《英语教学新观点新方法》从lose+heart看可数名词的抽象用法.doc

从lose heart看可数名词的抽象用法刘永科在阅读中，我们经常会见到lose heart这个词组在人教英语课本中，有这样一句话：The scientist from whom the government heard the bad news never lost heart when he was in trouble. 这个词组为何不说lose a heart, lose the heart, 或者lose his heart呢？heart本来是可数名词，意为“心；心脏”：Your heart is the organ in your chest that pumps the blood around your body. 但是，在lose heart中，为何不加任何冠词或者物主代词呢？原来，这就是可数名词heart的抽象用法下面，请仔细体味它的几个抽象用法，均来自权威词典：If you lose heart, you become sad and depressed and are no longer interested in something. （lose heart：失去信心；灰心，泄气） If you take heart from something, you are encouraged and made to feel optimistic by it. （take heart from：从…得到鼓舞；因…振作精神） If something gives you heart, it makes you feel more confident or happy about something.  （give sb. heart：鼓励某人；让某人振作起来）If you know something such as a poem by heart, you have learned it so well that you can remember it without having to read it.（by heart：背诵出；靠记忆）通过以上对heart的诠释，我们发现，在这些短语中heart一词已经完全失去了它原有的本义，而赋予了比喻和抽象的意义（信心；记忆）。

又如：Although he failed in this entrance examination, he didn’t lose heart. 这次入学考试他虽名落孙山，但他并不气馁假如heart之前使用了冠词或者物主代词，那么就是它的具体意义，这时句子还能讲得通吗？此外，我们还见过lose face这个词组同理，这里的face也不是指具体的“脸”，而是比喻抽象的“面子，尊严”例如：If Tom doesn’t keep his promise, he’ll lose face. 如果汤姆不信守诺言，他就会丢面子His careless work made him lose face with his teacher. 他工作疏忽使他在老师面前丢脸目前，一个较为普遍的现象是，一般语法书、教辅书和英语文章，都很少涉及“可数名词的比喻用法或抽象用法”，而是喜欢讲解“物质名词和抽象名词转化为可数名词”的用法以下为物质名词之前加不定冠词，使其内容具体化、种类化或数量化物质名词的具体化、种类化或数量化：wind风→a mild wind一阵微风 rain雨→a heavy rain一场大雨snow雪→a light snow一场小雪 food食物→ a junk food一种垃圾食品 fruit水果→a fruit一种水果tea茶→a tea一杯茶→a special tea一种特制的茶beer啤酒→a beer一杯啤酒 coffee咖啡→a coffee一杯咖啡glass玻璃→a glass一个玻璃杯stone石头→a stone一块石头paper纸→a paper一份论文、报纸、试卷cold寒冷→a bad cold重感冒以上为“物质名词和抽象名词转化为可数名词”的一些用法。

现在，我们回到本文即将讨论的问题除了lose heart和lose face之外，还有那些情况属于可数名词的抽象或比喻用法？大家知道，可数名词在单数情况下，使用时前面应加冠词，若无冠词，则加其他限定词，如my, his, Tom’s等，但在实际语言中，确实存在着许多可数名词用作抽象意义的现象如：She went to church last Sunday. 她上周日都去做礼拜了She went to the church for a visit yesterday. 她昨天去参观了那所教堂The man stayed in prison for almost ten years. 那人蹲了接近10年监狱The man stayed in the prison for a night. 那人在监狱里过了一夜He went to bed very late last night. 他昨晚睡觉很晚He went to the bed to fetch his clothes. 他走向床边取衣服The whole family are sitting at table. 全家人正在吃饭The whole family sat at the table, chatting. 全家人坐在桌边聊天呢。

He became a waiter; his job was to wait at table. 他做了饭馆的服务员，工作是照顾客人吃饭They were already waiting at the table when I got there. 当我到达那里时，他们已在桌边等候了Mr. Brown is now out of office due to his old age. 因年龄原因，布朗先生现不在职了退休了）Mr. Brown walked out of the office to get some hot water. 布朗先生走出办公室去取些热水Which political party is in office in your country? 贵国是哪一个政党执政？Mr. Jones is the busiest man in the office.  琼斯先生是办公室里最忙的人The teacher told the children to stop chattering in class. 老师叫孩子们在课堂上不要叽叽喳喳讲话Each individual boy in the class has his own personalities. 这个班上的每一个男孩都有自己的个性。

A new trouble was in store for Pompeii. 一场新的灾难即将向庞培袭来All the big items in the store are discounted.  商场的大件商品都在打折Most villagers in this district live on farm. 本地区的大多数村民都以农业为生The old man has lived on the farm for five decades. 这位老人在农场住了五十年What are you hoping to do when you leave school? 毕业后你希望做什么?I had no sooner left the school than it began to snow. 我刚一离开学校就开始下雪还有，He was ill and had to lie in bed. 此句lie in bed不加冠词，意为“卧床不起”，也【结论】英语中，一些表示场所、地点、工具等名词，如school, church, prison, office, table, bed, bus等等，加冠词往往表示具体的“场所或位置”；不加冠词一般表示抽象意义，即“社会功能或用途属性”。