神秘莫测的 rather 及其几个组合，到底怎么用才能得心应手

学习英语的人常常被 rather 及其几个组合如 rather than，or rather 或 would rather 的用法所困扰，其实认真研究一下，它们没有可以造成让人混淆的地方。

一、rather

Rather 是一个程度副词，相当于 fairly 和 quite 等，可以与名词、形容词、副词，动词或比较级连用；它经常可以软化它所修饰的表达方式，使表达显得礼貌，常用于正式写作中。

1. rather 与”形容词 + 名词“

当”形容词 + 名词“ 被不定冠词 a/an 修饰时，rather 通常置于不定冠词前面，当然 rather 也可以置于不定冠词后面，但比较少见；当“形容词 + 名词”被 some 或 those 等其他修饰语修饰时，rather 置于这些修饰语后面，例如：

It was rather a difficult question.

这真是个难题。

解析：此时的 rather 修饰名词短语。

少见：It was a rather difficult question.

这是个相当难的问题。

解析：此时的 rather 修饰 difficult.

That’s rather a nuisance!

那真讨厌！

少见：She’s got a rather nice voice.

她的声音很好听。

✔: He had some rather unusual ideas about education. 

对于教育他有些相当与众不同的见解。

❌: He had rather some unusual ideas about education. 

2. rather 与”a/an + 名词“

It was rather a surprise to find them in the house before me.

在我之前的房子里发现他们真是太令人吃惊了。

Poor Jane was in rather a spin about the party. 

可怜的简对这次聚会真有些不知所措。

3. rather 与副词

They walked rather slowly.

他们走得相当慢。

I’m afraid I behaved rather badly.

恐怕我的行为相当恶劣。

He cooks rather well.

他做一手好菜。

4. rather 与 a lot

Rather a lot 常用来表示量大或经常，例如：

It cost me rather a lot of money.

这花了我不少钱。

You’ve given me rather a lot.

你给了我很多。

They went there rather a lot.

他们经常去那里。

You’ll be seeing rather a lot of me over the next few weeks.

在接下来的几个星期里，你会经常看到我。

5. rather 与动词

Rather 常置于 enjoy，hope 或 like 之类的动词之前强调它们，例如：

I was rather hoping you’d forgotten about that.

我真希望你忘了那件事。

He rather liked the idea of a well-paid job in Japan.

他相当喜欢在日本有一份高薪工作的想法。

6. rather 与 ”more/less + （形容词或副词）“

此结构用来表示与某物作比较，例如：

She would have finished that job rather more quickly.

她会更快地完成那项工作。

Now that she saw Rupert again, he was rather less interesting and a little older than she had remembered him.

既然她又见到鲁珀特了，他比她记忆中的鲁珀特无趣，也老了一点。

7. rather 与 like

Rather like 用来表示相似之处，例如：

This animal looks and behaves rather like a squirrel.

这种动物的外貌和行为都很像松鼠。

He looks rather like his father. 

他看上去很像他的父亲。

二、rather than 与 would rather

当我们谈论喜好时，常用 rather than 或 would rather。

1. would rather 表偏好时，有两种常见的结构，一是 would rather 后面跟接不带 to 不定式，二是 would rather sb 后面接过去时或过去完成时，例如：

I don't want to go to the swimming pool. I’d rather go to the beach.

我不想去游泳池。我宁愿去海滩。

Don’t come on Monday. I’d rather you came on Tuesday.

星期一不要来。我宁愿你星期二来。

I’d rather you hadn’t done that.

我宁愿你没有那样做。

2. 当在比较两个备选方案或偏好时，使用 rather than 来强调其中更重要的一个，例如：

It would be better to go in September rather than in August.

与其在八月去，不如在九月去。

He wanted to be an actor rather than a comedian.

他想当演员而不是喜剧演员。

当 rather than 与动词连用时，动词的形式是不带 to 不定式或动名词，后者常用于 prefer 结构中，例如：

I prefer to leave now rather than wait for all the speeches.

我宁愿现在就走也不愿等所有的演讲。

He decided to write rather than telephone.

他决定写信而不是打电话。

I prefer getting up early rather than rushing at the last minute.

我宁愿早起，也不愿赶在最后一分钟。

有时 rather than 也可以置于句首，翻译跟正常语序的一样，例如：

Rather than pay the taxi fare, he walked home.

他宁愿步行回家，也不愿花出租车费。

三、or rather

当我们想纠正刚才所说的话，或使之更准确时，常使用 or rather，例如：

His son is a doctor, or rather, a surgeon.

他的儿子是医生，或者更确切地说，是外科医生。

Thanks to his efforts, or rather the efforts of his employees, they made a decent profit.

由于他的努力，或者更确切地说是他的员工的努力，他们获得了可观的利润。