商務英語寫作：“few” “little”和 “a few” “a little”
我們大概在小學的時候就學過few和a few，little和a little的用法了。但是很慚愧，很多人學了十幾年的英語，證書考了一堆，到現在還是對這些常用詞分不清楚。看看，你到底能不能分清楚few，a few，little，a little的用法吧。
There’s a big difference between “few” and “a few”. In fact they have opposite meanings.
few和a few之間區別很大，事實上，它們的意思幾乎完全相反。
If you say, for example, “I have a few friends in the Ministry”, it sounds impressive.
比如你說“我在上頭有些朋友”，那別人會對你刮目相看的。
“few” = not many;“a few” = several. “Few” and “a few” are used with countable nouns.
few就是不多的意思，a few就是有一些的意思。Few和a few都是用來形容可數名詞的。
Ex: The Regulator has presented this standpoint on few occasions.
例1：該官員在很少的一些場合發表過這一觀點。
Ex: The Regulator has presented this standpoint on a few occasions.
例2：該官員在不少場合發表過這一觀點。
“Little” and “a little” work in the same way as “few” and “a few”.
little和a little的用法和few和a few類似。
“little” = not much; “a little” = some. “Little” and “a little” are used with uncountable nouns.
little的意思是不多，a little的意思是有一些。Little和a little都是用來形容不可數名詞的。
Ex: I have a little money” (a modest way of saying you’re reasonably wealthy).
例3：我有些錢(這是對我是有錢人的委婉說法)。
Ex: We hope to be able to complete the project in as little time as possible. (i.e. not much time – “as little … as possible” is a common phrase)
例4：我們希望能花最少的時間來完成這個項目(花越少…越好，“as little … as possible”這在英語中是個習慣用法)。
本文來自新東方在線論壇
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