測一測
首先,看看以下三句話,請準確而自信地告訴雙語君,這三句話表達的是一個意思嗎?
a. A is 3 times as great as B.
b. A is 3 times greater than B.
c. A is 3 times the size of B.
句子b是不是特別有迷惑性?A到底是B的3倍還是4倍呢?
但實際上,這三句都是一個意思,即A=3×B(A是B的三倍)。
下面我就來詳細說一說倍數(shù)的表達方式。
1 A是B的N倍
表示A是B的N倍(即A比B大N-1倍)時,有以下三種基本表達:
? A is N times as large/long (形容詞/副詞原形) as B.
例:Asia is four times as large as Europe.
亞洲是歐洲的四倍大。
? A is N times larger/longer(形容詞/副詞比較級)than B.
例:Asia is four times larger than Europe.
亞洲是歐洲的四倍大。
盡管字面上來看是亞洲比歐洲大四倍,但是使用times的時候,實際上表示的是單純倍增的關(guān)系,故而,理解為”亞洲是歐洲的四倍大。"
? A is N times the size/length (形容詞/副詞的名詞形式) of B.
例:Asia is four times the size of Europe.
亞洲是歐洲大小的四倍。
? A is xxx% larger than B
例:Asia is 300% larger than Europe.
亞洲比歐洲大3倍。
最tricky的部分來了。我們要講講percent和times的區(qū)別。
如果你使用"times"表達一個倍數(shù),那么它所意味的就是簡單倍增的關(guān)系。
即,不管是n times larger 還是n times as large as,是多少times就是幾倍。
但如果你說A is 100% larger than B(A比B大100%),這就等于說A=2×B(A是B 的兩倍)。
所以,
如果A is 300% larger than B,那么就等于說,A=4×B;如果A is 3 times larger than B,那么就等于說,A=3×B。
2 by 和 to 的用法
by和to在英文中經(jīng)常和數(shù)詞連接,表示數(shù)量關(guān)系的增加。
? 動詞 + by + 倍數(shù)/百分數(shù)/數(shù)詞用“by+倍數(shù)”表示增加了的倍數(shù),N times之前加上by表示增加了N倍,即是原來的N+1倍。
例: The production of grain has been increased by four times this year.
今年糧食產(chǎn)量增加了四倍。即,原產(chǎn)量x5.
? 動詞+ to + 數(shù)詞用“to+數(shù)詞”表示增加到某個具體的數(shù)字。
例:Last year profits rose to $201 million.
去年利潤增長到2億零100萬美元。
3 by a factor of
詞組by a factor of 在《朗文雙解》中的解釋為:
"if something increases or decreases by a factor of N, it increases or decreases by N times." 簡單說,就是將一個數(shù)字乘以N或除以N。
? Increase/grow...by a factor of N times 增加到N倍,或者增加了N-1倍
例: The output of diesel oil for farm use has been increased by a factor of 4 times these years.
這些年來,用于農(nóng)業(yè)生產(chǎn)的柴油產(chǎn)量增至四倍 / 增加了三倍,即,原產(chǎn)量x4。
? Decrease/fall...by a factor of N times 減少到1/N,或者減少了(N-1)/N。
例: The production has decreased by a factor of three times as against 1977.
總產(chǎn)量減少到1977年的三分之一/ 減少了三分之二。
注意:
increase by N times 表示是原來的N+1倍,增加了N倍。 increase by a factor of N times 表示是原來的N倍,增加了N-1倍。
4 fold 和 percent
? N-fold increase N-fold increase表示增加了N-1倍,即 two-fold increase 表示增加了一倍(增加到原來的兩倍),即是原來的N倍。
例:Those men who never smoked fared even worse, with a two-fold increase in risk.
那些從不吸煙的男性進展更糟糕,風險增加了一倍。
? N00% increase
100 percent increase表示增加了1倍,是原來的兩倍。N00 percent increase表示是原來的N+1倍。
例:If 9500 is increased by 200% then the increase is 9500 x 200/100 = 19000. However, this amount is only the increase, the full value is 9500 + 19000 = 28500.
如果說9500增加了200%,那么增加的數(shù)量就是9500x200%=19000,但是這只是增加的數(shù)量而已,增加后的總和應(yīng)當是9500+19000=28500。
5 double, treble, quadruple
增加至多少倍,還可以用更簡潔的動詞來表達,比如:
double 增加至2倍
treble/triple 增加至3倍
quadruple ['kw?drupl] 增加至4倍,或翻兩番
double: The number of managers must double to 100 within 3 years.
3年之內(nèi)管理人員的數(shù)量要翻倍,達到100名。
treble: The mine reportedly had an accident rate treble the national average.
據(jù)報道,那個礦的事故發(fā)生率是全國平均水平的三倍。
quadruple: China seeks to quadruple its income in twenty years.
中國力求在20年內(nèi)將其收入翻兩番。
好了!看完上面這些,小伙伴們是不是已經(jīng)繞暈了呢?為了方便記憶,讓我們總結(jié)一下吧:
是原來的N倍:
N-fold increase
increase by a factor of N times
A is N times larger than B.
A is N times the size of B.
A is N times as large as B.
是原來的N+1倍:
N00% increase
increase by N times
發(fā)現(xiàn)沒有?只要記住兩個特例,其他表述都是說幾倍就是幾倍呢。