In the UK and the US, senior high
school students take part in various after-school activities, such as club
activities and volunteer work.
句子来自新教材高中英语外研版必修一第1单元p7。这里的after-school意思是“课后的”“课外的”“放学后的”,这个在词典上可以查到。我的意思是 after 的反义词 before 也能这样用吗?比如用 before-school 表示“上学前的”“上课前的”“课前的”(词典上没有查到)。请专家们指点,谢谢!
网友的猜想是有道理的,也是对的。
英语可以用 before-school 表示“上学前的”“上课前的”“课前的”。我们之所以可以在词典上查到 after-school 这个形容词,而查不到 before-school,是因为前者比较常见(所以词典收录了),后者比较少见(所以没有被词典收录)。但英语与汉语不同,大家知道,汉语是不可以随便“造字”的,但英语是完全可以根据“需要临时造词”的,尤其是一些带连字符的复合词(当然这也要遵循一定的构词法规则,而不是随意地乱造词)。先帮你查了一个 before-school 的词典例句:
The teacher’s duties that morning included supervising the before-school reading program. 那天上午这位老师的职责包括对课前阅读计划进行指导。(朗文英语写作词典)
再如大家比较熟悉的 after-tax(税后的)和before-tax(税前的):
after-tax salary 税后薪水
after-tax income 税后收入
after-tax profit 税后利润
before-tax salary 税前薪水
before-tax income 税前收入
before-tax profit 税前利润
更多词典上查不到的复合词举例(均来自高考英语题):
1. Everyone has taken a not-so-great class at one time or another. (2019全国卷III七选五)
2. When “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” was first shown to the public last month, a group of excited animal activists gathered on Hollywood Boulevard. But they weren’t there to throw red paint on fur-coat-wearing film stars. Instead, one activist, dressed in a full-body monkey suit, had arrived with a sign praising the filmmakers: “Thanks for not using real apes!” (2020全国卷Ⅲ阅读理解B)
3. What Theresa Loe is doing proves that a large farm isn’t a prerequisite for a modern grow-your-own lifestyle. On a mere 1 / 10 of an acre in Los Angeles, Loe and her family grow, can and preserve much of the food they consume. (2015湖北卷阅读理解B)