ＢＹ上的一道题，有一些问题

浅浅123

For many people, household labor remains demanding even if able to afford household appliances their grandparents would find a miracle.
A. even if able to afford household appliance their grandparents would find a mirale
B.despite being able to afford household appliance their grandparents would find  a  miracle
C.even if they can afford household household  appliance their grandparents would have found miraclous
D.although they could afford household appliance their grandprerants would find miraculous
E.Even if they are able to household appliance which would have been a miracle to their grandparents
为什么这道题选C的呢？还有C的后半句为什么要用虚拟语气的呢

babybearmm

我试着说我的思路吧，供参考

A/B:
如果没有"they are"，看上去"be able to"像是针对主语household labor，这显然illogical.  
另外(a minor point)，我感觉miracle和be miraclous意思上有点小区别，你体会一下英文释义, appliance被当作a miracle是不是太夸张了？"appliance that sb. would find miraculous"说得通。类似这样的同样词根的形容词-名词的意思上的细微差别，英语里有很多。

E: be able to后面没动词，错大了，别的我不看了

D: 个人觉得最明显的错误是时态，"could"和前面的"remains"不匹配。要知道"although"这词的意思，然后你就知道，要不前后都是虚拟语气，要不就都是indicative mode，总之不可能前面indicative后面subjunctive。
从逻辑含义上看，应该用even if，而不是although

C后半句用虚拟语气，我认为作者想说，这些appliance也许在grandparents那个年代根本就不存在。假如说放在那时，grandparents会觉得miraculous。其实这题时态上关键的突破点还不在于后面的虚拟语气（因为，假如这些appliance在那个历史年代存在，而grandparents确实认为miraculous，就不该用虚拟语气），而在于前面必须用can afford和remains匹配。

另外FYI，GMAT一般prefer "can" to "be able to"，原因：
1. Concision. 一个词能代替3个词，何乐而不为？
2. 有些时候只能用can，而不能用be able to。典型的是，对于non-living things

For many people, household labor remains demanding even if able to afford household appliances their grandparents would find a miracle.
A. even if able to afford household appliance their grandparents would find a mirale
B.despite being able to afford household appliance their grandparents would find  a  miracle
C.even if they can afford household household  appliance their grandparents would have found miraclous
D.although they could afford household appliance their grandprerants would find miraculous
E.Even if they are able to household appliance which would have been a miracle to their grandparents
为什么这道题选C的呢？还有C的后半句为什么要用虚拟语气的呢

-- by 会员 浅浅123 (2012/1/29 22:44:55)

浅浅123

那有时候有没有只能用be able to
不能用can的情况呢？
be able 代表一种能力 而can 表一种可能性的呢

babybearmm

Good question!
说实话，我没发现GMAT里面be able to比can好的，但我不敢打包票.....
只是，如果我印象没错的话，GMAT里面——
can都是表示“能够”
表示“也许能够”用could，有没有用"may be able to"的？我不知道....
表示可能性，用may

总之，GMAT对情态动词要求很严格，参见manhattan p.21

以上仅仅是我的大概印象，我还没整理过题目....欢迎讨论欢迎纠错

那有时候有没有只能用be able to
不能用can的情况呢？
be able 代表一种能力 而can 表一种可能性的呢

-- by 会员 浅浅123 (2012/1/30 1:55:18)

浅浅123

还有上面的那个解释，even if和although的具体差别在那里呢

babybearmm

although后面需要跟fact, "although sth. actually happens"，这里和后面的could矛盾
even if后面不需要是fact，even if相当于让步，退一步说就算是blabla

还有上面的那个解释，even if和although的具体差别在那里呢

-- by 会员 浅浅123 (2012/1/30 17:10:21)

barbaradu

解释的很清楚，非常感谢MM

典座

我看到过if和would不能同时出现在一个从句里，这里even if不算吗？我突然懵了...........

典座

babybearmm 发表于 2012-1-29 23:24
我试着说我的思路吧，供参考A/B: 如果没有"they are"，看上去"be able to"像是针对主语household labor，这 ...

忘了点回复......
请问if和would不能同时出现在一个从句里，这里的even if不算吗？？