能不能说 in hope of…/that…和in the hopes of…/that…

■倪肖丁（西安）

葛传槼先生的《英语惯用法词典》指出：in the hope of …ing和 in hopes of…ing意思相同，in the hope that…与in hopes that…意思相同。注意用了the便用单数形式hope，不用the便用复数形式hopes。

 按葛先生的说法，in hope of, in the hopes of以及in hope that…,in the hopes that都是不能用的。但葛先生提到的上述限制与现代英语的发展的实际情况不符。

Webster's Dictionary of English Usage（1989）明确指出：Hope is used idiomatically in all the following phrases: in the hope(s) of, in hope(s) of, in the hope(s) that, and in hope(s) that.

这就告诉我们，被《英语惯用法词典》否定的四种用法实际上也是英语的习惯用法。也就是说，这些短语中无论有没有定冠词，hope的单数或复数都可以用。下列主要源于英文原版词典的实例可以证明这一点。例如：

1.  in hope of

He began to butter up the boss in hope of being given a better job. 

Of course, you know the city is full of thieves and they steal our mail in hope of finding money. 

He returned to the crime scene in (the) hope of finding further evidence.

Greg lives in hope of winning a million dollars in the lottery. 

Investigators are also looking into ways to bolster the preemie’s immune system in hope of reducing infections and inflammatory diseases, particularly colitis. 

2. in the hopes of

The decision to escalate UN involvement has been taken in the hopes of a swift end to the hostilities.  

He spent much of his time and money, especially in his later years, patronizing Taoist alchemists in the hopes of finding an elixir to prolong his life. 

Drug companies are bankrolling many of those studies in the hopes of bringing to market a revolutionary kind of medicine. 

Was he attempting to force them to a stoppage in the hopes of taking over their lease? 

3. in hope that

Rinna’s daughter sent her to college in hope that some learning might permeate her thick, yet porous skull. 

The Hopi Indians have hung eagle prayer feathers in threatened wells and springs across their sprawling reservation in northeastern Arizona in hope that the water will return and that the drought of recent years will break.

但是in hope that更多地用于修饰动词live。例如：

We live in hope that a cure will be found. 

The situation is not good but we live in hope that it will improve. 

We live in hope that there will be some survivors of the crash. 

4. in the hopes that

We held an open house last week in the hopes that someone would offer to buy our house. 

Children wished upon a star [=made a wish while looking at a star] in the hopes that their dreams would come true. 

We're lumping them all together here in the hopes that somewhere in the pile you will come across just what you need. 

偶尔也有that被省略的情况。例如：

Ginny DelVecchio talks about her life in the hopes it will help defeat the disease. 

 根据MEU，在各种用法中，hope用单数的主要是英国用法，复数形式hopes主要是美语用法。

另外，还可以说with the hope of,  with the hopes of (较少), with hopes of和with the hope that，尤其在美国英语中。如：

She went back to the restaurant with the hope of finding her purse there. 

. . . and with the hopes of having it repaid them with interest, whenever they have occasion to return the visit 

She went back to the restaurant with hopes of finding her purse there.

He told them the truth with the hope that they would understand. 

所以，当英语为本族语的人们自如运用上述各种用法时，我们没有必要再作茧自缚。

注: 本文所有正面例句源于英文词典DAI，LDOCE，WALD，MDAIPV，CALD，WNWEV，WDEU，OALD以及《时代周刊》（TIME）杂志和《大英百科全书》（Encyclopædia Britannica） 。