fairly和rather这两个词都有“相当”、“适中”的意思,但fairly主要用于修饰褒义的形容词和副词(如bravely,good,nice,well等),而rather主要修饰贬义的形容词和副词(如bad,stupidly,ugly等):
Tom is fairly clever,but Peter is rather stupid.
汤姆相当聪明,而彼得就颇笨。
I walk fairly fast but Ann walks rather slowly.
我走得相当快,而安就走得相当慢。
两者都可以与分词连用:
He was fairly relaxed;she was rather tense.
他很放松,而她就相当紧张。
a fairly interesting film
一部相当有意思的电影。
a rather boring book.
一本相当乏味的书。
不定冠词必须放在fairly之前,但可放在rather之前或之后:
a fairly light box
一个相当轻的盒子
a rather heavy box/rather a heavy box.
一个相当重的盒子一些本身没有褒贬意义的形容词和副词如fast,slow,thin,thick,hot,cold等,之前加上fairly时表示赞许而加上rather时表示不赞许。This soup is fairly hot(这汤还挺热)这意味说话人喜欢喝热汤。而This soup is rather hot(这汤太热了)就意味着说话人嫌汤太热了点。
rather可用在alike,like,similar,different等词及比较级之前,这时它的含义是“少许”或“略微”:
Siamese cats are rather like dogs in some ways.
暹罗猫在某些方面长得有点儿像狗。
The weather was rather worse than I had expected.
天气要比我预料的还坏。
rather a可以与一些名词连用,如disappiontment,disadvan-tage,nuisance,pity,shame及joke:
It’s rather a nuisance that we can’t park here.
真讨厌,我们不能在这里停车。(有点不方便)
It’s rather a shame that he has to work on Sundays.
真讨厌,他连星期天也得去上班。(有点不公平)
fairly则不能这样用。
rather可以用在某些褒义的形容词和副词之前,如amusing,clever,good,pretty,well等,但其含义变了。这时它几乎相当于very之意,没有贬义,如She is rather clever(她很聪明)。这句含义相当于She is very clever。rather这样用时显然具有比fairly更深的褒义,如It is a fairly good play(这个戏还算可以)。这一说法会起到劝阻旁人去看戏的作用。但如果说It israther a good play(这个戏很好)则无疑是一种推荐。有时rather这样用时含有“惊讶”之意:
—I suppose the house was filthy.
—No,as a matter of fact it was rather clean.
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