試探英語中一些常用詞的用法變化

顧祖良

（常熟理工學院外國語學院，江蘇常熟 215500）

正如《變化中的英語》(The Changing English Language)(Foster 1981)一書中所指出的那樣:“英語不是象我們生活中別的固有的東西那樣一成不變的。”隨著人類社會的進步，交流的日益頻繁，英語語言也在不斷發(fā)展。英語語法規(guī)則來源于語言實際，有一定的時代局限性。因此，語法規(guī)則也應隨著語言實際的變化，而作出相應的補充和修改。筆者發(fā)現在《英語慣用法詞典》（葛傳槼2000）中，有一些語法規(guī)則似乎不能反映現代英語的語言實際，宜進行必要的修改?，F舉例如下，供讀者參考。

一、be comprised of的搭配用法

The book is comprised of five chapters.(p.135)原作者認為be comprised of用法有誤，該改作:The book comprises five chapters.或把is comprised of改作 consists of或is composed of）。

而筆者認為，在現代英語中，除了可說 be composed of,consist of外,也可說be comprised of.此用法已相當普遍。例如：

1.This draft document is comprised of eight chapters concerning the health assessment.這個草案是由八章關于健康評估組成的。

2.The first group is comprised of teachers who are not teaching in their field.第一組是由不在其專業(yè)領域授課的教師組成的。

3.These messages can be comprised of words,numbers,or alphanumeric combination.這些消息可以由單詞、數字或字母數字組合組成。

4.The third group was comprised of fifteen students that had not been accepted in the first year but were admitted the second year that they applied.第三組由十五位學生組成，他們第一年沒錄取，第二年申請后錄取了。

5.The committee meets twice a year and is comprised of representatives from the Australian Government and State and Territories.委員會每年舉行兩次會議，該委員會由來自澳大利亞政府、州和地區(qū)的代表組成。

6.The population of the United States is comprised of people from many different parts of the world.美國的人口由來自世界各地的人組成。

7.The council is comprised of members of the nine tribes in the Hanford region.該委員會是由在漢福德地區(qū)的九個部落成員組成。

8.The city’s population is largely comprised of Asians and Europeans.這個城市的人口主要是由亞洲人和歐洲人組成。

二、doubt跟that-clause的搭配用法

通常說“I do not doubt that he will come soon.” 和 “Do you doubt that he will come soon?”，但不說“I doubt that he will come soon.”(p.189)

另外，《簡明英語慣用法》（葛傳槼等 1998：81）也認為：“I doubt that they will be friends again.” 不合習慣。

而筆者認為，在現代英語中，doubt that-從句，不僅可以用于否定句和疑問句，也可以用于肯定句，表示unlikely，強調疑慮很大，不相信。有時，that可省略。例如：

1.Doctors doubted that surgery would be necessary.醫(yī)生不大相信手術是必要的。

2.I doubt that he’ll come on time.我認為他不大可能按時來。

3.I doubt that it is authentic.我認為這不太可靠。

4.I doubt that she will get the job.(=Idon’t think she will.)我不大相信她會得到那個職位。

5.He doubted the car was hers because everyone knew she had no money.他不相信這輛車是她的，因為大家都知道她沒錢。

6.I doubt that we’ll ever see George again.我認為我們未必能再次見到喬治。

7.I doubt that her interest will be of long duration.我認為她的興趣未必會持續(xù)長久。

8.I doubt that thousands of years from now these electronically produced images will be considered art.我認為數千年之后這些運用電子手段設計的圖像未必會被看作藝術。

三、forbid sb.from doing sth.的搭配用法

forbid的賓語后面接不定式。例如：His health forbids him to go.不可說“His health forbids him from going.”。(p.251)

另外，《注意你的英語慣用法》（王正元，王衛(wèi)新2005:311）也認為：可說forbid sb.to do sth.,不說forbid sb.from doing sth.。

按傳統(tǒng)的語法規(guī)則，動詞forbid要用于forbid sb.to do sth.的結構中，作“禁止某人做某事”解。然而，在現代英語中，forbid還可用于forbid sb.from doing sth.的結構中。此用法已相當普遍。forbid的這一新用法，筆者認為很可能是受到stop/prevent/prohibit/inhibit//ban/restrain/discourage/dissuade sb.from doing sth.句型的影響，演變而來的。例如：

1.He was forbidden from leaving the country.他被禁止離開該國。

2.Women are forbidden from going out without a veil.婦女不戴面紗禁止外出。

3.The union is forbidden from striking.工會被禁止罷工。

4.The authorities forbade minors from entering the place.當局禁止未成年人進入此地。

5.Civilians are strictly forbidden from entering that area.嚴禁平民進入那個地區(qū)。

6.He forbade them from mentioning the subject again.他不準他們再提到這個問題。

7.International law?forbids?asylum seekers from being returned to countries where they may be persecuted.國際法律禁止尋求庇護者被遣返回國，因為他們可能會受到迫害。

