論述事物的好處是議論文中經常用來支持自己觀點的重要手段,這其中避不開的一個詞彙就是benefit,但是學生往往在使用時出錯,且一篇文章中錯上好幾次,大有不逼瘋考官誓不罷休的盡頭。使用該詞時所犯錯誤五花八門,且舉兩例:
①More and more countries are benefit from outer space exploration.
②In addition, exploring outer space will also take a lot of benefits for the people.
為了弄清楚上述句子到底該如何修改並讓學生記牢benefit的用法,接下來就來詳細看看這個詞兒。
Benefit首先可以用為及物動詞,即後面直接跟賓語。其前為帶來好處的人或物,其後為獲益者,即A benefits B。且看如下例句(例句③至⑩均摘自李笑來老師編著的《李笑來TOEFL iBT高分作文》):
③These people include good government officials who try to make policies that benefit the poorer class of society.(這些人中包括一些好的政府官員。他們努力制定造福社會中貧窮階層的政策。)
其次,benefit經常與from搭配,表示「從中獲益」。即,A benefits B的對應結構就是B benefits from A。請看例句:
④We need to eliminate the stereotype that women are less intelligent than men so that our community can benefit from the achievements that women are capable of making when armed with education.(我們要消除那種女人沒有男人聰明的定勢思維;這樣一來,當女性擁有知識時,我們的社會就能從她們所能達成的成就中獲益。)
至此已不難看出句①錯在何處了:are benefit from中兩個動詞,難以容忍。故需要修改為:
More and more countries benefit from outer space exploration.
在句②中,benefit顯然用作了名次。在作名次時,該詞用法搭配非常多,但是take和benefit並不是句中那樣搭配的。句②的表述實際上是Chinglish:「也給人們帶去/來很多的好處。」寫作過程中,字對字的漢英翻譯是很危險的,一不小心,就會由於兩種語言之間的差異而貽笑大方。Take和benefit的正確組合是take benefit from,意思類似take advantage of,表示「利用……之便」。如:
Indonesia must take benefit from its position as a member of G20 countries to gain loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) if another crisis strikes again, a senior economist told Xinhua in a recent interview.(摘自http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/7038979.html。意為:一位著名經濟學家在接受新華社採訪時表示,如果新的危機來襲,印度尼西亞必須利用自己G20成員國身份之便從國際貨幣基金組織獲取貸款。)
那麼出錯的句②到底如何修改才能表達「太空探索也給人民帶來很多好處」呢?切記:不要字對字翻譯!所謂的「帶來很多好處」也就是benefit一個動詞而已,即:
In addition, exploring outer space also benefits people a lot.或者:
In addition, people can also benefit a lot from outer space exploration.