may... but ¹

F. Wood 指出, 在 may... but 句型里, may 常常具有让步的含义。R. Quirk 等人则进一步指出“含 may 的分句, 在 but 之前具有让步的意义……情态动词 may 在这儿多少失去了‘可能’的意思”, “也就是说句中的陈述被认为是真实的”。我们中国人常常难于认识到这一点, 因为汉语里没有用情态动词表达让步意义的语言手段。认识到这一点, 我们完全有理由用表示让步关系的连词来完成这个任务。句(1)、(2)似可译为:

虽然我是个仆人,但是我是有自尊心的。

尽管他很聪明，但他决不会什么都懂。

$\$dot{\mathrm{类例}}

1. Your typewriter may/might be a wonderful machine, but it's still old-fashioned compared with a word-processor. (LEG) 你的打字机尽管不错，但同文字处理机比起来仍然是一架老式机器。

2. Ben may only be ten, but he plays the guitar beautifully. (CGEL) 本虽然才10岁，但吉他却弹得非常好。

3. This sentence may be correct grammatically, but a native speaker never says it that way. 这个句子尽管在语法上是正确的，但本族人是决不会这么说的。

4. We may have our differences from time to time, but basically we trust one another's judgment. (= I admit that we have our differences... but...) (CGEL) 虽然我们之间不时地出现一些分歧,但我们基本上是互相相信对方的判断的。

请研读下列各例的原文及其中译文，如发现译文有错误，请改正过来。

1. You might think you're very clever, but that doesn't give you the right to order me about! (ECD) 你也许以为自己很聪明，但这并不能给你随意使唤我的权利。

2. This weekly schedule may not solve all of your problems, but it will make you more aware of how you spend your time. (《大学英语》, Book 1, Unit One) [原译]这张周作息表也许解决不了你所有的问题,但是它会使你比较清楚地了解你是怎样使用你的时间的。

3. We may not be able to recall this information, but it is all stored in our brains. (《大学英语》, Book. 1, Unit Nine) [原译] 我们也许不能回忆起这些信息, 但它们却都贮存在我们的脑子里。

4. Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, may be less famous than George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, but most people remember at least one fact about him: he wrote the Declaration of Independence. (《大学英语》, Book 2, Unit Three) [原译]美国第三任总统托马斯·杰斐逊也许不如乔治·华盛顿和亚伯拉罕·林肯那样著名，但大多数人至少记得有关他的一件事：他写的《独立宣言》。

5. Colleagues may disapprove but refrain from objecting. Nurses may bitterly resent having to take part, day after day, in deceiving patients, but feel powerless to take a stand. (《大学英语》, Book 4, Unit Five) [原译]同事们也许不赞成,但避免公开表示反对。护士们对不得不日复一日地参与欺骗病人的做法也许深恶痛绝,但要抵制却感到无能为力。

6. It may be a good report, but it seems to lack facts. 这或许是个好报告，但事实似乎还不充分。（张道真：《英语常用动词用法词典》，p.522）

7. I had taken those lyrics to heart. It may have been a cliché, but the phrase that best summed up my political philosophy was: "It's always about the future,"... (Hillary, Living History)

[原译]这首歌的歌词我已记在心里,它的内容或许老套,但其中一句歌词“都是为了未来”却总结了我的政治理念……(希拉里,《亲历历史》,译林出版社,p.465)下面的英语试题:

He ____ unwisely, but he was at least trying to do something helpful.

A. may have acted B. must have acted may . . . but $^{2}$ 854 C. should act D. would act(全国英语专业四级,99-48)