hardly 用法1
問：No matter how hardly he pushed, the door would not open. (不管他怎麼用力推, 門也不開。) 這個句子有毛病嗎?
答：在英語裡有若干形容詞, 其副詞有兩種形式: 跟形容詞同形的副詞和以-ly 結尾的副詞。例如: clean – cleanly, close – closely, deep – deeply, direct – directly, high – highly, wide – widely, hard – hardly, late – lately, near – nearly 等。其中clean – cleanly, close – closely, deep – deeply, direct – directly, high – highly 等, 它們與形容詞同形的副詞和以-ly 結尾的副詞在基本詞義上無重大區別, 只是用法有所不同(參見deep / deeply, high / highly) 。但是, hard 與hardly 用法, late 與lately, near 與nearly 卻具有完全不同的含義。副詞hard 作“努力地”、“用力地”、“厲害地”解, 而副詞hardly 作“幾乎不”(almost not) 解, He hardly works.不是表示“他努力工作。”, 而是表示“ 他幾乎不工作”。把hardly 誤用作hard, 不僅是中國人常犯的毛病, 而且也是其他非英語國家的人常犯的毛病。例如, 有一位非英語國家的教授在來信中表揚一位研究生時說He works very hardly。與此相類似, late 作“晚”、“遲”解, 而lately 作“最近”、“近來”解(見lately 用法); near 作“近”、“附近”解, 而nearly 作“ 幾乎”(almost) 解(見nearly 用法) 。
hardly 用法2
問：When we finally managed to get home after the tiring long journey, we could not hardly move a step further. (TOEFL)
標準答案規定“not hardly”是錯誤的。但我認為we could not hardly move 是正確的, 它的意思恰好相當於“我們幾乎不能移動”。
答：應當牢牢記住, hardly 用法如同little, few, rarely, seldom, scarcely 一樣, 屬於半否定詞之列。不應把hardly 譯作“幾乎”, 而應譯作“幾乎不”。因此, 在表示否定含義時, 不應再出現其他否定詞, 如not, no, none 等等。
(參見hardly 用法1, scarcely)
hardly 用法 3 (hardly did he)
hardly 用法 4 (hardly / no sooner)
問：(1) Hardly had we got into the country ________ it began to rain.
(2) I had scarcely come in _______ the phone ran.
(3) He had barely arrived __________ he had to leave again.
(4) He had no sooner returned ________ he bought a fine house.
我知道這些句型都是“剛一…… 就……”, 但是我總記不住什麼時候使用when, 什麼時候使用than, 有時候記住了, 過一個階段又忘了。
答：這幾個句型是很容易弄混的。例如, 有一本英語著作在講th a n 的用法時說: than 用於other 之後表示“除⋯ ⋯ 之外”; 用於rather, sooner 之後表示“與其⋯⋯ (寧願) ⋯⋯”; 用於scarcely, hardly 之後, 表示“就⋯⋯ (表示時間)”。其實, scarcely 和hardly 並不能與than 連用表示時間。為了牢記正確的用法, 可以採用這樣的記憶方法: 在上列句型裡, than 只與副詞的比較級連用(no sooner… than), 而副詞scarcely 和 hardly, barely 不是比較級, 不能與than 連用, 而只能與when 或before 連用:
- He had no sooner arrived than he asked for food.
他剛到, 就要食物。 - We’d hardly arrived before we had to go back.
我們剛到, 就得往回返。 - He had hardly had time to settle down when he sold the house and left the country.
他剛剛住下來, 就把那幢房子賣了, 離開了這個國家。
hardly 用法5 (hardly…but)
問：Hardly a week passes but I get another good idea.
[原譯] 剛過一星期, 我就有個好主意。(《朗文現代英漢雙解詞典》, 現代出版社、朗文出版公司, 1988 年, p.178)
請問上面的譯文是否符合原意?
hardly 用法6 (hardly…before)
hardly 用法7 (hardly more than)
問：Duncairn, a castle built in the twelfth century on the western coast of Scotland, is ________ a few feet high. (Nelson, 400D)
A. hardly more than
B. almost more than
C. just as much as
D. nearly more than
書上給的答案為A。但我不懂hardly more than 是什麼意思。查了許多英漢詞典也未找到。
答：hardly more than 如同no more than, little more than, never more than 一樣, 也是用來表達“言其少”的口氣的。一般可譯為“僅僅””、“才”、“只有”等。更詳細的情形, 請見no more than, little more than, never more than。
hardly 用法8 (hardly…when/ before)
問：He had hardly had time to settle down when he sold the house and left the country (New Concept English, Book 2, L.38)
[原譯] 幾乎還沒有安頓下來就把房子賣了⋯⋯ (《新概念英語》(二), 朗文出版公司、世界圖書出版公司, 1993, p.158)
hardly 在這裡是“幾乎沒”的意思嗎?
答：hardly…when[before] 是英語裡一個常用的句型。一般可譯為“剛一⋯ ⋯就”。
- He had hardly begun to speak when the audience interrupted them.
他剛開口發言, 就被聽眾打斷了。 - He had hardly arrived when it began to snow.
他剛到, 就開始下雪了。
請記住這個句型的兩個特點:
(1) hardly 分句中一般使用過去完成式, 而when [before] 分句中使用過去式。
(2) 如果把hardly 擱在句首, 則要求主詞動詞實行部分倒裝。例如:
- Hardly had we got into the country when it begin to rain.
我們才剛到農村, 就下雨了。 - Hardly had he arrived when she started complaining.
他剛到, 她就開始抱怨。
你所提問的句子最好譯為:
他剛剛住下來, 就把那幢房子賣了⋯⋯
應當補充指出, 這個句型中的hardly 可以換成barely 或scarcely:
- He had barely arrived when he had to leave again.
他剛到達, 就不得不離開了。 - Scarcely had he gone out when it began to rain.
他剛出門, 就下雨了。
hardly 用法9 (hardly…when/than)
問：《英語分類句型》(p.408) 中有一個例句:
Hardly had he received the telegram than he started off at once.
他剛一接到電報便立即動身走了。
請問這裡使用hardly…than 是正確的嗎?
答：我想用CGEL 中的一段話來回答這個問題:
“There is traditional objection to the use of when as correlative with no sooner and to the use of than as correlative with the three negative adverbs.”
“在傳統上, 人們反對將when 與no sooner 連用, 也反對將than 同barely, hardly, scarcely 這三個否定副詞連用。”