專門替中國人寫的英語語法12-1：a和the之不同用法
12-1 a和the之不同用法
a和the最大的不同，在于a后面的名詞不是指定的，而the后面的名詞是有所指的。我們不妨看以下的兩個句子，他們都是正確的，但意義卻不同。
John is a boy.
John is the boy.
〝John is a boy.〞的意思是〝約翰是一個男孩〞，而〝John is the boy.〞的意思就完不同了，我們一定曾經(jīng)提到過某一個男孩子，而約翰就是那個男孩子?？赡艿那樾问牵篢here is a boy who is very good in mathematics. John is the boy.
我們就以〝國王〞為例，如果我們泛指一般的國王，我們可以用復數(shù)，也可以用單數(shù)，但必須用a，以下是一些例子：
Kings are also human beings.
Even a king will die sooner or later.
Have you ever met a king ?
I do not like to be a king.
He is an ordinary person, not a king.
如果我們的國王是指某一個特定的國王，就必須用the，舉一個例子;如果我們說〝國王萬歲〞，我們當然是指我們的國王，因此〝國王萬歲〞的翻譯就是
Long live the King.
以下的例子都是正確
Here comes the King.
The King is a popular person in our country.
Even the King of England can not come in.
讀者應該了解，同類型的句子，可以用a，也可以用the，但意義是完全不同的，請看以下的句子：
He is not a boy who would cheat others.
意思是：
他不是那種會欺騙別人的男孩子。
再看以下的句子：
He is not the boy who cheated in an examination yesterday.
他不是昨天在考試中舞弊的男孩。
再看以下的句子：
He is a King.
意思是〝他是一個國王〞。
如果說
He is the King.
意思就完全不同了，這句話的意思是〝他是我們國家的國王〞。 請注意，世界上國王有好多個，如果我們僅僅說他是一個國王，當然沒有指定哪一個國家的國王，就用a king，如果我們用the King意思當然指我們共識中的國王。這時的King中的K必須大寫，以示尊敬。
我們再舉一個例子：
Please open a window.
是指請開一扇窗子，隨便哪一扇都可以。
Please open the window.
就不同了，說這句話的人和聽這句話的人一定有一個共識，〝the window〞一定是指某一扇特定的窗子，也許這間房子里只有一扇窗，也可能他們談話中曾經(jīng)提到某一扇窗，〝the window〞就是指那一扇窗。
我們可以再舉一個例，假如我們說，〝我們需要一場大雨〞，我們說 :
We need a heavy rain.
如果我們說，〝這場雨好大〞，我們說
The rain is really heavy.
有了這個基本觀念以后，我們就很容易了解以下句子中，為什么要用the：
I am going to the train station.
The post office is quite near.
Where is the library?
根據(jù)這種原則，當我們提到地球，月亮這種獨一無二的東西，就必須用the。
the earth
the sun
the moon
the universe
除此以外，the還有一個特殊的用途，我們可以在the的后面加一個形容詞，使這兩個字變成了一個名詞，舉例來說：
the rich=富人
the poor=窮人
the weak=弱者
the deaf=聾人
the blind=盲人
請注意，以上的名詞是復數(shù)：
The rich always get richer.
The poor are getting poorer.
The blind are often very sensitive to sounds.
以下是一些用a和the的例子，讀者應設(shè)法了解句子中為何有時用a，有時用the。
He is a student.
He is the student who can swim very well.
I like to be a teacher.
He is the teacher who taught me English.
The president of the United States in an important person in the world.
I have a son and a daughter.
I have two sons. This is the son who will be a doctor.
I want to be a teacher who is loved by students.
He is not the person whom we talked about.
There is a boat in the river.
This is the boat which we can use.
The rain is going to stop tomorrow.
We need a good rain.
The weather is really bad.
Is there a train station near us?
Where is the station?
Do you know where the post office is?
There is a post office inside that building.
The library looks so good.
The rich should pay more taxes.
We should pay more attentions to the poor.
The blind can also study computer science now.
The earth is round.
The sun never sets in the British Empire.
Do you think we can reach the moon?
How large is the universe?
