我感觉你提出的问题似乎没有把你心里真正的疑问清晰地完全表达出来。我就多说几句，不知道是否对症下药。

1. 首先，为了叙述方便，我们不妨把这一结构中第一个as后的词分为“正向”和“负向”两类。例如：

    正向词：many, much, tall, big, heavy, old

    负向词：few, little, short, small, light, young

2. 当我们不带倾向地仅关注客观的数量、尺寸、高度、重量等因素时，通常只用正向词，尤其不考虑前后文时。例如：

      I have as many shirts as you.

      My flat is as big as yours.

      Bill is as tall as Jack.

显然，上述句中的正向词不带个人主观色彩。即：many并不表示“多”或“很多”，big并不意味着真的“大”或“很大”。用as...as...仅表示数量相等或大小一样而已。

正因为正向词所具有的这一“中性”特质，当我们不带倾向地、客观地询问某个数值是多少时，须用正向词。例如，问多高要用how tall，不用how short；问多少要用how many/ much，不用how few/little；问年龄多大用how old，不用how young。

3. 当我们要表示一个高于（大于、多于）预期的（或通常的）数值时，通常用正向词。这时通常需要一定的上下文语境或常识（以下例句中用粗体字提示）来确定这层含义，否则就与第2项中的正向词用法难以区分。例如：

      Tom is growing fast, and now he’s as tall as you. (Tom个子长得快，长得高，超乎预料)

      The fellow had as many lives as a cat. （猫有九条命，很多哦）

当第二个as后接数字时往往是（虽并非总是）这层意思。例如：      

      As many as 60 students competed for the prize. （多达六十人，一个奖）

当然，仍然要考虑各种语境因素，这很重要。    

     反之亦然。当我们要表示一个低于（小于、少于）预期的（或通常的）的数值时，则用负向词。例如：

      The main problem is a huge tree as few as 3 metres from the house, which keeps out the light. 

     There is a small number involved, possibly as few as a hundred,

      It’s as small as a pinhead.（小若针尖）

现在用A、B、C、D四个选项完成1-3题的填空应该没有问题：

              A few      B. short      C. many     D. long

1. A written text may be as _______ as a novel or a multi-volume encyclopedia; it may be as ______ as a one-word notice, such as Exit. 

2. I used to smoke as_______ as 60 cigarettes a day. 

3. One study showed that even as _______ as ten cigarettes a day can damage fertility. 

     以上供参考。