在上一篇中,我们提到在“现在”的语境背景下,用过去时或是过去进行时(expect和think等动词)能表示“过去未实现的期望或想法”。
有人可能会说下面的一句是现在的语境,用的是think,是不是搞错了,应该改为过去时的thought,is改为was,表示““过去未实现的期望”:
She isn’t as bad as you think she is.
这是一个好问题,这句是正确的英语,这里面涉及到人称问题。人称换成了第二人称(第三人称也一样),用think就说明是与“you现在此刻的think”作比较而已!由于这句话都是由“I”的角度说或写出来的,为了帮助理解,我写成这样的样子::
I think [She isn’t as bad as you think she is.]
这话能说得通:(我觉得)“她并不是你“现在”认为的这么坏。”
还有一句:She
is not as intelligent as we think.(新概念book2,P151):
I think [She is not as intelligent as we think.] 因为“we”不是一个人,更不能代表“I”,也能说得通。
但如果是第一人称“I”就有问题了,比如:
She is not as intelligent as I think. (错句)
因为写成:I think [She is not as intelligent as I think.]
这个不知道什么意思,逻辑混乱,前后矛盾,所以用“I”这个人称的时候要注意。
所以:She isn’t as bad as you think she is.
She isn’t as bad as you thought she was.
两句都对,但意思不同!一个是“you现在的认为”,一个是“you过去的认为”,所以跟前篇说的并不矛盾。同样的:
She is not as intelligent as we think. (不是我们现在认为的......)
She is not as intelligent as we thought.(不是我们过去认为的......)
两句意思不同而已。
总结一下:
She is not as intelligent as I think.(错误)
She is not as intelligent as I thought. (正确)
She is not as intelligent as we think.(正确)
She is not as intelligent as we thought.(正确)
再举些这样的例子:
You can’t predict everything. Often things don’t turn out as you expect.
Control over the mind is not as far off as we think.
We may not have as open a choice in grammatical frames in the words we use as we think.
You’d better prepare yourself for how he's going to look. He won’t be as you expect.
It's a good idea, but implementing it won't be as simple as you think.
He is not half such a fool as they think.
They will not (won't) find it so easy as they think.
I don't believe your situation is as hopeless as you think.
The Bears aren't as good a team as you think.
接下来说说诸如:hope, expect, think, intend, mean (= intend), suppose, want, should (would) like等结构接不定式的完成时所表达的意思,这个内容其实是为大家熟知的,我用Hornby的著作上的一段话作总结:
2.34 The Past Perfect Tense is used with such verbs as hope, expect, think, intend, mean (= intend), suppose, and want to indicate that a past hope, expectation, intention, desire, etc, was not realized.
1 We had hoped that you would be able to visit us.
2 I had meant/intended to call on you, but was prevented from doing so.
3 She had thought of paying us a visit but the bad weather made her change her plans.
4 I hadn't expected that./That was something I hadn't expected.
5 They had wanted to help but couldn't get here in time.
6 I hadn't for a minute supposed/expected that I should get the first prize.(But my supposition/expectation was mistaken. I did get the first prize.)
7 We had intended to go to Wales this summer.
Note
An alternative construction for unrealized or unfulfilled hopes, etc, when the main verb is used with a to-infinitive, is the use of the Simple Past Tense and a perfect infinitive.
2 I meant/intended to have called on you,but . . .
7 We intended to have gone to Wales . . .
Of the two constructions the first is to be preferred.
即 had expected to do= expected to have done都可以表示过去语境背景下没有实现的期望,且had expected to do这个结构更好。
另外,注意这个结构:I had hoped to have seen you.(老语法书中很多这样的类似结构)
这种两个完成时连用的结构现在已见得极少,很累赘,不符合当代英语的使用习惯,直接改为:I had hoped to see you.
这些看起来都很容易理解,但实际并非如此。
司树森教授的著作“当代英语疑难问题详解”(这本书确实很当代,比他之前的书要好,可能是2017年出版的原因,推荐大家看看)P155页上有这样一题:
I didn’t expect them_______for me when I arrived there late.
A. to wait B. to be waiting C. to have waited D. to have been waiting
司教授给出了很好的解答,我想把它说得更透彻一点。
我们可以先这么想:不管填什么,都只是wait的不同形式而已。如果不考虑整句话的时态,我们只先用汉语猜猜,这句话是什么意思?
单独的这一句话,猜测有两种理解:
1. 我晚到那的时候,我没料到他们在那一直等着我。(实际是他们一直在那等着我)
2. 当我晚到的时候,我希望他们不要在那一直等着我。(只是表达“我”过去的一种期望,他们有没有一直等我,不知道)
很明显,两句的意思不同。有了这个初步想法,我们接着看。
对很多人来说B和D很难做出选择,初步看,选D似乎符合上面的第一种意思,很遗憾这种理解是错误的,这种错误想法的根源就在于我上面说的那种结构,我把它写成肯定句:
I expected them to have been waiting for me when I arrived there late.
(=I had expected them to be waiting for me when I arrived there late.)
