It's been six years since the Economist Intelligence Unit based in London, published a survey about the quality of life in countries around the world. Sort of a life-satisfaction index , it takes into account factors such as people's relative health, material well being 物质所得, and sense of security.
Four nations that have since been rocked by economic upheavals - Ireland, which ranked first; Iceland; Italy; and Spain - finished in the top 10. Americans were surprised to find their country rated 13th in quality of life.
Finding that hard-to- define measure of satisfaction has been a big issue in this country. We search for such things as good schools for our kids, personal space and access to nature.
We move incessantly, sometimes for reasons no more profound than to be close to a favorite trout stream or sophisticated nightlife; or to have a waterfront view, a yard big enough for the dog to run, or a welcoming church or synagogue or mosque.
我们不停追逐,有时只不过奢望一处最喜欢的鳟鱼溪流或精致的夜生活,或一处观海景点,一个足够大的可以让狗在里面奔跑的院子,或者一个受欢迎的教堂或清真寺或犹太教会堂。
Of course, quality-of-life considerations must sometimes give way to job demands or the needs of a spouse or parent or child. But whenever we can, we try to adjust our recipes for a better life, perhaps building a den for reading or moving to a leisure village with a golf course 高尔夫球场.
The American West has been settled; the wild places tamed. The search for quality of life is Americans' new,personal, ever-changing frontier.
And, just as in beautiful Ireland or Italy or Spain, tough times have made our search for the good life more challenging of late. It would be interesting, in fact, to see where the United States would rank if a worldwide quality-of-life survey were conducted in 2012.
A possible indicator, though - and not a very promising one - is the Mercer Human Resources Group's worldwide quality-of-living ranking of cities, completed last year. Only six U.S. cities made the list of the world's 50 most agreeable places to live. And you have to go all the way to Number 29 before the first one - Honolulu - shows up.
no more …… than ……
● no more …… than …… 是一个较常用的特殊句型，意为“正如……不……一样，……也不……”。
通常，no more …… than …… 表示两个句子意义上否定的比拟，而just as ……, so …… 表示
两个句子意义上肯定的比拟。
1）A nation can no more exist without people than a tree can grow without roots. 一个
国家不能离开人民而存在，正如树木没有根不能生长一样。
2）A student can no more obtain knowledge without studying than a farmer can get harvest
without ploughing. 学生不学习不能获得知识，就像农民不耕作不能获得收获一样。
● no more …… than …… 表示的意思也可用not ……. any more than ……表示。 上述两个例句
可以改成：
1）A nation can not exist without people any more than a tree can grow withour roots. 一个
国家不能离开人民而存在，正如树木没有根不能生长一样。
2）A student can not obtain knowledge without studying any more than a farmer can get harvest
without ploughing. 学生不学习不能获得知识，就像农民不耕作不能获得收获一样。
● 在这个句型中，than 引导的比较从句与其他比较从句一样，可以省略句子成分。
1）You are no more capable of solving the problem than I am. (省略了capable of solving the
problem。) 我解决不了这个问题，你也解决不了。
2）A home without love is no more a home than a man without soul. （省略了is a man。） 无爱之
家庭犹如无灵魂之人。）
● no more …… than …… 不要与 not more ……. than 相混淆。no more ……. than 表示前后
两者否定，而not more ……. than表示前者不如后者，相当于 not so …… as ….. 或 less ……
than …….。比较下列句子：
1) In my opinion, your explanation is no more convincing than the one Jack gave us. 依我看
来，你的解释和杰克的解释一样都不能令人信服。
2）In my opinion, your explanation is not any more convincing than the one Jack gave us. 依
我看来，你的解释不如和杰克的解释令人信服。
第二个句子可以改成：
In my opinion, your explanation is so so convincing than the one Jack gave us.
In my opinion, your explanation is less convincing than the one Jack gave us.
● 上面讲到no more …… than …… 表示前后两者意义上都是否定，译成“正如……不……一样，……
也不……”。这一句型结构容易误译，如：
With so much investment in the U.S., China can no more tolerate a servere economic impolsion
than the United States can.
原译文：中国在美国有这么多投资，因此中国并不比美国更能容忍美国经济严重崩毁。
正确译文：中国在美国有这么多投资，因此中国与美国一样都不能容忍美国经济严重崩毁。
再看一个句子：
In tomorrow’s theater of war, close combat is no more likely to result in mass casualties
than any other form engagement.
原译文：在明天的战争舞台上,近距离作战不再会比其它的交战形式更能够导致大量伤亡。
正确译文：在明天的战争舞台上, 近距离作战与其它的交战形式一样都不会造成大量伤亡。
1. no more than 表示“仅仅”、“只有”(= only)，强调少；而 not more than 表示“不多于”、“至多”(= at most)。如：
He is no more than an ordinary English teacher. 他只不过是个普通的英文老师。
He has no more than three children. 他只有 3 个孩子。
He has not more than three children. 他最多 3 个孩子(有或许还不到 3 个之意)。
2. 用于比较两件事物时，no more ... than 表示对两者都否定，意为“同……一样不”(＝neither ... nor)；而 not more ... than 指两者虽都具有某种特征，但程度不同，意为“不如”、“不及”(= not so ... as)。如：
He is no more a writer than a painter. 他不是画家，也不是作家(= He is neither a painter nor a writer)。
A whale is no more a fish than a horse is. 马不是鱼，鲸也不是鱼(=Neither a horse nor a whale is a fish)。
She is not more clever than he is. 她不如他聪明(= She is not so clever as he is)。
not more than和no more than，前者属于more than的否定式，more than意为“多于”，所以not more than的意思就是“不多于”“不超过”；no more than主要强调more的反面，即强调数量之少或程度之低，如说no more than 10 days，其意为“只有10天”，在说话者心目中，10 days是一个较低的数字，有类似“跟10天一样少”之意；又如He gave no more than five dollars，其意为“他只给我5美元”，在说话者心目中，five dollars是一笔很少的钱，有类似“跟5美元一样少”之意。类似地，我们说no richer than，则强调的是richer的反面，其意为“跟……一样穷”，若说no faster than，则强调faster的反面，其意为“跟……一样慢”。因为同样的道理，我们可以推知，no less than强调的是less的反面，即强调多，强调数量之多或程度之大，如说no less than 10 days，意为“多达10天”，在说话者心目中，10 days是一个较大的数字。比较
He earned no more than 800 dollars a month. 他一个月只挣800美元。（在说话者看来，800 dollars是一笔较少的数，他这样说带有轻视的意味）
He earned no less than 800 dollars a month. 他一个月就挣800美元。（在说话者看来，800 dollars是很大一笔数，他这样说带有羡慕的意味）
posted on 2012-02-10 21:11
alphee 阅读(37)
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