如果我们想表达:
“今天的学生实际上并不比过去的学生更聪明。”(但由于有了计算机的帮助,今天的学生懂得比过去的学生更多。这句话在托福作文中可以用得到:Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? With the help of technology, students nowadays can learn more information and learn it more quickly. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.)
大多数人原本的表达可能是这样的:
Today’s students are in fact not smarter than students of the past.
应用之前的各个重点,现在读者可以炮制出:
Today’s students are in fact not smarter than were those of the past.
英文当中有一个词,本质上是“代词”,却在任何词典或者语法书中都没有被当作代词处理过,这个单词是:counterpart。
重点11: “counterpart”本质上来看是“比较句中的代词”。
之前的句子“今天的学生实际上并不比过去的学生更聪明。”还可以这样写:
Today’s students are in fact not smarter than were their counterparts of the past.
再补充两个使用“counterpart”的例句:
- The idea that antioxidant supplements are the same as their counterparts that are naturally present in food is a myth.
- In international comparison, Swiss labor force is cheaper than its counterpart in neighboring countries.



{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
这个系列包含的内容非常丰富,不过分拆成好几个部分,容易使人看了后面忘了前面。
得好好总结了
我也来造句。我想说人们在听音乐时如果可以看到相关画面会导致他们对音乐的集中程度少于那些只听到声音的人。这句话是否可以说成People are less concentrated in the music when they have some related visual images to watch as they listening than are those who haven’t.
今天的学生实际上并不比过去的学生更聪明
I kind of feel it is better to translate the sentence to be “Today’s students are not necessarily smarter than those in the past.”
笑来:Today’s students are in fact not smarter than are those of the past.为什么是are those of 而不是were those of?
to mimi: 笔误。已经改过来了,谢谢!
那这句下面的同义句不是也要改时态?Today’s students are in fact not smarter than were their counterparts of the past.
看完了这个系列,受益匪浅,谢谢笑来的分享~~
客气。
看完了,还是分析不出这两句,都是新概念3,38课的:
They had a definite meaning, for they were as near as early man could get to writing.
It seems that man was making a real effort to understand the seasons 20,000 years earlier than has been supposed.
求教