第一音节时用an or a:
例如: an hour, a university, a or an historical, 但是 a history, an hysterectomy， an hereditary trait.
西人较真, 一是一, 二是二, 单数可数名词前若无定冠词 “the”, 则一定要加不定冠词, 无论该名词前有多少修饰词, 例如: a lavishly illustrated book, 我们一不当心就可能漏掉开头的a.
[廖康增补：University 虽然以元音字母开头，但是发音是辅音 j 开头，所以要用a。对外国人来说，英语冠词是最难的。别看只有三个：a, an, the，但在使用中有四个选择，第四就是不用冠词，如out of question 没问题，与out of the question “不可能”正相反。He went to church他去做礼拜了，与He went to the church “他去了那个教堂”也不同。]
2. According to:
通常用在人或一帮人之前 (normally used only in referring to a person or to a group of people). 例如:
According to his lawyer, the accused was nowhere near the scene when the crime was committed.
“But in the world according to Garp, we are all terminal cases.” (John Irving)
但注意比较以下例句:
错：According to geography, Zaire is larger than all of Western Europe.
对：As we learn in geography, Zaire is larger than all of Western Europe.
凑合: According to our record, he is a previous convict.
更好：Our record shows he is a previous convict.
错: According to his opinion (or view), Julie is more pretty than smart.
对: In his opinion (or view), Julie is more pretty than smart.
对: According to him, Julie is more pretty than smart.
3. Affect / Effect:
Affect 是动词: 甲影响乙 (A affects B).
Effect 一般来说是名词: 甲对乙有影响 (A has an effect on B).
但effect 有时也能作动词, 意为 to bring about or execute, 请比较以下例句：
The measures have been designed to effect savings. (意为: 吸引储蓄, i.e., to cause the new savings to come about).
The measures may affect savings. (意为: 影响储蓄, 可能是正面的, 也可能是负面的, i.e., to either increase or decrease the savings).
4. Although / Though:
这两个词作为从句的连接词是可以互换的, 例如:
Although (or though) she smiled, she was angry.
She smiled, although (or though) she was angry.
但注意下列情形下只能用though:
A Chinese hermit in the heartland of America for 15 years, he has become increasingly wiser though (NOT although) poorer.
Fond though (NOT although) I am of sports, I’d rather not sit through another basketball game.
5. A while / Awhile, adv.:
请注意比较以下例句而看出其异同:
对: I’ll stay a while.
对: I’ll stay awhile.
对: I’ll stay for a while.
错: I’ll stay for awhile.
6. Be / Become:
不定式 to be 表示存在这一状态 (it simply indicates the existence), 例如:
Ever since she came back from Moscow, she has been a researcher at the institute.
不定式 to become 表示有一变化的过程 (it indicates a process of change), 例如:
Significant progress has been made in recent years in the studies of various groups of the Jehol Biota.…As a result, the Jehol Biota has become (NOT “been”) well known to both the scientific community and the public.
7. Colloquialism vs. Formal English:
尽管早在五四运动前, 胡适就开始提倡 “我手写我口”, 但口语与书面语的区别 “顽固” 地坚持了下来. 这在英语科技写作中更是如此. 因此, 我们在口语中常说的 a lot of, a little bit, very, quite, talk about, in a little while 等, 在书面语中需少用或不用. 例如:
口语: The first digit is a little bit shorter than the second.
书面语: The first digit is slightly shorter than the second.
下面这则笑话形象地描述了口语与书面语之间的差别:
一位文绉绉的女学生教老奶奶如何嘬鸡蛋, 她说:
“Take an egg, and make a perforation in the base and a corresponding one in the apex. Then apply your lips to the aperture and by forcibly inhaling your breath, the shell is entirely discharged of its contents.”
老奶奶风趣地答道:
“It fair beats all how folks do things nowadays. When I was a girl, they made a hole in each end and sucked the hell out of it.”
8. Compare to / Compare with
Compare to 用于比较不同事物间的相似性 (it refers the activity of describing the resemblance between unlike things), 例如:
He compared her to the spring flower, a summer day, the autumn harvest, and the winter sun.
Scientists sometimes compare the human brain to a computer.
Compare with 用于比较类似事物间的相似性或不同性 (it refers to the act of examining two like things to discern their similarities or differences), 例如:
The police compared the forged signature with the original.
The committee will have to compare the Senate’s version of the bill with the one passed by the House.
9. Distinct / Distinctive:
我们称一物为distinct, 是当其与众不同时 (A thing is distinct if it is sharply distinguished from other things), 例如:
The Mongoloid is a distinct race.
我们称某种性质或特征为distinctive, 是当其有助于将该物与它物区分开来时 (a property or attribute is distinctive if it enables us to distinguish one thing from another), 例如:
The Mongoloid has a distinctive eye fold.
请比较下列各句:
错: The skull of Longipteryx is most distinctive among known enantiornithines.
对: The skull of Longipteryx is most distinct among known enantiornithines.
对: Longipteryx has a most distinctive skull among known enantiornithines.
对: Beer has a very distinctive taste; it is quite distinct from the taste of the Chinese wine.
10. Due to / Owing to / Thanks to / Because of:
从表面上看, 上述均可作为 “由于” 讲; 但在语法和色彩上, 相互均有所不同. Due to 象 owing to 一样, 现已被广泛地作为复合前置词用. 但传统语法书及一些 “语言纯正癖者” (purists) 仍坚持认为, due to 只能用在连系动词 to be 的后面, 例如, 他们认为这句是对的: The cancellation of the concert was due to the rain. 但是, 你不能说:
The concert was cancelled due to the rain, 这里只能用 owing to 或 because of.
当然, 如果连英国女皇伊丽莎白二世 (她对农民的关心足可令某些人民公仆汗颜!) 都可以作如是说: “Due to inability to market their grains, prairie farmers have been faced for some time with a serious shortage of sums to meet their immediate needs” (Her Majesty’s speech to the Canadian Parliament), 我们大可不必为此而伤脑筋. 除非你的老师或编辑及审稿人坚持要你把 due to 改为 owing to, 你也只好人在屋檐下不得不低头了.
值得一提的是, owing to 反而不能跟在 to be 的后面. 例如, 我们不能说: The cancellation of the concert was owing to the rain. 如果这还不够绕人的话, 请仔细琢磨下述例句, 体会一下 thanks to 与 because of 的区别吧:
It was thanks to your stupidity that we lost the game. (= We lost the game because of your stupidity.)
It was no thanks to you that we won. (= We won in spite of you;
We won, but not because of you.)
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