词义辨析—obviously, apparently, evidently
最近忙着改版《雅思词汇精选》,要把剑6和机经里的一些词汇补充进去,于是这几个礼拜又重新补起了词汇的功课。平时一直鼓动大家把一些感觉不错的词放到像朗文、剑桥等国外出版的词典里去确认一下exact meaning,尽量保证先正确的理解,再正确的使用,还要正确的发音,这次轮到我自己了,只不过每天100个词的进度。在编写新的词条的时候,有些词的确让我吃惊不小,因为我以往的理解还是太多的受到了中文的影响,举个例子,obvious, apparent, evident三个词都是“明显的”,而一旦变成副词obviously, apprently, evidently区别就很大了,要谨慎使用。
Obviously——used to mean that a fact can easily be noticed or understood.
Apparently——①used to say that you have heard that something is true, although you are not completely sure about it ② according to the way someone looks or a situation appears, although you cannot be sure.
Evidently——(slightly formal)used to say that something is true because you can see that it is true.
从上面可以看出,Obviously是依然是最地道的“明显”,跟形容词形式意思一样,evidently虽然也是这个意思,但《剑桥高级学习者词典》指出此词略微正式,与obvious相比,’it is usually better to choose the word obvious’,因此副词也比较正式。
最麻烦的要数apparently,已经跟apparent有较大区别了,里面包含着’you cannot be sure’的意思,所以中文的正确意思应该是“看似,据说”,这一点就连我认为国内最棒的英汉词典——陆谷孙老先生编的《英汉大辞典》里也找不到的。比如说剑3中Test 3 阅读Passage 3 讲环境和情绪的文章里有一句话,However, this apparently does not just depend on the temperature. 应该理解为“不过看来这不仅仅取决于气温”。还有同样是剑3 Test 2听力中的Section 3 讲员工选拔中有一句话,The idea is actually quite old. Apparently they were used by the ancient Chinese for picking out clerks and civil servants. Apprently应该翻译成“据说”。
所以还是那句话,一天拿出一点点时间,去确认5个你觉得挺不错的词汇 (所谓不错,就是less common的7分词汇喽),其实很多词汇我们当时背的似是而非,如果3个月的时间搞定450个好词,考试的时候起码词汇会有很出色的表现的。