would rather, prefer 用法示例

 

[新E英语 2008-06-11]

 

would rather 和 prefer 都有“更喜欢这，而不是那”的意思。它们在意思上大同小异，但在用法上特别是句型结构上不完全相同。本文做一个简要的归纳。

 

一、would rather

 

它的意思是“宁愿做某件事”，或者解释为“还是做某件事更好些”。在正式文体中，would rather 可以用should rather. 另外，美国英语中多用had rather 表示“宁愿、宁肯”的意思。也就是说，would rather, should rather, had rather 的意思基本相同，用法也大致相同。

 

我们要理解would rather的用法特点，最重要的一点就是把would rather 看成是一个情态动词。情态动词后面直接接动词原形，那么would rather 也是后面接动词原形；情态动词的否定形式是在后面加not，那么would rather 的否定形式也是在后面加not，即would rather not do sth.

 

其次，我们要记住 would rather 有两个最常用的用法：
1. would rather do this 宁愿(宁肯、宁可)做这件事；
2. would rather do this than do that 宁愿做this 这件事，而不做that 那件事。

 

下面分别讲解would rather 的用法。

 

1. would rather do this. 宁愿(宁肯、宁可)做这件事；

 

If you’d rather be alone, we’ll all leave here.
如果你宁愿独自呆着，那我们都离开这儿。
He’d rather work in the countryside.
她宁可到农村去工作。
You would rather stay at home and do some reading this evening.
今晚你最好呆在家中读点书。

 

Mr Li would rather not listen to rock music.
李先生不愿意听摇滚音乐。

 

I'd rather have a quiet night in front of the TV.
We could eat later if you would rather do that.
'I think you'd better ask her.' ' I'd rather not (=I do not want to) .'

 

2. would rather…than…// would…rather than… 宁愿做this ，而不做that.

 

请注意上面这两个句式的不同。rather than 本身也是一个词组，也可以表示“不愿做某事”的意思。所以，这两个句式的意思是一样的。

 

He would rather watch TV at home than go to the cinema.
他宁可在家看电视而不愿去看电影。
We would rather have noodles than rice.
我们宁愿吃面条也不吃米饭。
Mr. Wang would rather go to work by bike than by bus.
小王宁愿骑自行车也不愿乘公共汽车去上班。

 

The children would walk there rather than take a bus.
孩子们宁愿步行去那里而不愿乘公共汽车。
Bryson decided to quit rather than accept the new rules.
Bryson 决定宁愿辞职，而不愿接受那个新规定。
I think you'd call it a lecture rather than a talk.
我认为你愿意称它为一次讲座，而不是一次谈话。

 

Which would you rather have, apples or bananas?
你喜欢吃ping果还是香蕉？
Would you rather read a novel than read a poem?
你宁愿看小说而不愿朗读诗歌吗？

 

3.  倒装形式: Rather than... would....

 

上面讲过，rather than 本身也是一个词组，所以可以先说rather than...再说would ，这就形成了倒装，它的意思是“与其这样，不如那样”。例如：

 

Rather than work in such bad condition, he would give up.
与其在这样差的条件下工作，他宁愿放弃。
Rather than go straight on to university why not get some work experience first?
与其直接上大学，为什么不先积累一点工作经验呢？

 

4. 使用would rather…than…句型时要注意“平行结构”

 

这个句型实际上是说了两件事、两个方法等。在使用中，提醒大家注意的是：在than 的前后要用两个相同的结构，如两个名词、两个不定式、两个介词短语等。

 

例 He would rather drink wine than beer．
他喜欢喝红葡萄酒而不喜欢喝啤酒。

 

I would rather talk with his mother than with his father.
我宁愿和他妈说话而不愿和他爸说话。

 

Would you rather stay here or go home?
你愿意呆在这里，还是回家？

 

5. 虚拟语气：would rather + that 从句

 

