问英语
原书主词条 · 4 个连续词条

alone

原书 PDF 第 125—126 页

alone1

feel alone

问

Instead they are writing once more about things that are common for everyone: feeling alone in the modern world, the value of having good friends and so on. [《高中英语教科书》第一册（上），人民教育出版社、朗文出版集团有限公司，1998，p.42]

《英语辅导报》(高中教师版)1999-2000学年度第8期发表了一篇文章《能说feel alone吗?》。该文作者引用了大量例句来证明上句中的feeling alone是错误的，应改为feeling lonely。请问feel alone的说法真的是错误的吗？

答

我们不能因为在辞书中查不到某种说法，便说某种说法是错误的。如果采用这种论证方式，那么英语中的错误说法，真就会上千上万了。原因很简单：辞书不可能把丰富多彩的表达方式都收罗进去。

然而,就 feel alone 而言,我们却是很幸运的:有好几部英语辞典把它收进去了。

Collins Cobuild Learner's Dictionary: If you say that you are alone or feel alone, you mean that nobody is with you or nobody at all cares about you:

Never in her life had she felt so alone, so abandoned. (p. 32) 在她的生活中, 她从未感到过这样地孤单, 这样地被遗弃。

BBC English Dictionary: A person who is alone is also someone who has no family or friends: I had never felt so alone and without hope in my life... 我从来没有感到过这样孤单,失掉了生活的希望……

We felt terribly alone, very much orphaned. (p. 31) 我们感到很孤单, 非常像个孤儿。

以上的实例足以证明,feel alone 的说法是正确的,因而《高中英语教科书》第一册(上)中的句子是完全正确的,而且,更要注意的是,在上面的上下文中绝不能用 feel lonely 来代替。因为它们的词义是不同的:feel alone 是指“感到孤单”,即指感到身旁没有亲人,没有朋友,因而,有孤立无援之感,这一层含义恰与下面的 the value of having good friends 形成对照,而 feel lonely 则是指“感到寂寞(无聊)”,即指“感到孤独而不愉快”(alone and unhappy)。

Markdown：英语常见问题解答大词典-1.md · 7480—7503 行PDF：第 125 页 · alone 1-2

alone2

问

I was surprised to see that I was to have a companion during my trip. I had expected ____.
A. being lonely B. to be lonely
C. being alone D. to be alone(Nelson, 400A)

正确答案为 D(to be alone)。我不明白为什么不能选 B(to be lonely)。

答

从词义上说,alone 强调“(身体上的)孤单一人”“独自一人”,有时候也可能表示“孤独”的感情。上面的试题中的 alone 是讲孤单一人,无伴侣,而并不是讲孤独的感受。

  1. It was dreadful to find oneself alone in such a place. (PEG) 发现自己独自在这样一个地方,真是太可怕了。

  2. In the large public gardens in Germany there are special paths for children and “alone ladies”. 在德国的大公园里有专供儿童和“单身妇女”行走的小径。

  3. She prefers to live alone. (《韦氏词典》, 电子版) 她宁愿单独一个人生活。

lonely 则除了指出与其他人隔离这一事实之外,还强调渴望伴侣的那种孤单寂寞的感情,既可修饰表人的名词,亦可修饰表物的名词(见 lonely/lonesome):

  1. He felt almost intolerably lonely. (Greene) 他感到一种几乎是难以忍受的孤独。

  2. At heart, I'm a lonely man—yes, a lonely man. (Priestley) 在内心里, 我是一个孤独的人——是的, 一个孤独的人。

  3. Robinson Crusoe spent many lonely days on the desert island before the man Friday appeared. (《韦氏词典》，电子版) 在那个名叫星期五的男人出现以前鲁滨逊·克鲁索在那个荒岛上度过了许多寂寞的日子。

下面的例句可以很好地辨析这两个词的区别：

The few people on the streets were alone and seemed lonely. 街上那几个人孤零零的,显得

很寂寞。

此外,alone 还可以用作副词,搁在名词或代词的后面,作“只有”“仅仅”解:

  1. He alone can do it. 只有他能做这件事。

  2. Certain diseases of the brain are suffered by human beings alone. A. on their own B. singly C. without help D. only(TOEFL) 某些大脑疾病只有人类才会患上。

  3. There were six marching bands from Arkansas alone, in a parade that lasted three hours. (Hillary, Living History) 光是阿肯色州就来了六支乐队，整个游行活动持续了三个小时。(希拉里，《亲历历史》)

练习

  1. Living here at the top of the mountain with no one else near you must be very _.

    1. A

      sole

    2. B

      alone

    3. C

      only

    4. D

      lonely(Nelson, 250C)

  2. Alfred Adams has not ____.

    1. A

      lived lonelinessly in times previous

    2. B

      never before lived sole

    3. C

      ever lived alone before

    4. D

      before lived without the company of his friends(TOEFL)

  3. ____, more than 200 houses and buildings are heated by solar energy, not to mention the big cities in the region.

    1. A

      Alone in the small town

    2. B

      In the small alone town

    3. C

      In the alone small town

    4. D

      In the small town alone(全国研考,92-19)

  4. Contrast may make something appear more beautiful than it is when ____ alone.

    1. A

      is seen

    2. B

      having been seen

    3. C

      seen

    4. D

      to be seen(全国四级,02.1-61)

  5. I shall have a companion in the house after all these ____ years.

    1. A

      single

    2. B

      sole

    3. C

      alone

    4. D

      lonely(全国四级)

Markdown：英语常见问题解答大词典-1.md · 7504—7561 行PDF：第 125 页 · alone 1-2

alone3

alone/lone/solitary

问

形容词 alone 与形容词 lone 都作“孤单一人”解。它们有没有区别呢？

答

如同一切以 a 开头的形容词一样, alone 在一般情况下只能用作表语(主语补语), 而不能用作前置定语:

  1. The soldier was alone. (CGEL) 战士只是孤单一人。

  2. But from now onwards I shall be alone. (Walpole) 但是从今往后, 我将是孤零零的一个人了。

但是, lone 和 solitary 却可以用作前置定语:

  1. a lone/solitary soldier(CGEL) 孤零零的一个战士

  2. a lone tree in the garden(LDCE) 花园里孤零零的一棵树

  3. In that cloudy sky only one lone star could be seen. (Neal) 在那布满乌云的天空, 只能见到孤零零的一颗星星。

  4. The old fisherman leads a solitary life. 那个老渔夫过着孤独的生活。

  5. The solitary boat looked tiny in the sea. 那只孤零零的小舟在海洋里看起来非常渺小。（例4—5摘自《韦氏词典》，电子版）

[附注]偶尔可见到alone用作定语的实例，见上条中的例2。

Markdown：英语常见问题解答大词典-1.md · 7562—7587 行PDF：第 126 页 · alone 3-4

alone4

let alone/not to mention 见 mention

Markdown：英语常见问题解答大词典-1.md · 7588—7591 行PDF：第 126 页 · alone 3-4