indirect speech

根据英语时态呼应的原则,当主句谓语动词使用过去时态时,某些从句的谓语动词的时态要作相应的调整,即一般现在时改为一般过去时,一般将来时改为过去将来时,等等。例如:

She said, "Mr X will be back tomorrow."

She told me (that) Mr X would be back the next (or the following) day.

但是，当人们听到后一个句子的时候，既无法知道MrX到底是回来了，还是将回来，也无法知道the next day是指过去的某一天，还是指即将到来的一天(明天)。可以看出，这种时态呼应的原则使得交际与现实环境完全脱离了联系。这对于表达思想是很不精确的。这不能不说是时态呼应原则的一个缺点。因此，现代英语已趋于摆脱这种束缚，表现它的灵活性：为了强调从句所表达的动作或状态与说话时的实际环境的联系，或者强调所转述的内容确实是事实时，人们常常独立地使用从句谓语动词的时态，而不受主句动词时态的影响。例如：

1. I told you (that) $\left\{ \begin{array}{l}\text{the road is closed}\\ \text{the bridge has collapsed}\\ \text{no one can cross it} \end{array} \right\}$ (A Reference Grammar, p. 44)

I told you (that) the road is closed 的意思是 the road is closed, I told you that before. (即说话的时候道路仍不许通行)

2. He said (that) this road leads to Rome. (The road still leads to Rome.) (English Grammatical Structure, p. 125)

3. Werner said he is going home tonight. (Reader's Digest, 75–7)

4. She told me she's getting married next June. (And I believe her.) (PEU, p. 534)

有人说,这种不符合时态呼应原则的句子仅能用于口语中,是标准书面英语所不能接受的。事实并非如此。例如,以考核学生运用标准书面英语能力为己任的 TOEFL 等,就常常采用这种用法:

5. “Professor Datilla just announced that he will give us a test this afternoon.” “That’s not fair. How much time ____ for us to study?” 答案为 (D) (will there be) (TOEFL)

6. It was told yesterday that the company ____ me there next week for a business conference. A. shall have sent B. are going to send C. shall be sending D. shall send(Nelson,250A)(答案为B)

但是美国的许多英语试题却总要求学生严格遵守时态呼应的原则。考官可以使用的句式，偏偏不容许学生使用，岂非怪事！请看下面的改错题：

(1) On last night's news, Walter Cronkite said that the crime rate $\frac{\text{is}}{(A)}$ increasing in spite of community and government programs aimed at providing education and employment opportunities for first offenders. [答案规定(A) is 为错误](B's Exercises, p. 66) (D)

(2) Public Opinion Magazine reported that 57 percent of all Americans strongly believe that (A) (B) mothers with young children should not work outside of the home unless their families (C) (D) badly needed the extra income. [答案规定(B) believe为错误] (B's Exercises, p. 66)

正如 G. Leech 所指出的，“When the idea expressed in the reported statement can also be applied to the time of reporting, there is no need to change the tense or other forms.” (CGE, p. 118) 考题(1)、(2)恰恰属于这里所说的情况。M. Swan 则主张根本就没有必要去考虑时态呼应的原则：

"It is quite unnecessary to learn complicated ‘rules’ about reported speech, or to practise changing direct speech to reported speech. Simply use the tenses that are natural for the situation." (PEU, p. 535)

A. S. Hornby 详细地分析了不遵守时态呼应原则的必要性。他在分析 A Shell spokesman admitted last week that his group have found “what could be a major oil field” in... 这个句子时说：“作者用 have found 是因为他不是从上周发言人承认事实的观点，而是从获得信息的读者的观点来看问题的。……我们一般说 He admitted he had received money from the agent of a foreign power. 句子把‘承认’与作出承认的过去时间联系了起来。但是，在法庭作证的证人或辩护律师会说 He admitted that he has received money... 因为他认为‘承认’与目前的审讯是有联系的。”

上面两个句子里间接引语使用现在时态的原因虽然基本上是相同的，但也存在一些细微的差别。在句(A)中，说话人在间接引语中不使用过去时(could)，而使用现在时，意在表明，苏格拉底说的话，直到现在仍是有效的、正确的。而在句(B)中说话人在间接引语中不使用过去进行时(was getting)而使用现在进行时，是想表明“我确信她告诉我的话是事实”。如用过去进行时，则在于强调“她告诉过……至于她的话是不是事实，我就不敢肯定了”。如果认为间接引语中引出的观点是错误的，就必须使用过去时。

请对比下列例句中的时态及其不同含义：

1. Their teacher had told them that the earth moves around the sun. (CGEL) 他们的老师告诉他们, 地球围绕太阳旋转。

2. Sam told me last night that he is now an American citizen. (CGEL) 昨夜萨姆告诉我,他现在是美国公民。

3. I heard her say that she is studying Business Administration. (CGEL) 我听她说, 她正在学商业管理。

4. Ali told me that you are going on board this afternoon. (Greene) 阿里告诉我你今天下午就要上船了。

5. She said that persistence $\left\{\begin{array}{l} can \\ could \end{array}\right\}$ overcome all obstacles. (CGEL) 她说毅力能够克服一切障碍。

6. The ancients thought that the sun moved around the earth, but from the time of Galileo it was known that the reverse is true. (CGEL) 古代人认为,太阳是围绕地球旋转的,但是,从伽利略时代起人们就已经知道地球是围绕太阳旋转的。

(参见 sequence of tenses)