spend on/in

作“花费(金钱)”解的 spend 可与 on, in 或 for 连用, 表示“把(金钱)花在……上”, 作“花(时间)”解的 spend 可与 on 或 in 连用, 表示“把(时间)花在……上”。例如:

1. He spent all his money on new books. (Collins) 他把他所有的钱都花在买新书上了。

2. How much did you spend for that book? 买那本书你花了多少钱？

3. Every spare minute he gets is spent on the car. 他把每一点空闲时间都花在汽车上了。

4. He spends a lot of money on[in] entertaining friends. (Wood) 他把许多钱花在款待朋友上。

5. He has spent a small fortune on improving his property. 他花了很多的钱来增加他的不动产。

6. She spent her evenings in washing the windows and floors. (Dreiser) 她花了许多个夜晚来擦洗窗户和地板。

当表示“花时间(金钱)做某事”时,常常省略动名词前的介词,尤其是在口语中:

1. I'd rather spend money traveling than buying a house. (Wilson) 我宁愿花钱旅游，也不愿买房子。

2. She woke early, meaning to spend all day writing. (EED) 她醒得很早,打算用整天时间来写作。

3. He spent much time correcting my grammar. (Hemingway) 他花了许多时间来矫正我的语法。

4. Then I said good-bye to the house where I had spent eight years living history. (Hillary, Living History) 然后我向这座我用了八年时间去亲历历史的房子说再见。(希拉里，《亲历历史》)

《高中英语疑难解答300例》(学苑出版社,1996年,p.166)说spend on与spend in的区别在于前者后接something,后者后接doing something。我们从例(4)和例(5)可以看出,该书的说法是不正确的。