It won't be until...before...这个句式正确吗

And at current rates it won't be until 2086 before all rural African girls can have a secondary education.  


翻译:照目前的成长率来看,要到2086年,所有住在偏远地区的非洲女孩才能得到中等教育。


疑问:关于until有一个强调句:It is not until ... that ...如果把这句话改成:And at current rates it won't be until 2086 that all rural African girls can have a secondary education.就是我们熟悉的句型了。可是,有没有“It won't be until ... before ...”这个句型呢?是非正式的表达吗?

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最佳答案 2018-01-18 21:40

我认为这个句子中的before应为that,改为that后这个句子是一个强调句型。这是说话人的一个口误。由于说话人紧张,没有看演讲稿,受了前一句句型的影响而误将that说成了before。

从这句话的上下文我们知道,说话人在强调现在就必须采取行动,否则的话,要等很多年以后才能部分实现男女平等。她说:Because the reality is, that if we do nothing it will take 75 years, or for me to be nearly a hundred, before women can expect to be paid the same as men, for the same work.

句中的it will take 75 years before women can...意为“在妇女能够。。。之前需要有75年时间。”或者“要到75年之后,妇女才能够。。。”。说话人本可以继续用这个句式表达“要到2086年,所有非洲农村女孩才能受到中学教育”:It will take until 2086 before all rural African girls can have a secondary education. 但英语的一个特点就是避免重复,于是说话人的演讲稿中变换了句式,采用了强调句型:It won't be until 2086  that all rural African girls can have a secondary education. 等于 Not until 2086 can all rural African girls have a secondary education. 可是在实际演讲中,由于说话人紧张,没有看稿子,受了前一个句式的影响,发生口误将that说成了before. 虽然说话人是native speaker, 但犯这种口误的情况还是很有可能的。

这个句子来自英国女演员、女权活动家Emma Watson在联合国的演讲。(其演讲稿有人根据视频整理如下。红字部分是这个句子的上下文。)我也看了她演讲的视频。我注意到她演讲时基本不看演讲稿,只是偶尔看一眼。说到这句话时她没有看讲演稿。说话人提到她在联合国演讲感到很紧张,从她讲话的声音也能听出她确实有些紧张。我记得一篇段文中说,有个主持人在说开场白的时候,由于紧张,把Good evening, ladies and gentlemen说成了:Good ladies, evening and gentlemen. 

