关 于 “few” 与 “little” 的 意 义 初 探
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关于few与little，在我们的传统印象中，这两个单词似乎都表示否定意义，而a little与a few才表示肯定意义，这种说法是否准确。本文将讨论a few，a little中a脱落或隐去仍表示肯定意义的若干情况。
一、当与定冠词the以及指示限定词this，that，these，those等搭配时，a few，a little中的a必须隐去。如：（1）The few friends he has made here were all invited to the farewell party.他在这里结交的几位朋友全都被邀请参加了告别聚会。（2）This/That few months in the countryside have been most eventful.乡下这/那几个月可谓多事之秋。（3）These few samples will be sent to London.这些样品将被送往伦敦。（4）I gave him the little money that I had saved.我把节省下来的一点钱都给了他。
二、当与物主代词his，her，your，their等或名词所有格搭配时，a few，a little中的a也必须隐去。如：（1）Her few friends are all fond of dancing.她有好几位朋友都喜欢跳舞。（2）Her little knowledge of French has helped her greatly.她掌握的那点法语知识对她的帮助很大。（3）Jim made extensive use of the professor’s few books on comparative literature.吉姆充分利用了那位教授所著的有关比较文学方面的几本书。
三、当与不定限定词every等搭配时，a few，a little中的a也必须隐去。另外，用作副词的some置于few或little前时，它们也表示肯定意义，且具有一定的强调意味。如：（1）She visits her aunt every few days.她每隔几天就去看望姑姑。（2）It took us some few days to dismantle the machine.我们花了好几天时间才拆卸完那台机器。（3）Some few of the survivors are still living.当时幸免于难的人有几个还活着。（4）Every little makes.积少成多。（5）Every little help will be appreciated.每一点帮助我们都会铭记于心。（6）Why do you come to me with every little difficulty?你为什么有一点小麻烦就来找我？（7）We traveled some little way before noticing that Bradley wasn’t with us.我们走了相当长的路才注意到布拉德利没跟我们在一起。
四、当与序数词或通用序数词（作中位限定词）以及past等搭配时，a few，a little中的a也必须隐去。如：（1）The first few evenings he did enjoy himself very much.头几天晚上他确实过得很愉快。（2）He often tells us about his last few months in college.他经常向我们谈起他大学时代的最后几个月时光。（3）Tom broke his leg.It took him the next few weeks to get over it.汤姆的腿骨折了，过了好几个星期才痊愈。（4）I saw most of the children waiting in the next room.But where are the other few children who are to take part in the dance?我看见多数孩子在隔壁房间等候，但是即将参加舞蹈的那几个孩子在哪儿呢？（5）For the past few weeks he has been traveling in Europe.过去的几周他一直在欧洲旅行。
不过，还有这样一种情形，当表示类别的first，next，last位于few之后时，表达的意义明显不同。例如：（1）a few first violinists几个第一小提琴手。（2）The few last comers could be put up at a hostel for the night.几位后到的客人可能被安排到招待所过夜。（3）I don’t know who came out first in the contest，but I’m sure Jim was among the few next bests.我不知道谁在比赛中获得了冠军，但可以肯定吉姆一定是前几名。
可见，后位限定词与后位限定词之间的搭配也有一定的规律，它们之间的位置通常比较固定，不能随意调换。
五、与what搭配时的具体情形。需要指出的是，what一词有时同样是出现于few或little之前，但前者表示肯定，后者则表示否定。究竟是表示肯定还是表示否定，一是取决于说话者的语气或态度，二是要看what具体是什么词类。就下面三例来说，前两个what为关系限定词（relative determiner），第三个what则为感叹限定词（exclamatory determiner）。就后者而言，我们不能认为此处也隐去不定冠词a了。试比较：
（1）What few suggestions he made have been extremely helpful to us.他所提的那几项建议对我们帮助极大。
（2）What little pain and adversity I’ve experienced so far are simply nothing compared with what he’s gone through.与他的经历相比，我目前为止遭受的伤痛和不幸算不了什么。
（3）They’ve promised to help people like you.But what little help they’ve actually given to anybody!他们承诺过要帮助像你这样的人，但实际上他们提供给任何人的帮助都是那么微乎其微！
此外，在类似by little and little（逐步地，一点一点地）的短语中，介词by后面的little也表示肯定意义。