文法淺釋系列 (73)

文法淺釋系列 (73)

文法(grammar)與句型(sentence patterns)

四、 副詞 (Adverb)：修飾：動詞、形容詞、另一副詞、

全句(前、後述)

50) on earth/ on the earth/ in the earth之分別

earth n. 地球

1. on ~ 在地球上； 在世界上：

a. Bill Gates is regarded as one of the richest men on ~ (= in the world)

畢爾蓋次被認為是世界上最富有的人之一。

b. 作加强語氣的副詞片語， 通常用在否定句或疑問句

The director did not say a word on ~ (=in the world) about the actress.關於女演員， 導演連一句話也沒說。

Why on earth are you wasting so much on computer games? (你究竟為何花這麼多時間在電腦遊戲上?)

c. “This is what I was put on earth to do.” 這是我生下來要做的事。-Steven Spielberg 著名導演說，『這是我生下來要做的事』。put on earth = born

比較：

口語用法，在疑問代名詞之後常用the hell 代替，但除非與聽話者十分熟悉

，否則還是「不禮貌」的用詞：

Who the hell are you talking to? 你到底和誰說話？

Who the hell do you think you are? 你自以為何許人也？

What the hell is he waiting for? 他有什麼好等候的？

Why the hell does he keep fooling around? 他幹嗎老無所事事？

“This is terrible!” she exclaimed.  “How in the world  shall I ever

be able to explain to her?  I should have known better than to give

you money in the first place, and I was a fool for listening to you…”

  (「可怕！」她驚叫著「我到底要怎樣才能向她解釋？首先我本不該笨到

給你錢，我是個笨瓜竟聽你的……) (註：in the world 作加語氣用；should

have known than to+ v. = be wise enough not to have +p.p. 聰明得不致於…

2. on the ~ (純粹指) 地球表面上：

This species of animal surviving on the ~ is getting fewer and fewer.  

 存活在世界上的這種動物愈來愈少。

   

3. in the ~ 指地球里面

20 feet below in the ~ was buried an ancient city.  地下20英呎深處埋著一座

古城 。

(精選句子)

How far, if at all we can change human nature we do not know,

but we have plenty of evidence that we can change behavior for the

better, even though the process is less simple and less dependent

on obvious improvements of physical circumstance than we imagined. 

(雖然我們不知道到底能改變多少人性，可是我們有許多証據証明，可以把人

 類 的行為改得更好；即使這個過程比我們想像複雜，且它也並非全依靠

 外在環境明顯的改進就能做到。)   (, if at all…作加語氣用)

05/02/2014