英文书面比较句的写法（五）

一提到“more/less… than”或者“as… as”，我们直接想到的是形容词与副词的比较级与最高级。可是，我们有的时候需要比较“名词属性”。比如这个句子：

He is more of a friend than a father.

这句话是如何“炮制”出来的呢？

He is a friend.
He is a father.
>>> He is more a friend than he is a father.

可是，“more”是副词；副词什么时候可以修饰名词呢？——错的时候。副词是不能修饰名词的。那怎么办呢？填一个“of”进来。“of”后面接上一个名词所构成的介词词组相当与那个名词词义的形容词词性（真拗口），所以，以下两个句子是等价的：

It is very important.
It is of great importance.

于是，填进去一个“of”之后：

He is more a friend than he is a father.
>>> He is more of a friend than a father.

这句话的意思是说：“他是个好父亲，更是个好朋友。”这其中的“好”，应该是在前文中已经描述过的（比较句是依赖上下文的——重点6）。

重点8: 比较名词属性的时候，“more”后面要加上一个“of”。

重点9：比较名词属性的时候，“as”后面要加上“much of”。

所以，如果我想表达“他是个多好的父亲，他就是个多好的朋友”，那么就应该写成：

He is as much of a friend as a father.

现在我们可以通通透透地理解下面这个所谓的“难句”了——这是一个托福阅读中出现的句子，难倒过不少人：

Life’s transition from the sea to the land was perhaps as much of an evolutionary challenge as was the genesis of life.

让我们逆向拆解一下这句话的“炮制”过程（重点1）：

Life’s transition from the sea to the land was an evolutionary challenge.
The genesis of life was an evolutionary challenge.
>>> Life’s transition from the sea to the land was as an evolutionary challenge as the genesis of life was an evolutionary challenge.

加上一个程度副词“perhaps”：

>>> Life’s transition from the sea to the land was perhaps as an evolutionary challenge as the genesis of life was an evolutionary challenge.

因为比较的是名词属性，“as”后面加上“much of”（重点9）

>>> Life’s transition from the sea to the land was perhaps as much of an evolutionary challenge as the genesis of life was an evolutionary challenge.

第二个句子中重复的部分省略掉，谓语动词不省略（重点2）

>>> Life’s transition from the sea to the land was perhaps as much of an evolutionary challenge as the genesis of life was an evolutionary challenge.

第二个句子的谓语动词倒装（重点4），最终得到我们之前看过的句子：
>>> Life’s transition from the sea to the land was perhaps as much of an evolutionary challenge as was the genesis of life.

这句话的意思是说，“（如果说）生命的起源是个进化的挑战（的话），（那么）生命从海洋到陆地的演变是个更大程度的进化挑战。”

由于比较句中的第二个句子（重点1）是参照系（重点7），所以，在读到这个句子之前，肯定有笔墨描述“The genesis of life was an evolutionary challenge.”，而在那篇文章中，这个比较句是第三句话：

Life originated in the early seas less than a billion years after the Earth was formed. Yet another three billion years were to pass before the first plants and animals appeared on the continents. Life’s transition from the sea to the land was perhaps as much of an evolutionary challenge as was the genesis of life.

再看一个GRE ISSUE作文题目中的句子：

When we concern ourselves with the study of history, we become storytellers. Because we can never know the past directly but must construct it by interpreting evidence, exploring history is more of a creative enterprise than it is an objective pursuit. All historians are storytellers.

现在能够完全明了“… exploring history is more of a creative enterprise than it is an objective pursuit.”是如何构成的、以及这句话究竟是什么意思了吧？

再给大家看一个论坛上的链接（最后一个答复日期是Nov 18 2007, 10:52 AM），大家就是知道有多少人因为这个“of”或者“much of”而困惑了——可是你，现在已经完全明了。