单词 | 没有理由 |
释义 | 〔hope〕To hope with little reason or justification.一线希望:几乎没有理由地期待〔eject〕There were no grounds for ousting the prime minister. 没有理由把总理赶下台 〔liable〕Liable, apt, and likely are often used interchangeably in constructions with following infinitives, as inJohn is liable to lose, John is apt to lose, and John is likely to lose. The three words are distinct in meaning.A widely repeated rule holdsthatliable should only be used if the subject would be adversely affected by the outcome expressed by the infinitive. The rule therefore permitsJohn is liable to fall out of his chair if he doesn't sit up straight but notThe chair is liable to be slippery, though constructions of the latter type have long been common in reputable writing.Apt usually suggests that the subject has a natural tendency enhancing the probability of an outcome, and that the speaker is in some way apprehensive about the outcome.Thusapt is more naturally used in a sentence like The fuel pump is apt to give out at any minute than in Even the clearest instructions are apt to be misinterpreted by those idiots (since the instructions are not at fault)or inThe fuel pump is apt to give you no problems for the life of the car (since there is no reason that the speaker should regard such an outcome as unfortunate).Likely is more general than either liable or apt. It ascribes no particular property to the subject that enhances the probability of the outcome:whileJohn is apt to lose the election may suggest that the loss will result from something John does or fails to do, John is likely to lose the election does not. Nor does it suggest anything about the desirability of the outcome from the point of view of either the speaker or the subject.A football coach who saysWe are apt to win may be suspected of sarcasm,and one who saysWe are liable to win may be suspected of having bet on the opposition;onlyWe are likely to win is consistent with the expression of an unambivalent expectation of victory. See Usage Note at likely Liable,apt 和 likely 在如下不定式结构中经常可以互换, 例如 John is liable to lose,John is apt to lose 和 John is likely to lose 。 这三个词的意思是有区别的。一条公认的语法规则认为,只有当主语受不定式所表示的动作或结果的不利影响时,才使用liable 。 因此这条规则允许说如果约翰不坐直身子的话,他很容易从椅子上掉下来的 , 但不允许说椅子可能很滑 , 尽管在规范的写作中,后一种类型的句型已经很普遍了。Apt 通常表示主语有增加某种结果的可能性的自然倾向, 而且说话者对此结果多少有些忧虑。因此,apt 用在句子 燃料泵可能随时停止运转 中,比用在 即使是最明了的指令也有可能被那些白痴误解 中更自然 (因为错的不是指令),也比用在燃料可能不会对你的车的使用寿命带来什么问题 中更合适 (因为说话者没有理由认为这样一个结果很不幸)。Likely 比 liable 或 apt 更具概括性。 它并不说明增加了一个结果的可能性的主语是否具有何特性:句子约翰在选举中可能会失败 可能暗示失败归因于约翰所做的或没能做的某件事, 而句子约翰在选举中有可能失败 则没有这种暗示。 另外,它也没有关于说话者或主语是否喜欢某一结果的暗示。如果一位足球教练说We are apt to win , 他可能带有讽刺意味,但如果他说We are liable to win , 他的意思是他认为他们可能会输;只有说We are likely to win ,才明确表示有希望获胜 参见 likely〔seem〕There seems no reason to postpone it.似乎没有理由推迟它〔hopefully〕And though this use ofhopefully may have been a vogue word when it first gained currency 30 years ago, it has long since lost any taint of jargon or pretentiousness for the general reader.The well-attested acceptance of the usage reflects an implicit popular recognition of its usefulness;there is no precise substitute.Someone who saysHopefully, the treaty will be ratified makes a hopeful prediction about the fate of the treaty,whereas someone who saysI hope (or We hope or It is hoped ) the treaty will be ratified expresses a bald statement about what is desired. Only the latter could be continued with a clause such asbut it isn't likely. · It might have been expected, then, that the initial flurry of objections tohopefully would have subsided once the usage became well established. Instead, increased currency of the usage appears only to have made the critics more adamant.In the 1969 Usage Panel survey the usage was acceptable to 44 percent of the Panel;in the most recent survey it was acceptable to only 27 percent.