8.Most Texas schools?forbid?officials from recommending or requiring students to buy specific brands if there are others equally suitable for teaching purposes.如果有其他品牌同樣適合教學目的，大多數德克薩斯州學校禁止官員推薦或要求學生購買特定的品牌。

四、one’s intention后跟to do sth.的搭配用法

intention前用了my,your,no,the,an some,any,all,every等詞，后面通常接of和動名詞。(p.309)

而在實際的語言中，名詞intention前，如有one’s修飾，用在“實義動詞+one’s intention”的結構中，其后除了可跟of doing sth.外，還可跟to do sth.。但在It is one’s intention后，則要用to do sth.，to do sth.在句中作真正的主語。Collin Coubild English Usage (Sinclair 1999:326)明確指出:You do not say that it is someone’s intention of doing something.例如：

1.They announced their intention of cutting down all the trees.他們宣布了打算砍伐所有的樹木。

2.She felt offended at my remarks,but it wasn’t my intention to hurt her.她覺得我的話得罪了她，但我并沒有傷害她的意思。

3.The council has announced its intention to crack down parking offences.委員會已宣布有意打擊違規(guī)停車。

4.It is still my intention to resign if they willfully fail to print the story.如果他們執(zhí)意不刊印這個故事，我還是想辭職。

5.It wasn’t my intention to make you angry.我不是有意惹你生氣的。

6.He has announced his intention to resign.他已宣布打算辭職。

7.It is our intention to be the number one distributor of health products.我們的目的是要成為第一個保健品分銷商。

五、oblivious和介詞的搭配用法

Oblivious of his engagement,he went to bed.oblivious后面該接of,接to不算正當。（p.402）

當oblivious作“忘卻的”或“不注意”解時，其后介詞搭配，不只限于of,在現代英語中，除可跟of外，也可跟to。例如：

1.He was quite oblivious of/to the danger.他完全沒有覺察到危險。

2.He drove off,oblivious of the damage he had caused.他車開走了，沒有注意到自己造成的損害。

3.You eventually become oblivious to the noise.你終究會變得不在意吵鬧聲的。

4.He worked on,completely oblivious of everything/of the passage of time.他繼續(xù)工作著，完全忘卻一切/忘了時間的流逝。

5.He was so full of his plan that he was oblivious to our warnings.他一心一意執(zhí)行自己的計劃，全然忘了我們的警告

6.The young couple were oblivious to the stare of strollers.那對年輕人毫不理會散步者的目光。

7.His own arrogance made him oblivious to the criticisms of others.傲慢使他忘記了他人的批評。

8.She seemed almost oblivious to the crowds of reporters.她似乎不在意那成群的記者。

9.He was totally oblivious to the fact that he had almost been killed.他全忘記了曾險些被殺的事實。

10.He seemed oblivious to how far they were walking.他似乎不覺得他們已經走得多遠了。

六、opinion和the的搭配用法

I am of(the)opinion that the problem ought to be discussed again.等句子里的the可有可無，似乎沒有the比有the普遍。(p.414)

而筆者認為，在現代英語中，be of the opinion that從句，名詞opinion前的冠詞the往往不省略。例如：

1.be of the opinion that...(formal)(=to believe or think that)認為

2.The committee is of the opinion that Barnes was wrongly dismissed.該委員會認為,解雇巴恩斯是錯誤的。

3.George is of the opinion that(=he thinks)that they should close the factory.喬治認為他們應該關閉那家工廠。

4.I’m of the opinion that it’s what every marriage needs.在我看來，這正是每一個婚姻所需要的。

5.I have always been of the opinion that these people should be treated as prisoners of war.我一直認為這些人應該被當作戰(zhàn)俘看待。

6.It will take a while for international standards to be implemented,but we are of the opinion that we have to move now.要執(zhí)行國際標準，這將需要一段時間，但我們認為我們必須現在行動。

7.I’m of the opinion that the more transparency there is,the better for everyone.我的意見是，越透明，對每個人越有利。

8.The doctor was of the opinion that surgery was unnecessary.醫(yī)生認為沒有必要手術。

七、stop/prevent sb.from doing sth.和stop/prevent sb.doing sth.的搭配用法

We cannot stop him coming.不算正當 (p.557)要改為：We cannot stop him from coming./We cannot stop his coming.

