中國人輕松學英語常用語法(14)

第十四章 總復習的例子

在這一章，我們將給很多簡短的文章，每一段文章的后面，我們都會有詳細的解釋，相信這些解釋將有助于讀者對于文法的了解。

（１）

Dear Mother:

I arrived at the Taipei Train Station around one o’clock in the afternoon yesterday. My friend, Mr. Chen, greeted me in the station. We took a taxi to go directly to the university and checked into the dormitory. The dormitory is a very old one. I will live with three other boys and I met two of them already. Both of them are from Taichung and they are both quite friendly.

We went to the dormitory cafeteria for dinner. The food is not that good. Dear Mother, I miss you and especially the food you cooked for me.

Your son

這封信很簡單，所敘述的事情不是用簡單的現在式，就是簡單的過去式，當然也有一次用了未來式。

絕大多數的句子都用了簡單的過去式，因為這些句子都是敘述過去所發生的事，用現在式的有以下幾句：

The dormitory is a very old one.

Both of them are from Taichung.

The food is not that good.

I miss you and the food you cooked for me.

為什么這幾句話要用現在式呢？道理很簡單，這幾句話描寫的是一些狀態，而并非過去發生的事。

〝The dormitory is a very old one.〞

〝Both of them are from Taichung.〞

〝The food is not that good.〞

〝I miss you and the food you cooked for me.〞

等四個句子都是目前存在的事實，所以要用現在式。

現在我們不妨看一下冠詞的情形，我們可以看到很多地方都用了the，如：

the Taipei Train Station

the afternoon

the station

the university

the dormitory cafetervia

the dormitory

the food

the food you cooked for me

各位讀者一定可以注意到在the后面的名詞都有所指，舉例來說，the university指那所作者要去念的大學，他的媽媽知道他所說的是那一所大學。The dormitory指那間他已搬進去住的宿舍。凡是有所指的名詞前面，原則上都應該加the。

哪里用了〝a〞呢？注意，我們用了兩次

a taxi

a very old one

讀者應該不難看出為什么這里我們不能用the，而一定要用a。

（２）

Mary: "Hello, this is Mary. Who is calling?"

John: "Hi, this is John. How are you?"

Mary: "I am doing fine. In fact, I am studying for the final examination now."

John: "Oh, I am sorry. When will the exam be over?"

Mary: "This Friday."

John: "Then, can we have dinner Friday evening?"

Mary: "OK, where are we going to eat?"

John: "How about the Chinese restaurant called Four Seasons?"

Mary: "That is all right with me. When do we meet?"

John: "How about six o’clock?"

Mary: "That’s it. See you Friday evening at 6 o’clock at the Four Seasons."

這一篇短文主要的目的在于介紹所謂現在進行式。

Who is calling.

I am doing fine.

I am studying for the final examination now.

都是標準的現在進行式，事實上，也必須用現在進行式。

（３）

I have been interested in music ever since I was a small child. When I was seven years old, my mother gave me a violin as a birthday present. I have been taking violin lessons ever since.

I am so much interested in music that I finally decided to go to music school. This was a hard decision for me. I consulted with my parents. Both of them encouraged me to go ahead.

Yesterday, I was accepted by one of the best music schools in Taiwan. I am really happy about this.

這一段話中，我們開始用現在完成式，比方說第一句話就是

I have been interested in music ever since I was a small child.

為什么要用現在完成式呢？道理很簡單，這句話里面有有〝ever since〞這個詞，凡是有了這個詞句，我們就一定要用現在完成式了。

另外一句用了現在完成進行式的句子是：

I have been taking violin lessons ever since.

讀者不妨去看看第四章，就知道為什么這里要用現在完成進行式了。凡是〝自從〞某某日開始，而就一直在做的事情，就應該用現在完成式，或者現在完成進行式。

這一段文章里面，我們還用了被動語氣。

I was accepted by one of the best music schools in Taiwan.

各位讀者不妨注意，這被動語氣的用法是很正當而且適宜的，如用主動這句話變成了

One of the best music schools accepted me.

這樣反而并不太能表達原意。

（４）

Before I got into college, I had been to the United States and lived there for one year. This is why I could speak English better than average students.

