251、896名词单复数的两大难题

gemj · 发表于 2003-11-5 11:51:00

251. The gyrfalcon, an Arctic bird of prey, has survived a close brush with extinction; its numbers are now five times greater than when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970’s.
(A) extinction; its numbers are now five times greater than
(B) extinction; its numbers are now five times more than
(C) extinction, their numbers now fivefold what they were
(D) extinction, now with fivefold the numbers they had（A）
(E) extinction, now with numbers five times greater than
为何不是单数its number？

896. Unlike other arachnids, which have their nerve cells evenly distributed along their bodies, the scorpion’s nerve cells are clustered in its head, like a mammal’s.
(A) bodies, the scorpion’s nerve cells are clustered in its head, like a mammal’s
(B) bodies, the scorpion’s head had a cluster of nerve cells, as a mammal does
(C) body, the scorpion has a cluster of nerve cells in its head, as a mammal does
(D) body, nerve cells are clustered in the scorpion’s head, like a mammal’s（C）
(E) body, a cluster of nerve cells is in the scorpion’s head, like a mammal’s
为何不是复数their bodies？

这两个题目已讨论了很多，但一直没有一个满意的解释，请各位武林高手答疑解惑，给个定论。谢谢！

[此贴子已经被作者于2003-11-5 16:05:54编辑过]

dandan74 · 发表于 2003-11-5 14:50:00

251：greater这个形容词一般形容"mass noun", 如density (大全161），这里要体会number和numbers的细微不同：
number: A total; a sum: the number of feet in a mile.
numbers: A large quantity; a multitude: Numbers of people visited the fair.
区别和细微，但还是能体会出来。

896: 没有明白你的意思

iselibra · 发表于 2003-11-5 15:03:00

numbers of sth和its numbers的概念是不同的吧？

gemj · 发表于 2003-11-5 16:05:00

以下是引用dandan74在2003-11-5 14:50:00的发言：
896: 没有明白你的意思

Sorry, 我把题目贴错了，现在已经改正。请你再看看，谢谢！

gemj · 发表于 2003-11-5 16:54:00

251
dandan74说的应该对。MW上对number的复数形式的解释是：
plural: a numerous group : MANY

本题中的numbers应该理解为“群体”：
其群体现在比以前大5倍。

不知可不可以结案了？

[此贴子已经被作者于2003-11-5 16:54:31编辑过]

gemj · 发表于 2003-11-5 20:23:00

请各位牛牛顶一顶啊！

miejue · 发表于 2003-11-5 21:49:00

以下是引用gemj在2003-11-5 16:54:00的发言：
251
dandan74说的应该对。MW上对number的复数形式的解释是：
plural: a numerous group : MANY

本题中的numbers应该理解为“群体”：
其群体现在比以前大5倍。

不知可不可以结案了？

我认为its numbers 的用法没有错误这里不选its numbers的原因是A B后面都没有补出比较对象如果B改为 its numbers are now five times more than those were 我觉得是可以的。

下面的句子同样是说鸟类数量的。
Brazilian Guitarfish Rhinobatos horkeli： This is a species of ray found along the coast of southern Brazil. Its numbers have declined by 96% between 1984 and 1994 due to over-fishing.

miejue · 发表于 2003-11-5 21:58:00

刚才忘记了补充下

number本身可以做可数名词含义是a particular example of something, means a particular quantity. 例： He's got all the back numbers of the magzine. 这里的numbers不是许多而是magzine的确切数量。

251这个题目中的numbers表达的也正是这个意思，此时的number是可数名词。所以its numbers的用法没有问题。

欢迎讨论！

miejue · 发表于 2003-11-5 22:15:00

以下是引用gemj在2003-11-5 11:51:00的发言：
896. Unlike other arachnids, which have their nerve cells evenly distributed along their bodies, the scorpion’s nerve cells are clustered in its head, like a mammal’s.
(A) bodies, the scorpion’s nerve cells are clustered in its head, like a mammal’s
(B) bodies, the scorpion’s head had a cluster of nerve cells, as a mammal does
(C) body, the scorpion has a cluster of nerve cells in its head, as a mammal does
(D) body, nerve cells are clustered in the scorpion’s head, like a mammal’s（C）
(E) body, a cluster of nerve cells is in the scorpion’s head, like a mammal’s
为何不是复数their bodies？

这题记得我曾经讨论过

这种复数代词带单数名词的用法英语并不少见，表达的意思就是每一个例：Despite age or weight, most judge their body size good enough. 这里的用body表示大多数人都认为各自的身材不错。

所以原文要表达的是这些神经细胞平均分布在这些蜘蛛纲类动物各自的身体里。

从数学的角度可能更容易理解有两组人各为A:10人 B:20人现在分苹果每组30个苹果那么各自平均分就是A组每人三个苹果 B组每人一个半而全部平均分每个人则是两个有差别。

欢迎讨论！

joywzy · 发表于 2003-11-5 22:36:00

miejue,T251是OG中的一题，你再读读它的解释啊。

T896，赞成你。

251、896名词单复数的两大难题

251、896名词单复数的两大难题

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