在would rather 后接一个从句，常可用来表示虚拟语气。关于虚拟语气的用法只简单提一下: 在that 从句中，对现在和将来的假设用谓语用过去式；对过去的假设，谓语则用完成时。例如： 

 

John wants to see me today. I would rather he came to tomorrow than today.
约翰今天想去看我。我宁愿他明天来看我而不是今天。
We’d rather he paid us the money tomorrow.
我们宁愿他明天付给我们那笔钱。
Don’t come tomorrow. I’d rather you came next weekend.
明天别来。我希望你下周末来。
Henry would rather that his girlfriend worked in the same department as he does．
亨利希望他的女朋友和他在一个部门工作。

 

Would rather you had not done that.
我真希望你没有做那件事。
I would rather have gone to the theatre than stayed home night.
我真希望昨天晚上去看了戏而不是呆在家里。
He would rather be poor than have got money by dishonest methods．
他宁可穷也不愿意用不诚实的手段获取金钱。

 

二、prefer

 

 prefer 只是英语中一个普通的动词，而且是及物动词。prefer有几种意思，其中有一个意思是表示“更喜欢做某事”。

 

prefer 在表示“更喜欢做/更倾向于做”的时候，有三种常用的结构：
1. prefer <名词性词组>
2. prefer ... to ...    喜欢这件事而不喜欢那件事; 喜欢这件事胜过那件事
3. prefer ... rather than ... 宁愿[愿意] 这个, 而不愿那个

 

下面分别讲解prefer 的用法。

 

1. prefer <名词性词组> 喜欢做某事

 

prefer 是及物动词，后面要接名词性的成份；如果是动词的话，要用不定式或动名词形式。因而可以概括为prefer sth. / prefer to do sth. / prefer doing sth. 请大家注意prefer 的一些细微区别。例如：

 

Would you like some gin？I’d prefer a coffee．
您想喝点杜松子酒吗？我想喝点咖啡。
He comes from Shanghai, so he prefers rice.
他是上海人，因此更喜欢吃米饭。

 

He prefers going by bike.
他宁愿骑单车去。
I prefer you to go at once.
我倒希望你马上就走。(prefer sb. )
I would prefer him to be with us next season...
我很愿意他下一次和我们一起去。
Do you prefer to exercise indoors or outdoors?
你喜欢在室内还是室外运动？
At the moment, he preferred not to think about the future.
此时此刻,他宁愿不去想未来的事情。(否定形式 prefer not...)

 

2. pfrefer ... to ... 更喜欢this, 而不是that

 

prefer...to... 可以看作是一个固定的搭配，表示更喜欢……而不是……。请大家注意这里的prefer A to B 是两件事物进行比较，不是上面所讲的prefer to do sth. (更喜欢做某一个事物)。例如：

 

Tom prefers reading to talking．
汤姆喜欢读书而不喜欢谈天。
He prefers tennis to golf
他喜欢打网球而不喜欢打高尔夫球。
They prefer swimming to skating.
他们喜欢游泳胜过滑冰。
I prefer tea to milk.
我宁愿喝茶也不喝牛奶。
I prefer watching TV to going out.
我宁愿看电视也不出去。

 

3. prefer to... rather than... 宁愿做这件事，而不愿做那件事。

 

prefer to 还可与rather than 或 instead of 连用，表示宁愿做这件事，而不愿做那件事。rather than 或 instead of 本身就有“而不是”的意思，这样连用意义就明确了。例如：

 

He preferred to die rather than (to) steal. //He perferred to die instead of stealing.
他宁死也不去偷窃。
I prefer to watch TV rather than go out.
我宁愿呆在家里也不出去。

 

4. 虚拟语气: prefer＋ that 从句

 

prefer 后接that 从句，也可表示虚拟语气。关于虚拟语气的一般用法，请看上面的would rather 的虚拟语气用法。

 

I prefer that you should do it.
我宁愿你做这件事。
I’d prefer to have gone by air．
我本想乘飞机去。
I should prefer that if you did not go there alone.
我倒希望你不要一个人去那里。