R.Quirk等在CGEL中说:about和of常常与think连用,但含义不同:
He thought [about the problem. ["He pondered/considered the problem."]
He thought{ of the problem. [ "He brought the problem to his mind." ]
按照他们的说明, think about 应译作“考虑”“思考”, 而 think of 应译作“想到”“想起”。但是, 按照这种解释, 如何翻译下面的句子呢?
We're thinking of going to France for our holidays, but we've not decided for certain yet. (LDCE)
为了使复杂的问题简单化，R.Quirk等人对think about与think of所作的词义区分，是正确的。例如，下面各句中的think of与think about就具有完全不同的含义：
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She frequently thought of Sophia. (Bennet) 她常常想起索菲娅来。
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I can't think of the word for "sky" in Spanish. (Whitford) 我想不起来西班牙语“天空”这个词了。
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Who first thought of the plan? (Palmer) 谁先想出这个计划的？
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... a method which had never even been thought of before ……一个从前从来没有人想到过的方法
但是,英语的实际应用情况却比上面的区分复杂得多。think of 除用来表示“想起”“想到”之外,也可用来表示“考虑”“思考”(think about)。你所提到的句子 we're thinking of... 可以译作:我们正考虑到法国去度假,但还未决定下来。EED 认为 think of 与 think about 是同义的:“If you are thinking of doing something, you are considering doing it in the future. eg Is he still thinking of going away to Italy for a month?... I thought about being a reporter.”可见,这里的 think of 与 think about 都可译作“考虑”“打算”“想”等等。类例:
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What are you thinking of, Diana? (Galsworthy) 戴安娜,你在考虑(想)什么?
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What are you thinking of doing? (Bennet) 你打算做什么?
另外, think of 与 think about 都可用来表达“对某事的看法”(have as an opinion about):
What do you think of the government's latest offer to the unions? (LDCE) 关于政府最近提交给工会的建议,你有什么看法?