since they lived in New York

关于这个问题,我国英语学界是有争议的。为了增强说服力,我想在这里介绍一下著名语言学家 R. Quirk 等人对这个问题的论述:

“Within the adjunct too it is possible to be specifying a continuous activity through the time span, as in:

Since they have lived in London, they have been increasingly happy. [ = 'during that time' ] [1]

Alternatively, we may refer to a period dating from a discrete event, as in:

Since they went to live in London, they have been increasingly happy. [ = 'from that point in time' ] [2]

There is thus a contrast between [1] and [3]:

Since they lived in London, they have been increasingly happy.

This is because, while the span involved is the same, [1] defines their living in London as coterminous with that span (ie as still being true ‘now’, which is as far as the speaker can commit himself), but[3] makes no claim on how long they lived in London beyond the entailment that they no longer live there ‘now’:

‘started living in London’ ‘NOW’

▽ ▼

: :

[ time span ]

——'living in London'——?

Fig 8.61c(CGEL, pp.538-539)

（“在时间状语之内，时间状语也可以指贯穿整个时间跨度的延续性活动，例如：

Since they have lived in London, they have been increasingly happy. (= 在此时间之内) [1] 或者, 可以指从一个具体动作开始算起的一段时间, 例如:

Since they went to live in London, they have been increasingly happy. (=从那个时间点算起) [2]

这样，例[1]与下面的例[3]就有了差别：

Since they lived in London, they have been increasingly happy. [3]

尽管它们所涉及的时间跨度相同,但是例[1]表示他们在伦敦的居住时间是与(主句所表达的)时间跨度是一样长的(讲话人明确表示他们‘现在’仍然住在伦敦),而例[3]却没有表明他们在伦敦住了多久,只是断定他们‘现在’不再住在伦敦了。”)

从上面的论述和图表我们可以得出如下结论：

1. 例[1]和例[3]的 since 从句所涉及的时间跨度是相同的, 即都从“他们住进伦敦”开始算起一直延续到现在。

2. 例[1]和例[3]的区别仅仅在于:例[1]表示“他们现在仍住在伦敦”,而例[3]则表示“他们现在不再住在伦敦了”。

3. 再举一个有上下文可以验证的例子：

It had been thirty years since she lived there ... (Hillary, Living History) 她在此生活已有三十年了……(这里是指杰奎琳·肯尼迪住在纽约第五大道的公寓已有三十年,而不是离那里已有三十年)

据此，我们有理由说：《英语陷阱》的译文是背离原意的。