seldom 用法1
問：Seldom ________ such a night.
A. I did see
B. have I seen
C. have seen I
D. I saw
我知道seldom 等否定詞位於句首時主詞動詞要倒裝, 但我不明白為什麼上面的試題不能選C, 難道C(have seen I) 不是主詞動詞倒裝嗎?
答：應當牢牢記住有關seldom 用法: 當never, little, seldom, hardly, scarcely, rarely, 等否定副詞位於句首時, 只要求主詞和助動詞(be, do, have, can 等助動詞) 的倒裝, 而不要求主詞和動詞整個組成成分的完全倒裝。如果在肯定句中沒有助動詞, 則在帶有seldom, hardly, rarely, 等副詞的否定句中必須添加一個助動詞do(does) 或did 放在主詞之前, 而把一般動詞放在主詞之後。這種部分倒裝是文法上的強制性要求, 而不是語用上選擇優劣的用法問題。例如:
- Little did we expect that he would fulfill his task so rapidly.
我們一點兒也沒有料到他會如此迅速地完成任務。 - Little does he care whether we live or die.
他毫不關心我們是死還是活。 - Seldom has a single concept played so important a role in mathematics as the concept of function.
很少有哪一個概念像函數概念那樣在數學上起過這麼重要的作用。
seldom 用法 2 (seldom, if ever)
問：He is seldom, if ever, absent from school.
如何分析seldom, if ever?
答：seldom, if ever 或seldom if ever = seldom or never 是個成語, 可不分析它的構成或句内的seldom 用法, 只要掌握住其含義就可以了:“很少”、“難得”、“絕無僅有”。它與rarely, if ever 具有相同的含義:
- She seldom, if ever, goes to the opera.
她難得(很少) 去看歌劇。 - …his children rarely, if ever, see him at this place of work. (New Concept English, Book 4, L.8)
…孩子們難得在父親的工作地點看到他。 - But the women at work in the shipyards and other war plants were seldom, if ever, called ladies.
但是, 在造船廠和其他軍事工廠工作的婦女很少被稱作女士。
seldom 用法 3 (seldom more than)
問：The life span of a sunfish is short, _______ then years.
A. more seldom than
B. more than seldom
C. seldom more than
D. seldom than more
(TOEFL, 85.5)
請分析上面的試題中seldom more than 的含義。
答：seldom more than 與little more than 同義, 見little more than。
seldom 用法 4 (seldom or never)
問：…elementary school, where home assignments are seldom or never given.
seldom or never 是什麼意思?
答：seldom or never 和seldom if ever 的意思很近似, 都表示“難得”、“極少”的意思。但seldom or never 的否定含義更強烈, 有時可以譯作“簡直不”。例如:
- She seldom or never made a mistake. 她極少, 甚至可以說完全沒有出過差錯。
- He seldom or never gives his wife a present. 他可以說從來不給妻子禮物。
- My interest is always in the subjective event, seldom or never in the objective event. 我的興趣總是在主觀事件上, 幾乎從不在客觀事件上。