(By contrast, 60 percent accepted the analogous use ofmercifully in the sentence Mercifully, the game ended before the opponents could add another touchdown to the lopsided score. ) Yet the Panel has not shown any signs of becoming generally more conservative:in the very same survey panelists were disposed to accept once-vilified usagessuch as the employment ofcontact and host as verbs. · It seems that this use ofhopefully has been made a litmus test, which distinguishes writers who take an active interest in questions of grammar or usage from the great mass of people who keep their own linguistic counsel.No one can be blamed who useshopefully in blithe ignorance of the critics' disdain for it, since the rule could not be derived from any general concern for clarity or precision.But writers who are aware of the critical controversy face a more delicate decision.Some will simply flout the rule,seeing no reason that they should be deprived of a useful construction.Others may choose to avoid the usage,whether they are motivated by discretion or civility. ·Like other sentence adverbs such asbluntly and happily, hopefully may occasionally be ambiguous. In the sentenceHopefully, the company has launched a new venture, the word hopefully might be construed as describing the point of view of either the speaker or the subject. Such ambiguities can be resolved either by repositioning the adverb (as inThe company has launched the new venture hopefully ) or by choosing a paraphrase ( One may hope that the company has launched the new venture ). 尽管hopefully 的这一用法在30年前首次通用的时候曾是个时兴词, 但对于广大读者来说它早已失去了俚语或矫饰的色彩。屡经证实的对这一用法的接受反映了对其实用性的普遍默认;而且并不存在其他精确的代用词。有人如果说但愿条约能被批准 , 便是对条约的命运作了充满希望的预测,反之如果有人说我希望 (或 我们希望 或 希望 ) 条约将会被批准 则表达了对其期望之物的大胆声明。 只有后者可以接从句象但这不大可能 。 也许我们本可以期待当这一用法已变得根深蒂固之后, 对hopefully 的一片反对声可稍事平息。 然而,这一用法的流行似乎反而使批评家们更为坚定。在1969年用法调查使用小组的调查中44%的成员接受这一用法;在最近一次的调查中却只有27%的成员接受。(相比之下,60%的人接受mercifully 在句子 幸好,在对手能够给这一边倒的比分再加上一分之前,比赛就结束了 中的类似用法) 但是并没有任何迹象表明调查小组成员正在普遍变得更保守:在同一次调查中小组成员们倾向于接受被一度废除的某些用法,如把contact 和 host 用作动词看来。 似乎hopefully 的用法已经成了一块试金石, 它把对语法和用法怀有浓厚兴趣的作家和保留着他们自己的语言学顾问的广大民众区分开来。那些全然忽视批评家们的蔑视使用hopefully 的人不该受到指责, 因为规则并不来源于任何对清晰和精确的关注。但是意识到了批评界争议的作者们面对着一个更为微妙的决定。有些人干脆违反规则,他们认为没有理由要失去这么一个实用的结构。另外一些人则选择避免这一用法,无论其动机是出于谨慎还是出于礼貌。象许多其它句中副词如bluntly 和 happily一样,hopefully 经常出现歧义。 在下句 Hopefully, the company has launched a new venture 中, hopefully 一词可以解释为记述说话者的观点或者句中主语的观点。 这种歧义可以通过调换副词位置(如公司已经满怀希望地到办了一个新企业 )或选择另一种说法( 有人希望这个公司已经创办了一个新企业 )来消除 〔unfounded〕Not based on fact or sound evidence; groundless.See Synonyms at baseless 没有事实根据的;没有理由的:不基于事实或正确的证据的;无根据的 参见 baseless〔outlive〕anxiety that outlasted its cause.没有理由却继续存有的焦虑。〔connect〕no reason to connect the two events.See Synonyms at join 没有理由把这两件事联想在一起 参见 join〔panic〕from Greek Panikos [of Pan (a source of terror, as in flocks or herds), groundless (used of fear)] 源自 希腊语 Panikos [潘神的(恐惧之源,如在鸟群或兽群中),没有理由的(用于害怕)] |
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