问
——Can I help you, sir? ——Yes. I bought this radio here yesterday, but it ____.
A. didn't work B. won't work C. can't work D. doesn't work(全国高考,96-20)
标准答案为D。选项B果真是错误的吗？
答
除选项 D 之外,选项 B 也是正确的。表示“意愿”的 will 及其否定形式通常用于有生命体。但是,有时候也可用于无生命体。这种用法是把无生命体拟人化了。refuse 也有同样的用法。
① The door won't open. 这门打不开。（请对比：The door refuses to open.）
② This watch won't work. (= I can't make this watch work.) 我的表不走了。
③ If your car won't start, call me any time and I'll help. [“refuses to”] 如果你的汽车发动不起来，可随时给我打电话，我会来帮忙的。
④ The car won't start. I wonder what's wrong with it. 汽车发动不起来。我不知道出了什么故障。
由此可以证明,上面试题的选项 B 也同样是正确的(它和将来时毫无关系)。关于最佳答案的说法,见 。
练习
The car won't ____; I've tried it several times, but it won't work.