As I studied as a college student, Hitler was secretly preparing for the Second World War. The war erupted finally when I was a senior. I was forced to quit school and was drafted into the army. I luckily survived the war and came back to resume my studying after the war was over. Since I had gone to the war, I was more mature than most of the other students.

Even now, I can still remember my days as a college student as well as a soldier.

這篇文章介紹了如何使用過去完成式，第一句話就用了過去完成式，因為有兩件事，一件是〝進大學〞，另一件是〝去過美國〞，由于在進大學以前去美國，所以〝去美國〞就用了過去完成式。

請注意第二段的第一句：

As I studied as a college student, Hitler was secretly preparing for the Second World War.

這一次，我們用了過去進行式，因為有兩件事，〝在學校念書〞是一件事，〝希特勒在準備發動第二次世界大戰〞是另一件事，其中有一件可以用過去完成式。

同理，在第二段話的最后一句話中，〝曾經去打過仗〞用了過去完成式。

這段文章中，有一句話用了被動語氣，讀者不妨看這句話〝I was forced to quit school.〞，其實我們在這種情形之下，我們必須用被動語氣，當然也可以用主動語氣，不過那并不太自然。

也請讀者注意這段文章的最后一句話仍一定要用現在式。

（５）

I have been interested in reading novels for a long time. Among all of the novels that I have read, I like detective novels the most. Among all detective novels, I especially like those written by Agatha Christe.

Last year, I started reading another kind of novels, namely science fictions. I found out that some science fiction writers are quite philosophical. Unfortunately, there are not too many of them.

I always have a dream that one day I will be good in writing novels. Do you think that my dreams may come true?

這段文章中，我們介紹了動名詞的用法，第一句話的reading就是動名詞，除此以外，我們還有兩處用了動名詞：started reading和good in writing。

讀者也應該了解為什么第一句話要用現在完成進行式，在第二句話里面，當我們形容novels，我們也用了現在完成式。

請讀者注意第一段的最后一句話，those written by Agatha Christe。在這里，written是一個過去分詞用作了形容詞，形容novels，我們也可以說those which were written by Agatha Christe.

順便講一下，Agatha Christe是一位非常著名的偵探小說作者。

也請大家注意，我們只能說interested in reading，而不能說interesting in reading。

（６）

Tomorrow, there will be a dancing party in our university. Since we are freshmen and most of us have never been to a large dancing party, we are naturally very much excited. I must say that I am not that excited. Although dancing is interesting, I often think that the music is too loud. Besides, as a bystander, I often find the way that the young people dance these days is so funny. When they dance, they often remind me of monkeys.

Well, I must admit that playing basketball is more interesting to me. But, unfortunately, I cannot play basketball tomorrow because the courts will be used for the dancing party.

這一段話主要的目的是介紹現分詞和過去分詞用成形容詞的做法。第一個現在分詞是dancing，dancing 在這里形容party。

我們在這里看到有些時候，我們應該用現在分詞，有時要用過去分詞。請看以下的句子：

We are naturally very much excited.

在這里，我們一定要用excited，絕對不能用

＊We are naturally very exciting.

下一句

Although dancing is interesting,

在這里，我們必須用interesting，而不能用interested。也就是說，我們不能說

＊Although dancing is interested.

（７）

We probably all believe that we should love others and forgive those who do bad things to us. Unfortunately it is often hard for us to practice what we believe in. For example, if someone really hurts us badly, we just do not know what we should do. Should we take some kind of action to hurt the person who hurt us, or should we forgive him?

The truth is that we may still seek justice. It is right if we want a criminal to go to jail for his crime. Yet, we should never have hatred in our hearts.

這篇文章的目的在介紹〝子句〞的用法，請注意這篇文章內的很多子句，舉例來說

that we should love others and forgive those who do bad things.

就是一個子句，這個子句是believe的受詞，有趣的是，這個子句內部又有一個子句，那就是

who do bad things to do.

這個子句是形容those的。

以下是這一段文章的全部子句：

that we should love others and forgive those

who do bad things to us

what we believe in

what we should do

that we may still seek justice