这两句都是正确的句子,只是意思都是“实际上他们并没有一直等”。有人说在此基础上加个否定就搞定了不是吗?问题就出在这里。这里否定的表达一方面要注意否定转移的问题,另一方面更关键,即要注意只有“didn’t expect to do/be doing”这种否定表达形式,不存在“didn’t expect to have done”的形式,没办法,这是英语的惯用法,所以这题套路比较深。
所以只能选B。说明一下,选B的这个句子:
I didn’t expect them to be waiting for me when I arrived there late.
这里的“didn’t expect”不是“我没料到”的意思,而是前篇我说的“在过去背景下过去时的expected只表示过去的一种期望(这里是否定结构,其实也一样),是否为真,不知道”,也就是说,这里不定式的进行时表示的是与谓语动词同时发生的动作,所以整句话的意思是上面提到的第2句汉语表达。
如果要表示第1句汉语表达的意思对应的英文可以写成如下:
I hadn’t expected them to be waiting for me when I arrived there late.
所以不要一看到didn’t think就马上认为是“没有料到”的意思。
“didn’t expect/think”或者说“never thought/expected”(注意是否定的结构,其实肯定否定理解方式一样)只有在现在的语境背景下才极有可能认为是“没有料到”的意思,即跟原来的认知或期望不同。比如:
A:I didn't think you were so selfish.
B: That just shows you don't know me.
A:"Why didn't you invite me?"
B: "Well, the thing is, I didn't think you would want to come.
A: I didn’t think your friend Brown was sixty yet .
B: Yes, he is. In fact he's over that ; he's sixty-one.
-I didn’t think he would go out without telling me - I expected better of him.
-Sorry, I didn’t think it was a state secret.
-Well, well, well, I didn't think I'd see you here.
-And I didn't think any more of it, right, but Mum says I should see a doctor.
-I didn't think we'd get this far.
-Well, I didn't expect to see you here!
-I don't mind you coming, but I didn't expect you to invite along half your family.
-We didn't expect such a large number of people to attend the concert.
-I didn’t expect you back so soon .
-'Hello! I didn't expect to see you.'
-Oh, we didn’t expect to see you so soon.
-I didn’t expect to see you. What a surprise!
-'Hello, Mr Decker.' 'Hello, John. I didn't expect to see you here. '
I didn't expect to find Monica at the flat because she works in the mornings.
They didn't expect to come early, but they are here already.
This ice-cream is rather good.(perhaps I didn’t expect it to be)
-I' ll bet you didn' t think I'd be back so soon.
-Gracious (me)/Good gracious (me), I never thought he'd do that!
"l never thought Simon would get out of bed before lunchtime on a Saturday, but seeing is believing!"
Well, that's a turn-up for the books - I never thought he'd get the job.
"Our plan isn't going to work. " "I never thought it would. "
-He said yes? Well, that beats all! I never thought he’d agree.
赵振才教授的名著P1520页有这样一句:
She thought she had done fairly well , but she didn’t think she had won.
赵教授译为:她认为她表演得相当好,但没有料到她会获胜。
个人以为,这个译文很怪异,于是我找了一下这个句子的出处,是高中英语第三册上的,节选原文如下:
All the people watching clapped. It was clear that she had done well. Ngoc Mai glanced at the judges who were busy writing on their mark sheets. She thought she had done fairly well, but she didn’t think she had won. She went back to the bench to join the other gymnasts and sat down next to her new friend.
After a long wait, the results were announced, and Ngoc Mai was first. Victory for Ngoc Mai! She had gained more points than anyone else. Everyone cheered and clapped and her fellow gymnasts came up to congratulate her. She was delighted and very proud. The first thing she did was going up to her trainer and thanking her for all her help during her training.
我自认为自己的语文水平还可以。“但没有料到她会获胜”这句话我的理解是“已经获胜了”的意思,但问题是这句话的当时,结合上下文,Ngoc Mai并不知道自己赢得冠军了,一直到结果公布后才知道的。
所以我觉得原英文句的意思是说,“she”也就是Ngoc Mai对自己的表演还是比较满意的,但她认为自己未必能赢得冠军(说白了就是对于自己的表现自我感觉很不错,但自己觉得能否拿到冠军心里没底,表现出“她”虽比较自信但仍忐忑的这种心态)。最后结果公布后Ngoc Mai才知道自己得了冠军,这时才觉得有那么一丝意料之外,这样理解就很合理。所以:
She thought she had done fairly well , but she didn’t think she had won.
上句的后半句只是一种纯粹的认为而已,结果未知。
另外这句英文写的也不自然,可以改为:
She thought she had done fairly well , but she didn’t think she would win.
同样是P1520,还有一题顺便说一下:
-Come on , Peter. I want to show you something.
-Oh , how nice of you! I ____ you_____to bring me a gift.
A. never think ; are going B. never thought ; were going
C. didn’t think ; were going D. hadn't thought ; were going( 90高考 )
结合我前面说的,很明显,选B和C都对(现在背景下用过去时表示过去的期望没有实现,只是用了否定,就是过去没有实现的期望实现了),但我觉得D答案也对,我在上一篇说过,这里的had thought和上篇的had expected一样并不一定都是表示“过去的过去”,也能表示“现在的语境背景下过去未实现的期望”,用了否定就是“过去未有实现的期望实现了”比如:
-That's a brilliant idea - I hadn't thought of that before!(对话)
It is not as peculiar as I had thought.(亚历山大语法练习)
The world's tropical forests are disappearing at an even faster rate than experts had thought.
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