閆　躍

英語作文應(yīng)做到“意形并重”，除了考慮“說什么”，還得考慮“怎么說”，銜接語的使用是后一方面的要求，它的使用力求新穎靈活，要能使語言表達(dá)走出單調(diào)枯躁的陰影。下面筆者將英語議論文中與觀點論述相關(guān)的一些常用銜接語小結(jié)如下，希望對中學(xué)生朋友們有所幫助。

一、表示話題“涉及方面”的短語

這類短語多半表示“關(guān)于”、“就……而言”之類的意義，除了常用的about, on, as to(for)等詞語，還有許多表示相同意義的其他方式，如in the matter of, on the subject of, in connection to / with, in point / regard / respect of, in reference / regard / relation to, with reference / regard / relation / respect to, as concerns / regards（后接名詞、動名詞或what從句）, concerning, regarding, respecting, as / so far ... be concerned, where ... be concerned等等。例如：

In connection with / In point of / In reference to / With respect to / In the matter of / On the subject of what you were just saying, there is one point I would like to emphasize. 關(guān)于你剛才所說的話，有一點我要強(qiáng)調(diào)。

I have little information as regards/ concerning her fitness for the post. 至于她是否適合這個職位，我無可奉告。

As far as / Where sovereignty is concerned, there is no latitude for negotiation. 在涉及主權(quán)的問題上沒有談判的余地。

二、表示“觀點來源”的短語

這類短語主要用來引出陳述者的立場或論斷。大致分為兩類：一類用于引出陳述者根據(jù)個人的看法或意愿在某一事件上所形成的“立場”，表示“在某人看來；某人認(rèn)為”之類的含義；另一類則用于引出陳述者根據(jù)所了解的客觀情況所做出的主觀性相對較弱的“論斷”，表示“據(jù)某人所知”之類的含義。為了方便論述，第一類短語，以“在我看來；我認(rèn)為”為例，除常用的personally, speaking for myself, in my opinion / view等結(jié)構(gòu)，還有為數(shù)甚多的其他表達(dá)，如：in my understanding, to my mind, to my (way of) thinking, from where I stand, as / so far as I am concerned等介詞短語、狀語從句均可表達(dá)這一意義；第二類短語，以“據(jù)我所知”為例，一般可表示為: to (the best of) my knowledge, from what I know / understand, as / so far as I know / understand 等等。例如：

To my (way of) thinking / From where I am standing, it ought to be banned altogether. 我認(rèn)為這應(yīng)該全部取締。

To (the best of) my knowledge / As far as I know, the new project will be starting in June. 據(jù)我所知，新項目將于六月開始進(jìn)行。

三、表示“觀點給出方式”的短語

這類短語通常用來表示“……地說”這類意義，最普通的表達(dá)就是“adv + speaking”，除這一模式外，還存在多種表達(dá)方式，比如要表示“簡要的說”，可以有如下選擇：in brief, to be brief, to speak briefly, to put it briefly, putting it briefly, put briefly（put是過去分詞）, if I may speak briefly。這些介詞短語、非限定性分句或從句，如選用得當(dāng)，作文也會給人耳目一新的感覺。例如：

To be frank / To speak frankly / To put it frankly / Putting it frankly / Put frankly / If I may speak frankly, I am not quite of the opinion that children should receive foreign language education since childhood. 坦率地說，我不大贊同兒童應(yīng)該從小就接受外語教育的看法。

四、表示行為發(fā)生“依據(jù)”或“憑借”的短語

表示“鑒于”、“由于”這類解釋原因或理由概念的詞有considering / given(that), in view / consideration of, with ... in view等，其中considering / given可用作介詞，后接一名詞性成分，也可作連詞，后接一從句（該從句如由that引導(dǎo)，that可省略）；表“由于”、“因為”這類概念，除常見的介詞because of等，還有by reason of, for reasons of, for ... reasons, in consequence of, on account / grounds of, what with（用于列舉各種理由，至少兩個）, by / in the virtue of, on the score of等表示法，表該類意義的從屬連詞，除常見的because, as, since,還可用by reason that, for the reason that, on the ground(s) that, being as / that, now (that), seeing (as / that)等。例如：

Considering / Given her age（= Considering）, she had done remarkably well. 考慮到她的年齡，她已經(jīng)做得相當(dāng)不錯了。

By reason of / On account of / What with the cold weather and my bad leg, I havent been out for weeks. 由于天冷，我的腿又不好，我已好幾個星期沒出門了。

Her claim was disallowed on the ground(s) that / by reason that / being as / being that she had not paid her premium.她要求賠款遭到拒絕，原因是她事先沒有交納保險費。

Now (that) / Seeing (as / that) it is ten oclock, we will not wait for Mary any more. 既然已經(jīng)十點了，我們就不再多等瑪麗了。

五、表示行為發(fā)生“條件”的短語

這類短語多表示“如果”、“萬一”、“只要”等意義，引導(dǎo)條件狀語，除常用的in case (of), if外, 還有in the event (of), providing / provided (that), on(upon) condition (that), on the understanding that等結(jié)構(gòu)，其中in case of與in the event of是介詞，其他的是從屬連詞。例如：

Britain agreed to support the US in the event of war / in the event (that) there is a war. 英國同意一旦發(fā)生戰(zhàn)爭將支持美國。

Providing / provided (that) we got good weather, it will be a successful holiday. 如果天氣良好，我們的假日將會過得非常好。

I lent him five pounds on condition (that) / on the understanding that he would repay me today.我借他五英鎊，條件是他今天得還給我。

六、表示“觀點匯總”的短語

這類短語用作獨立成分，主要表示“總的看來”與“總之”的含義，表示前者的主要有：on the whole, on balance, by and large, wholly speaking, taken / seen as a whole, all things considered, everything taken into consideration,其中taken / seen as a whole是過去分詞作狀語，其邏輯主語須與主句一致，all things considered, everything taken into consideration是獨立主格結(jié)構(gòu)作狀語，它們都屬非限定性分句的范疇。表示后者的主要有：all in all, in a word, in conclusion, to conclude, in sum / summary, to sum up。例如：

On the whole / On balance / By and large, our firm has had quite a good year despite some failures. 總體看來，我們公司雖然存在某些不足之處，但這一年還是相當(dāng)不錯的。

Taken / Seen as a whole / All things considered / Everything taken into consideration, her proposal is more practical.總體說來，她的建議更切合實際。

All in all, its been a pretty bad year for John Major. 總體來說，對約瀚·梅杰來講這是最糟糕的一年。

And so I would say, in sum / in summary, that the campaign has been a great success. 因此我認(rèn)為，總的看來，這項運動成績巨大。

銜接語的合理運用既可以使得英語作文避免在措辭上的生硬和單調(diào)，又可以增強(qiáng)觀點的親和力。需要指出的是，上文同一條目下的短語可以表示同類意義，但有些并非完全對等，就如同均為表示原因的because, as, since之間的差別一樣，像being as / that 比較口語化，而by / in the virtue of則顯得較正式文雅；if與on the understanding that雖同樣可以表條件，但前者只表示“如果”，而后者含有“只要；在……的條件下”，在意義上存在細(xì)微差別，并且后者多用于正式文體當(dāng)中。