TA的每日心情 | 慵懒 6 天前 |
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嗯,我和 @elusty 的看法是一样的——“那就成虚拟语气了”。
如果不把它理解成虚拟语气,我认为这个句子也完全说得通。我认为需要讨论一下 could 的用法。
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在这儿,could 纯粹地去表达“(used to say that something is possible or might happen)可以,可能”。
Most accidents in the home could be prevented. 大多数家庭意外事故都是可以避免的。[could 词条——《朗文 4》]
跟这句话:Most accidents in the home could have been prevented.
我认为这两句话所表达意思上是相同的。
同样还是在 could 词条下,
If you're not careful, you could get into even worse trouble. 如果你不当心的话,可能会陷入更大的麻烦。
当然,这句话是表达一个真实情形下的条件句。
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could have done 一定是表达虚拟语气吗?
Don't worry—they could have just forgotten to call. 别担心,他们可能只是忘了打电话。[could 词条——《牛津 7》]
同样,这儿也是推测过去的某种行动,来表示“可能”。
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Michael was a great boxer. He could have beaten all his opponents. This one is a bit incoherent. He had the skill to beat all his opponents, but he didn't beat them all or he didn't even have a chance to try. (It doesn't seem that he was so great.
关于这句话,作者的意思是 He could have beaten all his opponents 这句话是 incoherent; ambiguous。为什么这样说?你可以试着先翻译一下这句话。
作者说它表达的可能是:
他有能力打败他的所有对手,但是却没有全打败他们,又或是他甚至没有机会上场。那么怎么说是“一名优秀的拳击手”呢?这就是 incoherent 的地方。
而,如果直接写成 Michael was a great boxer. He could beat all his opponents. 那么它就等于... He was able to beat ... 又等于 He had the skill to beat ...
当然,这上面有点扯远了,只是帮 elusty 解释一下。
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另外,关于虚拟语气的争论其实有很多,《经济学人》先前就有一篇:
Would that it were so simple | The strange tale of the subjunctive in English
这应该就是 elusty 所说的“过去虚拟最好少用,生活中这样用的少,甚至有人不主张这种虚拟,有点儿过时了”。 |
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