比较中的谓语动词

李小色

OG 12 -93

Heating-oil prices are expected to be higher this year than last because refiners are paying about $5 a barrel more for crude oil than they were last  year.
(A) Heating-oil prices are expected to be higher this year than last because refiners are paying about $5 a barrel more for crude oil than they were

(B) Heating-oil prices are expected to rise higher this year over last because refiners pay about $5 a barrel for crude oil more than they did

(C) Expectations are for heating-oil prices to be higher this year than last year's because refiners are paying about $5 a barrel for crude oil more than they did

(D) It is the expectation that heating-oil prices will be higher for this year over last because refiners are paying about $5 a barrel more for crude oil now than what they were

(E) It is expected that heating-oil prices will rise higher this year than last year's because refiners pay about $5 a barrel for crude oil more than they did

正确答案A中的they were 有点费解
they应该是指代refiners的对吗？
那为什么谓语动词补出were呢？
than they were paying last year？
那为什么要用进行时呢？
为什么不用they paid last year呢？

liumin617

ding 同问

huangyouhuifei

战友试解答：
先给出我对A代入原句的翻译：
Heating-oil prices are expected to be higher this year than last because refiners are paying about $5 a barrel more for crude oil than they were last  year.
燃用油的价格被预期今年将高于去年，因为提炼厂支付原油价格今年比去年多付5美元/桶。
楼主的问题：
they应该是指代refiners的对吗？
我认为是的。
那为什么谓语动词补出were呢？
为了跟前面“refiners are”匹配。它作了省略，补全应该是refiners are paying about $5 a barrel more for crude oil than they were paying about $5 a barrel last  year.要是不补出were，就成了refiners are paying about $5 a barrel more for crude oil than they last  year，从意思上来讲，就表示提炼厂支付的价格比提炼厂多，“提炼厂支付的价格”和“提炼厂”不可比。
那为什么要用进行时呢？
个人认为，此处用进行时，并非表示正在进行，而是表示持续动作。
“refiners are paying about $5 a barrel more for crude oil than they were last  year”不成翻译成“提炼厂正在支付原油价格今年比去年正在多付5美元/桶”。而表示持续，今年以来，一直都比去年多付。要是用一般现在时，表达不出这种意味。但是，我认为用一般现在时的话，从语法上讲也没有错，只是不如进行时好。当然，要是前面用refiners are paying，后面就只能是they were。

不一定对，供讨论~~~

张迪清

huangyouhuifei 发表于 2011-1-31 00:50
战友试解答：先给出我对A代入原句的翻译：Heating-oil prices are expected to be higher this year than l ...

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