核心问题
His speech is quite/rather good.
有一本英语著作说上句中的 quite 与 rather 意思相同, 可以互换。是这样吗?
词典解答
当修饰可分等级的形容词或副词(good, hot, well 等)时,虽然两者都可以使用,但它们在语义上是有区别的。quite 降低了形容词或副词原级的程度,而 rather 则提高了它们的程度,常常含有“超过一般”“出乎意料”之外的意思。请对比:
-
It's quite good, but it could be better. 这相当不错,但是还可以更好一些。
-
Professor Hogg's lecture was quite good, but not up to his usual standard. 霍格教授的讲座相当不错，但未赶上他平时的水准。
-
‘How was the film?’ ‘Rather good — I was surprised.’ “电影怎么样?”“相当好——我很惊讶。”
当修饰不分等级(无比较级)的形容词或副词(right, perfect, impossible, impossibly等)时, quite 作“完全”“十分”“很”解。此时, quite 是不能用 rather 来替换的:
-
His speech is quite perfect. 他的讲演好极了。
-
The two brothers are quite different in character. 两兄弟性格十分不同。