no less than/no more than
“He is ____ fifteen years old.” means “He is fifteen years old.”
A. not less than B. not more than C. no less than D. no more than
《高中英语语法练习手册》(外研社, p.163) 给的答案是 D, 并对不能选 C 的理由作了如下解答:
“no less than 为‘至少有……那么多’解……”
但是,我认为上句是可以选 C 的。另外,no less than 并不作“至少有……那么多”解。 您同意我的说法吗?
该书对 no less than + 数词的解释是对这一结构的误解。这显然是受了我国出版的某些英汉词典译法(“不少于”“不止”)的影响。但是,请注意,英美出版的英英词典对这一结构的释义却是非常明确的:
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No less than draws attention to the surprising largeness of an amount. (CEED) (no less than 用以引起人们对惊人的数量之大的注意。)
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(no less than) used to emphasize a surprisingly large amount. (NODE) (no less than 用来强调惊人的数量之大。)
由此可见, no less than 并不是用来表达概略数目的, 而是用来表达精确数目的, 并且具有“言其多”的口气。因此, 用在上面的试题里是完全正确的, 只是与 no more than 所表达的“言其少(小、低)”的口气恰好相反(参见 no less than )。
[句意]D：他才15岁。
C: 他都 15 岁了(他竟然长到 15 岁了)。
请做下面的英语试题：
I'm glad to say that he's already finished ____ 50% of the book in these three days.
A. no less than B. no more than C. not more than D. much less than
no less than/no more than
您在上条中说,选项 no less than 与选项 no more than 都是正确的。那么,下题的 no less than 与 no more than 是否也都是正确的呢? Though his family was poor, his school education added up to ____ ten years. A. no more than B. no less than C. only D. as much as
我们在上条中已经指出，no less than 与 no more than 虽然都与精确的数字连用，但它们的口气却是完全相反的：前者“言其多”，后者“言其少”。因此，在句意明确的句子里，两者是不能互换的。拿你提出的试题来说，though 从句表明“他家很穷”，主句表明“他受了十年教育”。在这样的条件下，请你判断一下，是用“言其多”的口气，还是用“言其少”的口气呢？当然要用“言其多”(no less than)的口气！