so mush as - used after a negative word ( such as not or contraction of not ) to stress the smallness of an amount or effort 甚至 (用在否定词后,强调数量之少或事情之小)We didn't hear so mush as a word from her the whole time. [ = we didn't hear a word from her ]自始至终,我们甚至都没听到她说一个字。Not only did they not help, they didn't so mush as [ = even ] offer to help ! 他们不仅没帮忙,甚至都没表示要帮忙。They ended their date without so mush as a hug. 约会结束时,他们甚至连个拥抱都没有。(摘自《韦氏高阶英汉双解词典》p.1986)
下面句子中的 so much as 也属于这种用法 (so much as 用在否定词 never 后面):
Until this evening,I had never so much as exchanged a word with him. 在今天晚上之前,我甚至连一句话都未跟他说过。