She prevented him going.也有人說，但不算正當。(p.454)

而筆者認為，在現代英語中，既可說stop/prevent sb.from doing sth.,又可說stop/prevent sb.doing sth.介詞from可省略。例如：

1.Lynn’s parents tried to stop her seeing him.琳的父母試圖阻止她和他見面。

2.My parents tried to stop me(from)seeing Anna.我父母想方設法不讓我再約見安娜。

3.There is nothing to stop you phoning him whenever you want.沒有什么能阻止你隨時打電話給他。

4.Did any of them try to stop you coming?他們中有沒有人試圖阻止你來?

5.You can’t stop people saying what they think.人們怎么想就怎么說，你阻止不了。

6.Nothing would prevent him/his speaking out against further injustices.什么也擋不住他再為其他不平事鳴冤。

7.What can we do to prevent this disease spreading?我們有什么辦法可以阻止這種疾病蔓延呢？

不過，在被動結構中，介詞from往往不可省略。《高中英語語法全解》（馬德高2010:75）明確指出：在短語spend...(in)doing與prevent/stop...(from)doing中，當spend和prevent/stop用被動語態(tài)時，介詞in和from不可以省略。例如：

1.The BBC was stopped from broadcasting a programme about the Secret Service.英國廣播公司被禁止播放有關情報機關的一個節(jié)目。

2.However，they were unreasonably stopped by the police from entering the lounge.但他們卻受到警察的無理阻擾，不準進入休息室。

3.There were reports that some people had been prevented from voting.據稱一些人受到阻擾，不許他們投票。

4.He is prevented by law from holding a licence.按法律規(guī)定他不得持有執(zhí)照。

八、substitute和介詞的搭配用法

在談到substitute和介詞的搭配用法時，《英語慣用法詞典》（葛傳槼2000：560）認為：

不算正當：We have to substitute coffee with tea.

We have to substitute coffee by tea.

的確，按傳統(tǒng)的語法規(guī)則，動詞substitute的句型是，substitute A for B,而在現代英語中，除了可用substitute A for B外，還可用substitute B by A或substitute B with A.例如：

1.substitute A for B/substitute B with/by A （用...）代替；取代

2.Butter can be substituted with margarine in this recipe.做這道菜可以用人造黃油代替黃油。

3.I had no more scissors,so I had to substitute the blunt ones with a knife.我沒有更多的剪刀，所以只好用小刀替代鈍剪刀。

4.So it is necessary to substitute sketch with calligraphy.因此以書法代替素描成為必要。

5.Substitute crab stick with crab meat for a more sumptuous dish.如果要吃得豐盛一些,可以不用蟹柳，改用蟹肉。

6.We can substitute wine with tea.我們可以茶代酒。

7.Those characters that do not map will be substituted by a reserved code point.那些沒有映射的字符將通過預留的代碼點來代替。

8.In case the leading missile is destroyed it will be substituted by another similar missile.如果領航導彈被摧毀，它將由另一枚類似的導彈代替。

九、Sth.is worth doing.和It is worth doing sth.的搭配用法

不可說:It is worth discussing the question again.(p.681)

按傳統(tǒng)的語法規(guī)則，worth要用于Sth.be worth doing的句型中。然而，在現代英語中，worth還可用于It is worth doing sth.的句型中。這種用法已很普遍。例如：

1.It isn’t worth waiting for him.等他不值得。

2.It’s not worth discussing an idea.不值得討論這個想法。

3.It isn’t worth quibbling over such a small amount.不值得為這樣的小數目斤斤計較。

4.If you haven’t read To Kill a Mockingbird recently,it is worth reading the novel again.如果最近你沒有讀過《殺死一只知更鳥》，該小說值得再讀一遍。

5.I wanted to know if it is worth reading the novel because it is so lengthy.我想知道該小說是否值得一讀，因為篇幅太長了。

6.Designer sunglasses cost more,yes;as to whether it’s worth buying them,that’s largely personal.名牌太陽鏡價格更高，沒錯。至于是否值得購買，主要取決于個人。

7.It’s worth comparing a range of models before deciding which one to buy.值得比較一系列模型后再決定買哪一個。

8.It’s well worth booking early,as tickets tend to sell out very fast.票很值得提前預訂,因為往往會很快售完。

綜上所述，我們不難看出，comprise,doubt,forbid,intention,oblivious,opinion,prevent,stop,substitute和worth在現代英語中，用法上發(fā)生了一些變化。隨著時代的發(fā)展，英語語言也在不斷發(fā)展。一些傳統(tǒng)的英語語法規(guī)則，有一定的時代局限性。因此，語法規(guī)則也應隨著語言實際的變化，而進行相應的補充或修改，這樣才能符合英語語言實際使用情況。

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葛傳槼 (2000).英語慣用法詞典[M].上海:上海譯文出版社。

馬德高(2010).高中英語語法全解[M].合肥：安徽科學技術出版社。

王正元，王衛(wèi)新 (2005).注意你的英語慣用法 [M].北京:機械工業(yè)出版社。