和谐英语

形容词的主动性和被动性

2007-10-19来源:
   有些形容词其本身含有主动的意义,有些则含有被动意义,要特别注意这种语义上的区别。
          【例如】
          That’s a very interesting story.
           Children are interested to read the story. interesting是指故事能引起人的兴趣,兄鞫庖澹筛nterested则指孩子对故事感兴趣,有被动意义。判断形容词含主动或被动意义,除从语义上来区别外,在形式上有以下几点:
          1)动词分词完全形容词化时是成对的,现在分词表示主动,过去分词表示被动。例如: amusing—amused; exciting— excited; pleasing—pleased; surprising—surprised; tiring—tired; satisfying —satisfied; confusing—confused; puzzling—puzzled等等。
          【例如】
          This is a tiring journey.这是一次令人疲惫的旅行。
          We are tired after long walk.长途散步之后,我们累了。
          Yesterday a surprising event happened here.昨天这里发生了一件惊人的事。
          We are surprised when we heard the sad news.当我们听到这个悲惨的消息大吃一惊。
          但也有不是成对的,如a charming girl,不说a charmed girl;可说encouraging words,不说encouraged words。
          2)由动词加后缀而来的形容词,有些在语义上也有主动和被动的区别。一般来说,动词加后缀ful,ous,ent,ant构成的形容词表示主动意义;由动词加后缀able,ible构成的形容词表示被动意义。
          【例如】envious羡慕;妒嫉的 forgetful易忘的 dependent依赖的 tolerant能容忍的 readable可读的 movable可移动的 eatable可食的 defensible可防御的
          同一动词加上表示不同语义的后缀,构成的形容词,其意义也不同。
          forgetful易忘的
          forgettable可忘的
          respectful恭敬的
          respectable可敬的
          regretful懊悔的
          regrettable令人遗憾的
          credulous轻信的
          credible可信的,可靠的
          digestive消化的
          digestible易消化的
          delightful令人高兴的
          delighted感到高兴的
          desirous想望的
          desirable值得想望的
          persuasive打动人心的
          persuadable易听人劝告的
          Your choice of friends is most regrettable.你的择友标准是令人遗憾的。
          We said good-bye to our friends, feeling regretful that we had to leave and would probably never see them again.
          He is out of work and dependent on his wife’s earnings.
          The parents are the most dependable persons for their children.
          Such a credulous fool as I was—I should have known better than to believe I’d get a contract.
          His story is hardly credible, how could all that happened to one person.