There were still forests closely surrounding Bangkok into the last half of the nineteenth century, and even at century's end there were wild elephants and tigers roaming the countryside only twenty or thirty miles away.
请教一下各位老师,如何判断这句话中的“only twenty or thirty miles away”是在修饰elephants and tigers roaming,即指大象和老虎闲逛的距离,还是在修饰countryside,即指countryside到Bangkok的距离?
既然你已经知道only twenty or thirty miles away是状语,就应该知道它不是修饰countryside的,如果修饰countryside,那就不是状语而是定语了。而这个副词短语修饰农村是不符合逻辑的,the countryside不需要一个限制性定语,应该排除它是定语。
单纯从语法角度看,即这个副词短语是修饰现在分词roaming的,也可能是修饰there were存在句的。如果我们把这个副词短语移至句首:Only twenty or thirty miles away (from Bangkok), there were wild elephants and tigers roaming the countryside. 则副词短语就是修饰there were的。
当这个副词短语位于句末时,句子就有歧义了,可以把它分析为现在分词的状语,也可以分析为there were的状语。但结合前一句提及19世纪曼谷周围都是森林,那么本句讲19世纪末曼谷周围的情况是更符合逻辑的。所以我认为这个副词短语应该是there were的地点状语。
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