doubt 和 suspect 都作“怀疑”解。我总是搞不清它们之间的差别。《英语常用同义词详解》(世界图书出版公司, p. 119) 对它们作了如下的辨析:“如指事物, doubt 是疑其无, suspect 是疑其有。”
照此说法, suspect evidence 应是指“认为有证据”, suspect one's motives 应是指“认为有动机”。是这样吗?
为了搞清 doubt 和 suspect 之间的语义差别,最好是先搞清汉语“怀疑”的真实含义。汉语的“怀疑”有两个对立的含义:A. “不大相信”,例如“他的话叫人怀疑”。B. “猜想”“认为”,例如“我怀疑他是个骗子”。
英语的 doubt 只用于上面的第一种含义(不大相信), 而 suspect 可用于上面的两种含义。请对比下列实例:
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Do you doubt my word? 你怀疑我的话吗?(你以为我在说谎吗?)
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I doubt if he will come. 我怀疑他会来(我看他不一定来了)。
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I doubt that she will get the job. (=I don't think she will.) 我怀疑(不大相信)她会得到那个职位。
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I suspect his motives. (第一种含义: If you suspect something, you doubt that it can be trusted or that it is reliable.) 我怀疑他的动机。
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I suspect the truth of her statement. (第一种含义) 我对她那番话的真实性表示怀疑。(我不大相信她的话是真的。)
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I suspect it to be a lie. (第二种含义: If you suspect something, you think that it is likely or is probably true.) 我怀疑那是谎言(我认为那是谎言)。
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John wasn't at college today—I suspect that he's ill. (第二种含义) 约翰今天没上课——我猜他是病了。
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We suspect they'll be a little late. (第二种含义) 我们认为他们会晚来一会儿。指出下面译文中的错误并改正过来:
No one suspected that there might be someone else on the farm who had never been seen. This was indeed the case. (NCE, 3, p. 78)
[原译]没有人怀疑,农场中还可能有一个未露过面的人。情况也确实如此。(《新概念英语》,朗文出版公司、世界图书出版公司版,p.135)
请做下面的英语试题:
She ____ that it was a trick to get her involved in the matter, for she knew them too well. A. doubted B. suspected C. conceived D. convinced