      Your excellencies, UN Secretary-General, President of the General Assembly, executive director of UN Women, and distinguished guests.
      Today we are launching a campaign called “HeForShe.”
      I am reaching out to you because we need your help. We want to end gender inequality – and to do this we need everyone involved. This is the first campaign of its kind at the UN: we want to try and galvanize as many men and boys as possible to be advocates for change. And we don’t just want to talk about it, we want to try and make sure that it’s tangible.
      I was appointed as Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women 6 months ago and the more I have spoken about feminism the more I have realized that fighting for women’s rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating. If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop.
      For the record, feminism by definition is: “The belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes.”
      I started questioning gender-based assumptions a long time ago, when I was eight, I was confused at being called “bossy,” because I wanted to direct the plays that we would put on for our parents—but the boys were not.
      When at 14 I started being sexualized by certain elements of the media.
      When at 15 my girlfriends started dropping out of their sports teams because they didn’t want to appear “muscly.”
      When at 18 my male friends were unable to express their feelings.
I decided that I was a feminist and this seemed uncomplicated to me. But my recent research has shown me that feminism has become an unpopular word. Women are choosing not to identify as feminist. Apparently I am among the ranks of women whose expressions are seen as too strong, too aggressive, isolating, and anti-men. Unattractive even.
      Why has the word become such an uncomfortable one?
      I am from Britain and I think it is right that I am paid the same as my male counterparts. I think it is right that I should be able to make decisions about my own body. I think it is right that women be involved on my behalf in the policies and decisions that will affect my life. I think it is right that socially I am afforded the same respect as men. But sadly I can say that there is no one country in the world where all women can expect to receive these rights.
      No country in the world can yet say that they have achieved gender equality.
These rights I consider to be human rights, but I am one of the lucky ones. My life is a sheer privilege because my parents didn’t love me less because I was born a daughter. My school did not limit me because I was a girl. My mentors didn’t assume I would go less far because I might give birth to a child one day. These influencers were the gender equality ambassadors that made me who I am today. They may not know it, but they are inadvertent feminists who are changing the world today. We need more of those. And if you still hate the word—it is not the word that is important, it’s the idea and the ambition behind it. Because not all women have received the same rights that I have. In fact, statistically, very few have been.
      In 1997, Hilary Clinton made a famous speech in Beijing about women’s rights. Sadly many of the things that she wanted to change are still true today.
But what stood out for me the most was that less than 30 per cent of the audience were male. How can we affect change in the world when only half of it is invited or feel welcome to participate in the conversation?
      Men — I would like to take this opportunity to extend your formal invitation. Gender equality is your issue too. Because to date, I’ve seen my father’s role as a parent being valued less by society despite my needing his presence as a child as much as my mother’s.
      I’ve seen young men suffering from mental illness unable to ask for help for fear it would make them less of a man — in fact in the UK suicide is the biggest killer of men between 20-49; eclipsing road accidents, cancer and coronary heart disease. I’ve seen men made fragile and insecure by a distorted sense of what constitutes male success. Men don’t have the benefits of equality either.
We don’t often talk about men being imprisoned through gender stereotypes but I can see that that they are and that when they are free, things will change for women as a natural consequence.
      If men don’t have to be aggressive in order to be accepted, women won’t feel compelled to be submissive. If men don’t have to control, women won’t have to be controlled.
      Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive. Both men and women should feel free to be strong… It is time that we all perceive gender on a spectrum instead of two sets of opposing ideals.
      If we stop defining each other by what we are not and start defining ourselves by who we are — we can all be freer and this is what HeForShe is about. It’s about freedom.
      I want men to take up this mantle. So that their daughters, sisters and mothers can be free from prejudice but also so that their sons have permission to be vulnerable and human too — reclaim those parts of themselves they abandoned and in doing so be a more true and complete version of themselves.
      You might be thinking who is this Harry Potter girl? And what is she doing speaking at the UN. And it’s a really good question, I have been asking myself the same thing. All I know is that I care about this problem. And I want to make it better.
And having seen what I’ve seen — and given the chance — I feel it is my responsibility to say something. Statesman Edmund Burke said: “All that is needed for the forces of evil to triumph is for good men and women to do nothing.”
      In my nervousness for this speech and in my moments of doubt I’ve told myself firmly — If not me, who? If not now, when? If you have similar doubts when opportunities are presented to you I hope that those words will be helpful.
      Because the reality is, that if we do nothing it will take 75 years, or for me to be nearly a hundred, before women can expect to be paid the same as men, for the same work. 15.5 million girls will be married in the next 16 years as children. And at current rates it won’t be until 2086 before all rural African girls can have a secondary education.
      If you believe in equality, you might be one of those inadvertent feminists I spoke of earlier.
      And for this I applaud you.
      We are struggling for a uniting word but the good news is that we have a uniting movement. It is called HeForShe. I am inviting you to step forward, to be seen and to ask yourself, “If not me, who? If not now, when?”
      Thank you very, very much.

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其它 2 个回答

刘永科   - 教育出版集团英语总顾问 & 英语系列图书主编
擅长:语法理论,语言学,文化背景

And at current rates it won't be until 2086 before all rural African girls can have a secondary education.  

翻译:照目前的成长率来看,要到2086年,所有住在偏远地区的非洲女孩才能得到中等教育。

【答】这个句子不是“强调句”,而是一个主从句:

主句:it won't be until 2086

从句:before all rural African girls can have a secondary education

 

在解答你这个问题之前,先看看我的这个讲解:

“It + be + 一段时间 + before...”,意为:“多久之后才……”。

【例句】It will be half a year before I come back.

【分析】it 表示“时间”,在我回来之前,时间将有半年。意为“我半年之后才会回来。”

【例句】It was long before they met again.

【分析】it 表示“时间”,在他们再次见面前(的日子里),时间是很长的。意为“过了好久他们才又见面。”

【例句】It won't be long before you regret for what you’ve done.

【分析】it 表示“时间”,在你后悔你的所作所为之前,时间不会长了。意为“不久你就会为你的所作所为后悔的。”

以上三句,It 表示“时间”,before 表示“在……之前”的本义,结合时态和肯定否定,就很容易理解句子的含义了。

万变不离其宗。无论怎么翻译,before 依然具有“在……之前”的本来面貌。


你的句子中,until 2086 这个词组,就相当于“从现在到2086年的这一段时间”。我用69 years 代替它:And at current rates it won't be 69 years before all rural African girls can have a secondary education.  

请看:这个句子是不是跟上面讲的道理一样?


【字面意思】照目前的成长率来看,在所有住在偏远地区的非洲女孩才能得到中等教育之前,时间不到69年。

【变通翻译】照目前的成长率来看,不用69年的时间,所有住在偏远地区的非洲女孩才能得到中等教育。


 



 


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陈才   - 英语教师
擅长:中考英语,词法问题

同意刘老师解答


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