有讀者提問下面這句:
Trump frequently attacks and mocks political enemies on Twitter, and previously went after Thunberg in September, though his Thursday morning broadside was still jarring coming from a sitting US president against a teenager.
下圖是該句的語境:
這是摘自前天(2019年12月13日)的CNN一篇文章:
上周四,川普發推文揶揄嘲弄(mock)瑞典的環保女孩Greta Thunberg,後者剛被美國《時代》(Time)雜誌評為「年度人物」(Person of the Year):
以上是該句的簡單背景,下面我們逐一分析句子結構:
Trump frequently attacks and mocks political enemies on Twitter, and previously went after Thunberg in September, though his Thursday morning broadside was still jarring coming from a sitting US president against a teenager.
首先,作者採用了一般現在時態(attacks and mocks)談論一個習慣(即川普的習慣):
Trump frequently attacks and mocks political enemies on Twitter,
(川普時常在推特上攻擊和嘲弄他的政敵)
然後作者通過and連接,講述之前(也即今年9月24日)川普另外一次發推文揶揄(went after)環保女孩Greta:
and previously went after Thunberg in September
在推文中,川普說道:
She seems like a very happy young girl ...
但實際上她的情緒是這樣的:
在面對如此「憤怒」的Greta,川普竟然說她是very happy,這自然是在嘲諷、挖苦。
在講完Trump frequently attacks and mocks political enemies on Twitter, and previously went after Thunberg in September,
之後,作者通過連詞though引出了一個大家都熟悉的「讓步狀語從句」:
though his Thursday morning broadside was still jarring coming from a sitting US president against a teenager.
上面那位讀者提問的是,這裡coming短語修飾誰的?
下面我就來簡單說說這個though和coming。
先說coming。這個coming的邏輯主語是broadside「猛烈抨擊」。也就是相當於說:the broadside came from...。
你可以說coming是broadside的後置定語,也可以說是分詞作狀語,其邏輯主語就是句子主語broadside。我傾向於把這裡coming看成狀語,原因是這裡coming也與謂語內容was still jarring有邏輯語義關係,帶有原因的意味,說明jarring「刺耳的」原因,是因為coming from a sitting US president against a teenager「一個現任的美國總統對一個小姑娘的猛烈抨擊」。我們可以添加逗號或破折號這樣改寫:
改寫1: though his Thursday morning broadside was still jarring — coming from a sitting US president against a teenager.
理解到上面這一層邏輯含義,實際上我們還可以添加一個as從句來強調這種原因意味,寫成:
改寫2: though his Thursday morning broadside was still jarring — coming as it did from a sitting US president against a teenager.
看到這裡,我估計有同學會生疑惑了:這裡coming as it did是個什麼東東?
有這樣的疑惑就對了,因為它關係到as從句的邏輯含義和用法,在此我無法展開講。看了這句,我就知道,英語母語人會認為這裡添加一個as it did就更具有強調意味了,這就是英文思維邏輯。因為我掌握了這個思維邏輯,所以,我知道這裡能夠添加as it did。
在我的飯糰提問裡,我多次回答過doing as it did這樣的句式,我也相信一定有同學關注過這樣的句式,在GMAT和SAT考試中都出現過這樣的句子。我將在日後出版的《as從句超精解》專著中詳細論述這裡as從句的邏輯構造。
下面再說這裡的though。
我不知道你們在看完這個句子之後是如何理解的?尤其是though前後兩部分的邏輯語義關係。我們現在分別來看。
though之前的主句:
Trump frequently attacks and mocks political enemies on Twitter, and previously went after Thunberg in September
大意是說:川普時常在推特上攻擊和嘲弄他的政敵,而且之前在9月份也揶揄過Thunberg。
though之後的從句:
though his Thursday morning broadside was still jarring coming from a sitting US president against a teenager.
大意是說:儘管他周四早上的猛烈抨擊依然刺耳,考慮到是一位現任美國總統懟一位小姑娘。
現在我們再把上面前後兩個中文譯文結合起來看:
川普時常在推特上攻擊和嘲弄他的政敵,而且之前在9月份也揶揄過Thunberg,儘管他周四早上的猛烈抨擊依然刺耳,考慮到是一位現任美國總統懟一位小姑娘。
我不知道大家是否理解上面這句作者本來想表達的意思了?
如果沒有明白,也很正常,因為他這裡意思是沒有很好的表達清楚——他這裡的though用得不是十分貼切,需要改進一下。下面我用nevertheless進行改寫。
我們先來簡單比較一下though和nevertheless用法區別。請比較:
a. Though she often annoyed him, he was fond of her.(儘管她經常讓他心煩,但他還是喜歡她。)
b. He was fond of her, though she often annoyed him.
c. She often annoyed him. Nevertheless, he was fond of her.(她經常讓他心煩,但即使這樣,他還是喜歡她。)
我們看到,though和nevertheless後邊接的句子正好互換了。據此,我把原句改寫如下:
Trump frequently attacks and mocks political enemies on Twitter, and previously went after Thunberg in September. Nevertheless, his Thursday morning broadside was jarring — coming, as it did, from a sitting US president against a teenager.
我這裡把though(連詞)改為了nevertheless(副詞),所以標點符號也發生了改變。另外,我還去掉了原句中jarring之前的still,因為nevertheless(=but still)就暗含了still的意思,如果寫成Nevertheless, his Thursday morning broadside was still jarring,就顯得語義重複了。
改寫之後的邏輯語義關係就更加清晰了,作者想表達意思是:儘管我們對於川普的一貫作風都很熟悉了,比如他時常在推特上攻擊和嘲弄他的政敵,而且之前在9月份也針對過Thunberg,但即便如此(nevertheless或者說in spite of this),對於他周四這次的猛烈抨擊,我們還是覺得很震驚,聽起來很刺耳,尤其是考慮到他作為現任的美國總統這樣有權勢的人物竟然懟一位青少年。
川普這次懟的推文是:
總結一下,今天我們討論中涉及到了下面的語言知識點:
1. though和nevertheless在句中的位置關係不同(以及標點符號也不同)。
2. 分詞coming的修飾對象和成分。
3. as從句用在分詞後邊(如coming as it did)具有強調意味。
通過我以上的句子改寫,相信大家看到了:語法不是死規則,而是活思維,這也是我的《英語語法新思維》書中一直倡導的語法理念。另外,大家也看到了,外媒的英文句子,也並不是完美無缺的(甚至偶爾還會有錯誤)。只要你真正掌握了英文語言的「遊戲規則」,你就能夠按照他們的規則來玩英文造句這個遊戲。這個遊戲規則就是英文思維!
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