略谈 until such time as 结构
■方明亮(博士)
英语中，until such time as 是很常用的结构，表示“直到…”的意思。例如：
1. Until such time as I am able to transfer my
consciousness, I shall remain in a secure location and with the world in this
manner. [直到我能够转移自己的意识，我会呆在一个安全的地方，并且以这种方式和世界交流。]
2. Until such time as mankind has the sense to lower
its population to the point where the planet can provide a comfortable support
for all，people will have to accept more “unnatural
food”. [在人类意识到将人口减少到地球可以为所有人提供舒适的食物之前，人们将不得不接受更多的“人造食品”。]
3. Canada Post said it would not resume deliveries at
several addresses in East Vancouver until such
time as the hazard no longer exists. [加拿大邮政声称，若是危险隐患排除，在温哥华东区的几处地址将恢复邮递服务。]
4. Until such time as these are formulated and promulgated
by the central authorities, work in various fields should continue to be
carried out under the regulations now in force.[在中央制定并正式公布新的制度和条例以前，有关各方面的工作，仍照现行制度办事。]
然而，惯用法专家葛传槼先生在1963年出版的《英语惯用法词典》一书中（第664页）认为：until
such time as结构中的such time as是多余的，最好删去。语言学家马杰（N.
H. Mager）先生等人在1975年出版的《英语用法百科全书》(Encyclopedic
Dictionary of English Usage)一书中（第317页）也认为：要避免使用until
such time as结构。
事实上，著名学者周海中(笔名周求知)先生在1985年发表的《英语中的 until such time as 结构》一文中就指出：使用until
such time as结构时，语句通常具有“不确定”的意思；这种用法常见于英国英语。他在该文中还举了几个实例，其中有：
5. I shall be asked no question until such time as I
may deem it expedient to forestall them by telling my own story. （C.
Dickens: Oliver Twist）[汉译略]
6. Meadows was wandering about the premises until
such time as Robinson should return.（C.
Reade: It Is Never Too Late to Mend）[汉译略]
7. Which of these approaches (or any other) is likely
to produce good results is not demonstrable until such time as a great deal
more data has been accumulated illustrating the nature of the supposed
situationally-conditioned linguistic distinctiveness.(D. Crystal: Direction in
Applied Linguistics）[汉译略]
笔者认为：含有until such time as结构的语句确有“不确定”的意思，如句1用了shall、句2用了will、句3用了would、句4用了should、句5用了may、句6用了wandering
about、句7用了likely，这些词或词组使句子具有不可预见性的因素。可以说，无论是until
such time as结构，还是其他英语固定结构，它们都有各自的语义、语法和语用特点。因此，不能随便删除或修改；否则，就会容易出差错，造成文不达意的后果。
