現(xiàn)如今，中國有很多人在學英語。要說中國學英語的人口比美國人口還多，這恐怕一點也不為過。但在中國，真正能熟練用英語進行交流的人并不多。具體來說，能夠大致看懂英文的人較多，而能夠流利地說英文和寫英文的人較少。比如我們拿上面"中國學英語的人口比美國人口還多"這個中文句子為例，請讀者將之譯成英文。翻譯這句話時，要用到英語中的比較句型。下面筆者提供三種不同版本的譯文。

1. "主-系-表"句型：The number of people learning English in China is larger than the population of the United States.

2. There be句型：There are more people learning English in China than there are people in the United States.

3. "主-謂-狀"句型：More people learn English in China than live in the United States.

上面三個句子中，句1最簡單，相信很多讀者都會這么翻譯，句2相對較難，句3是最難的。讀者要想譯出句2、句3這樣結(jié)構(gòu)的比較句，需要在英語比較句方面有較深厚的功底。本期筆者就與大家探討一下比較句中的倍數(shù)比較句型，希望對讀者有所啟發(fā)。

問題導入

上文使用的例句都是than比較句，現(xiàn)在我們將句2改為"as … as"比較句，請看原句和改寫后的句子。

4. a. There are more people learning English in China than there are people in the United States.

b. There are as many people learning English in China as there are people in the United States.

我們知道，改寫后得到的b句含義是"中國學英語的人口與美國人口一樣多"，與原句的含義不一樣。現(xiàn)在，我們在a句和b句的基礎上分別添加諸如three times這樣的倍數(shù)詞來進行比較，即能得出下面兩個句子。

5. a. There are three times more people learning English in China than there are people in the United States.

b. There are three times as many people learning English in China as there are people in the United States.

現(xiàn)在問題來了：這里a句和b句的含義是否相同？如果我們將例5兩個句子的three times替換成分數(shù)a third，又可以得出下面兩個句子。

6. a. There are a third more people learning English in China than there are people in the United States.

b. There are a third as many people learning English in China as there are people in the United States.

點擊購買

問題又來了：這里a、b兩句的含義是否相同呢？

這兩個問題涉及到英語中的倍數(shù)比較。帶著這兩個問題，我們下面一起來探討倍數(shù)比較句型的結(jié)構(gòu)與含義。

倍數(shù)比較結(jié)構(gòu)

倍數(shù)比較結(jié)構(gòu)有兩種，一種是"倍數(shù)/分數(shù)+形容詞"，一種是"倍數(shù)/分數(shù)+名詞"。下面筆者來進行具體闡述。

結(jié)構(gòu)一：倍數(shù)/分數(shù)+形容詞

因為形容詞的比較結(jié)構(gòu)主要是"than比較"和"as … as比較"這兩類，所以，最核心的倍數(shù)比較句型有兩個：一個是"倍數(shù)/分數(shù)+形容詞比較級+ than"，另一個是"倍數(shù)/分數(shù)+ as +形容詞+ as"。我們把倍數(shù)(以three times為例)與分數(shù)(以a third為例)分開列舉，于是便有了下面的倍數(shù)比較句型。

7. a. A is three times bigger than B. (倍數(shù)+形容詞比較級+ than)

b. A is three times as big as B. (倍數(shù)+as +形容詞+ as)

c. A is a third bigger than B. (分數(shù)+形容詞比較級+ than)

d. A is a third as big as B. (分數(shù)+as +形容詞+ as)

值得注意的是，twice (兩倍)不能用在"倍數(shù)+形容詞比較級+ than"結(jié)構(gòu)中，只能用在"倍數(shù)+as +形容詞+ as"結(jié)構(gòu)中。也就是說，我們不能說"A is twice bigger than B"，而應該說"A is twice as big as B"。英語中有個使用比較結(jié)構(gòu)的俚語為"as large as life and twice as natural"(出自劉易斯·卡羅爾的《愛麗絲夢游仙境》)，字面意思是"和真人一樣大而且有真人的兩倍那么自然"，真正含義是"正是其人，如假包換"。當某人激動地告訴別人自己遇到了某個名人時就會用到該詞。比如你和別人提起自己在乘飛機時遇見了某位電影明星，就可以這樣強調(diào)："It’s him as large as life and twice as natural."這里的"twice as natural"不能說成"twice more natural"。