marry

你之所以没有理解,是因为你没有注意到英语的某些词的特点与汉语的区别。汉语可以说“他们结婚一年了”“她嫁给罗伯特一年了”“他娶玛丽一年了”。但是,英语却不可以说“They married for a year.”“She married Robert for a year.”“He married Mary for a year.”为什么呢?因为英语的marry是一个非持续性动词,它只表示“结婚”那一时的行为,而不表示“结婚”后的状态。要想表示“结婚后”的持续状态,就得使用另一个结构be married:

1. John is married to Helen. 约翰同海伦结婚了(表示他们现在仍是夫妻)。

2. How long have you been married? 你结婚多久了?

3. The old couple have already been married for fifty years. 那对老夫妇结婚已经50年了。 我相信,你读到这里,一定会明白为什么上道题的正确答案是 D,而不是 A(参见 join $^{1}$ )。

说句(1)是正确的,是因为marry是个一次性动词,它的过去时可以表示过去的行为:

1. Jane and Joe married last Saturday. 简和乔上星期六结婚了。

2. They married when they were very young. 他们很年轻的时候就结婚了。

说句(2)是正确的,是因为 get + 过去分词或形容词也可以表示行为,见 $get^{4}$ 。

1. At the time when Bassanio and Portia were getting married, a letter arrived from Antonio saying that all his ships had been lost at sea and that he would have to give Shylock a pound of his flesh. 就在巴萨尼奥和鲍西娅即将举行婚礼的时候，收到了安东尼奥的一封信，信上说他所有的船都在海上遇险失事了，他将不得不给夏洛克一磅自己身上的肉。

2. I'm getting married next month. 我下个月结婚。

人们更倾向于用 get married 来表示“结婚”这个行为。

When they got married, he wanted a big ceremony. 他们结婚的时候，他曾要求举行隆重的结婚仪式。