alone/lonely

从词义上说,alone 强调“(身体上的)孤单一人”“独自一人”,有时候也可能表示“孤独”的感情。上面的试题中的 alone 是讲孤单一人,无伴侣,而并不是讲孤独的感受。

1. It was dreadful to find oneself alone in such a place. (PEG) 发现自己独自在这样一个地方,真是太可怕了。

2. In the large public gardens in Germany there are special paths for children and “alone ladies”. 在德国的大公园里有专供儿童和“单身妇女”行走的小径。

3. She prefers to live alone. (《韦氏词典》, 电子版) 她宁愿单独一个人生活。

lonely 则除了指出与其他人隔离这一事实之外,还强调渴望伴侣的那种孤单寂寞的感情,既可修饰表人的名词,亦可修饰表物的名词(见 lonely/lonesome):

1. He felt almost intolerably lonely. (Greene) 他感到一种几乎是难以忍受的孤独。

2. At heart, I'm a lonely man—yes, a lonely man. (Priestley) 在内心里, 我是一个孤独的人——是的, 一个孤独的人。

3. Robinson Crusoe spent many lonely days on the desert island before the man Friday appeared. (《韦氏词典》，电子版) 在那个名叫星期五的男人出现以前鲁滨逊·克鲁索在那个荒岛上度过了许多寂寞的日子。

下面的例句可以很好地辨析这两个词的区别：

The few people on the streets were alone and seemed lonely. 街上那几个人孤零零的,显得

很寂寞。

此外,alone 还可以用作副词,搁在名词或代词的后面,作“只有”“仅仅”解:

1. He alone can do it. 只有他能做这件事。

2. Certain diseases of the brain are suffered by human beings alone. A. on their own B. singly C. without help D. only(TOEFL) 某些大脑疾病只有人类才会患上。

3. There were six marching bands from Arkansas alone, in a parade that lasted three hours. (Hillary, Living History) 光是阿肯色州就来了六支乐队，整个游行活动持续了三个小时。(希拉里，《亲历历史》)