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汉语里面的「相当」也好,「在一定程度上」也好,都是跟着英语学来的,当然不可能有什么「汉英差异」
fair的本义是「公平」,relative的本义是「相对」,暗示两个事物有平等的地位
所以做副词的 fairly 的意思就比较模糊,表达「像X,但也不是X到了极点」,到底是高还是低呢,其实并不是高低,而是说话人想把程度拉到一个他认为「合适」的地位。
比如说:
在一定程度上缓解其合法性危机 —— 到底缓解没缓解啊?大概是缓解了50%?
在一定程度上解决了学生的矛盾问题 —— 到底解决了没啊?反正就是这么模糊的,大概解决了50%?
这个「合适」的地位,在具体语境下面,是高还是低,当然看上下文了:
If we stress the adverb, it emphasises that it wasn't very, very good, very interesting, very short, or very thorough:
It was pretty good.
It was quite interesting.
It was rather long.
It was fairly thorough.
However, if we stress the adjective, then it emphasises that it was, indeed, X:
It was pretty good.
It was quite interesting.
It was rather long.
It was fairly thorough.
https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/41285/the-usage-of-the-word-pretty-is-pretty-confusing
美国英语里面,pretty也有这个问题,高低不定。所以美国人的解决办法是用重读来区分。书面语无法表示轻重,那就只能看上下文咯。
有些词典/材料一会儿说「高」一会儿说「低」,只是因为虚词本身就不好解释,反正母语者自己不会用错,所以就马马虎虎咯
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