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写科技论文,经常有“...分别进行了... ”这类的表述,此时应该用respectively吗?虽然respective有“各自的”的意思,但是respectively并不能简单地按“各自地”使用!
同源词汇的词义往往是遗传的,但respect, respective和respectively这三个单词词义的突变太厉害的,厉害到你感觉不到它们的父子关系。
一、Respect
Respect既可做名词,也可作动词,下面只谈名词。
Respect来自拉丁语的respectus,是往回看(retrospect)的意思。形容词respectant只有一个义项,"looking backwards or behind, looking back",它显然是respect原始意义的嫡系。
汉文化一向有尊古传统,不知道英语体系是否也有,但是respect的“往回看”确实有“尊敬、敬重”之意(A feeling of appreciative, often deferential regard; esteem),如 I have great respect for your work。进一步则有被尊重的状态之意(The state of being regarded with honor or esteem),如a leader held in the greatest respect。这个变异已经相当大了。此义项的衍生词有respectable(形容词),respectability(名词),respectableness(名词),respectless(形容词)。
当然也不是什么人都能被敬重的,所以你肯定得掂量掂量,于是repsect也有考虑考虑的意思啦(Consideration or appreciation),如 Can't you at least give me some respect?
因为respect的“往回看”中有“看”(spect与view有关)(遗传的另一个物种),只要“看”(view)就有视角,于是它也有 A particular aspect(view)之意,如In many respects this is an important decision。进而,view也可能抽象化,包括feature, or detail,即“in many respects”不再限于“物理视角”,而是从许多方面(如特性、细节等等)。
短语“in(or with) respect to/”意思是“in reference to”(关于),此处的respect应该是a particular aspect,feature, or detail之意, 如: In respect to the defense's claim that Ms. Smith acted alone, we have evidence to the contrary(关于辩护人Smith女士独自行事的说法,我们有相反的证据)。有时直接用repecting代替with respect to。
同样的还有短语in some (or many) respects, 如In some respects, Anne's comments are similar to yours(在某些方面,安妮的评论与你的相似); The three proposals are quite different in many respects(这三项提案在很多方面都有很大不同)。
但是,短语“with all due respect”的“respect”是“尊敬”的意思,如: With all due respect, sir, I think we could look at this situation differently(尊敬的先生,我想我们可以以不同的方式来看待这种情况)。
二、 Respective
Respective是形容词,只有一个义项,就是存在两个或以上的人或事,与各自相关的,独有的(Relating to two or more persons or things regarded individually; particular),如:After the music class, the boy and the girl went home to their respective homes(音乐课结束后,男孩和女孩回到他们各自的家中);Marie Curie and Albert Einstein both excelled in their respective fields(玛丽居里和阿尔伯特爱因斯坦在各自的领域都表现出色)。
KFC怎么也搞不清楚respective的义项是怎么遗传来的(突变太厉害了)。Respectful确实是“恭敬的,尊敬的,有礼貌的”意思,也有相应的副词respectfully和名词respectfulness。
因为所涉为两个或以上的人或事,所以respective后面的名词一定要是复数。
三、Respectively
Respectively是第三代(很难与retrospect意思联系上了)。它是副词,但并非与中文“分别地,各自地”简单对应,它的意思是“按照指定的或提及的顺序逐一依次地”(Singly in the order designated ormentioned),如,"Cathy and Patty like bread and hotdogs, Respectively"—Cathy和Patty分别喜欢面包和热狗(Cathy喜欢面包,Patty喜欢热狗)。像“对A和B都分别进行了检测”不可以用respectively,但是“对A和B都分别用甲和乙进行了检测”可用respectively。另外respectively要放在句末(前面加不加逗号都有),而中文的“分别”都是在句中。
再次强调像这样是正确的:Sarah,David and Hameed are awarded the first, the second and the third prize respectively。但像这样是错误的:They are awarded the first, the second andthe third prize respectively。一定要“一一对应”。
再比如“ For men, the proportion of treatment admissions rose from 1.8% in 1998 to 8.1% a decade later; for women, those figures were 3.5% and 13.3%, respectively”也是不正确的(those figures与3.5%和13.3%没有一一对应上)。
这样也不当:The value of Vext was 17, and the value of Vint was 68, respectively;Traces of plutonium were found in the Exeter samples and the London samples,respectively。 因为这里的respectively冗余了。
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