问英语｜英语常见问题解答

问

There would be pictures in magazines and newspapers, showing crowds of people with their cameras and noisy, excited talk.

有的教辅材料上说, excited 指人, exciting 指物, 因此, 我认为句中的 excited talk 应为 exciting talk。对吗?

答

不对。上句中的 excited talk 用得是对的。exciting 与 excited 都是形容词。这类形容词的-ing 形式具有主动意义: exciting——使人激动的,令人感动的,如 an exciting film (story, talk)——令人感动(激动)的电影(故事、谈话),an interesting film (story, talk)——使人感兴趣的(有趣的)电影(故事、谈话)。这类形容词还有:amusing(逗乐的)、boring(令人厌倦的)、surprising(令人吃惊的)、astonishing(令人惊奇的)、tiring(令人疲倦的)、terrifying(令人恐惧的)、worrying(令人焦虑的)。

She's got a very exciting job... 她有一份很带刺激性的工作……而-ed 形式的形容词绝无主动含义,而常常用来描述人的感受。an excited girl——心情激动的女孩。这类形容词还有:delighted(高兴的)、surprised(惊讶的)、astonished(吃惊的)、tired(疲劳的)、satisfied(满意的)、worried(焦虑的)。

I was so excited that I wanted to tell the whole world what we had found. 我太激动了,以致我想把我们发现的东西告诉全世界。

上面课文中的 excited talk 不是指“令人激动的谈话”，而是指“心情激动的谈话”。excited 本来是描述人的感受的，在这里把它转移到了 talk 上了。心情激动的人们的谈话→心情激动的谈话。再如 surprised look（吃惊的表情），astonished look（惊愕的表情），disappointed man/look（失望的人/表情）。

由此可见,绝不可以说:-ed 形容词指人,-ing 形容词指物,见 disappointed。请做下面的英语试题:

She took a deep breath to calm herself, but her voice still sounded ____. A. excitement B. excited C. exciting D. excitedly
The film made us laugh but it was not really ____ to watch. A. excitement B. excited C. excitable D. exciting

问

“问编辑老师,我是贵报的忠实读者,贵报在英语学习上给了我非常大的帮助,在此我深表感谢。我有一个疑问,请您帮助解答。句子改错:

The excited expression on his face suggested that the news was good. (他脸上兴奋的表情暗示这是一个好消息。)答案是把 excited 改为 exciting,为什么?)(河北滦县二中章树强)答这道题实际上牵涉到现在分词与过去分词作定语的区别问题。一般情况下,现在分词作定语时表示动作的主动或正在发生，而过去分词则表示动作的被动或已完成。

例如：

developing countries = countries that are developing 发展中国家

a growing city = a city that is growing 发展着的城市

finished products = products that are finised 成品

imported machines = machines that have been imported 进口的机器

a hand-operated pump = a pump that is operated by hand 手工操作泵”[《英语辅导报》(高二版),2001-2002 第6期]

您同意上面的解答吗？

答

首先应当指出,这里的 excited 和 exciting 并不是分词,而是分词型的形容词。

其次应当指出,上句中的 excited expression 的说法是正确的。为什么呢? 因为形容词 excited 描述的对象虽然常常是人,但是,它也可以用来描述与人有关的事物上,如 look(表情), expression, talk 等。例如:

His thin face had a worried look. 他瘦削的面孔上带着忧愁的神色。
They came in with flushed excited looks on their faces. 他们走了进来,脸上带着害羞而又激动的神色。
She looked at him with a surprised expression on her face. 她面带惊讶的表情望着他。
His expression was rather surprised. 他的表情很惊讶。

上句中的 the excited expression 是指“心情激动的表情”（excited 本是描述主语 he 的，现在转移到他的表情上）。如果把 excited 改为 exciting，则其意义便变为“令人激动的”，而这是与句意不符合的。

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excited²