may, may well, may as well 的差异是怎样的？

【解答】在这种用法中的may，是表示辩护理由的，而 well 则为 with good reason 的意思，当may well 连用时，则意为 have good reason to (这样也是有理由的，无怪）。（a）例的意思

是 “她以自己的儿子为荣是应该的” 或 “她有这样的儿子是足以骄傲的”。这句话又可以倒过来说成 She is proud of her son, and well she may.(她以自己的儿子为荣也是应该的。) 句中的

“well + 主语 + may” ( = and with reason)，意为 “那也是应该的”，有时不说 may，单用一个well，也能表with good reason 之意，如 We cannot very well refuse him.(我们没有好的理由来拒绝他。）不过一般的常见的用法，是may well 连用，如 You may well say so.(你很有理由这样说。)

至于（b）句则是一种比较的形式，为 You may as well begin at once (as not) 的省略，意为 “马上着手与不马上着手的理由同样充分，所以还是马上着手的好”，简单地翻译为 “你宜早着手”，或 "你不妨马上着手"，因为 may as well... (as) = had better.. (than), 也如同 had better

后的 than 不说出来一样，may as well 后的as也是不常说的，但不是不可以说，如：

You might as well throw money away as spend it in gambling (你把钱花在赌博上不如把钱丢掉。)

One may as well not know a thing at all as know it but imperfectly. (一知半解还不如完全不知。)

One may as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb. (与其盗小羊面受绞母宁盗大羊而受绞。窃钩毋宁窃国。）(谚语）

这个may as well 的表现法是和may well 意思不同的。第一人称的I may as well 与第二人称的You had better 相当。普通单用，略去后面的 as not 时，可译作“为宜”，“你最好那样”，

“还是那样做的好”。如果后面加有as的子句时，就可译作“不如”，犹之”，“可与相等”，这是一种极力否定的说法。