Alexander Graham Bell once told his family that he would rather be remembered as a teacher of the deaf ____ of the telephone. A. than inventing B. than as the inventor C. the invention D. as the inventor. (TOEFL) 答案为 P。但我认为 A 也是符合 way, then another 的句式的。
答案为 B。但我认为 A 也是符合 would rather ... than 的句式的。
上题只有选B才是正确的。在would rather...than结构里，必须注意前项和后项的对称, 即 than 所连接的词项必须与前面的词项在词性或结构上相一致。例如, 上面试题中的 as a teacher of the deaf 与 as the inventor of the telephone 在结构上就是相一致的。请分析下面的实例:
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I'd rather have the red one than the green one. (Palmer) 我宁愿买这个红(色)的,而不是那个绿(色)的。
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I would rather break it than see it in the wrong hands. (Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code) 我宁愿毁了它，也不愿让它落入非人之手。(《达·芬奇密码》)
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I'd rather stay in a motel than in an expensive hotel. 我宁愿住汽车旅馆,而不愿住高级宾馆。
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In fact, Mary would rather have left for San Francisco ____ in Los Angeles.
A. by staying B. than stay C. than have stayed D. to stay(TOEFL)
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He told me then that he would rather die than be sick and helpless. (Hillary, Living History) 他当时曾告诉我，他宁死也不愿陷入病痛和无助之中。(希拉里，《亲历历史》)
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McCarthy, though I liked him, gave me the impression he'd rather be home reading St. Thomas Aquinas than going into a tar-paper shack to see how poor people lived or flying halfway around the world to speak against racism. (B. Clinton, My Life) 尽管我喜欢麦卡锡，但他给我的印象是，他宁可坐在家里读读圣托马斯·阿奎那也不愿意走进搭着油毡的棚子，亲眼看看穷人是如何生活的，或是飞行半个地球的里程，去发表反对种族主义的演讲。(《我的生活》)
(参见 parallelism structural)