现如今，中国有很多人在学英语。要说中国学英语的人口比美国人口还多，这恐怕一点也不为过。但在中国，真正能熟练用英语进行交流的人并不多。具体来说，能够大致看懂英文的人较多，而能够流利地说英文和写英文的人较少。比如我们拿上面"中国学英语的人口比美国人口还多"这个中文句子为例，请读者将之译成英文。翻译这句话时，要用到英语中的比较句型。下面笔者提供三种不同版本的译文。

1. "主-系-表"句型：The number of people learning English in China is larger than the population of the United States.

2. There be句型：There are more people learning English in China than there are people in the United States.

3. "主-谓-状"句型：More people learn English in China than live in the United States.

上面三个句子中，句1最简单，相信很多读者都会这么翻译，句2相对较难，句3是最难的。读者要想译出句2、句3这样结构的比较句，需要在英语比较句方面有较深厚的功底。本期笔者就与大家探讨一下比较句中的倍数比较句型，希望对读者有所启发。

问题导入

上文使用的例句都是than比较句，现在我们将句2改为"as … as"比较句，请看原句和改写后的句子。

4. a. There are more people learning English in China than there are people in the United States.

b. There are as many people learning English in China as there are people in the United States.

我们知道，改写后得到的b句含义是"中国学英语的人口与美国人口一样多"，与原句的含义不一样。现在，我们在a句和b句的基础上分别添加诸如three times这样的倍数词来进行比较，即能得出下面两个句子。

5. a. There are three times more people learning English in China than there are people in the United States.

b. There are three times as many people learning English in China as there are people in the United States.

现在问题来了：这里a句和b句的含义是否相同？如果我们将例5两个句子的three times替换成分数a third，又可以得出下面两个句子。

6. a. There are a third more people learning English in China than there are people in the United States.

b. There are a third as many people learning English in China as there are people in the United States.

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问题又来了：这里a、b两句的含义是否相同呢？

这两个问题涉及到英语中的倍数比较。带着这两个问题，我们下面一起来探讨倍数比较句型的结构与含义。

倍数比较结构

倍数比较结构有两种，一种是"倍数/分数+形容词"，一种是"倍数/分数+名词"。下面笔者来进行具体阐述。

结构一：倍数/分数+形容词

因为形容词的比较结构主要是"than比较"和"as … as比较"这两类，所以，最核心的倍数比较句型有两个：一个是"倍数/分数+形容词比较级+ than"，另一个是"倍数/分数+ as +形容词+ as"。我们把倍数(以three times为例)与分数(以a third为例)分开列举，于是便有了下面的倍数比较句型。

7. a. A is three times bigger than B. (倍数+形容词比较级+ than)

b. A is three times as big as B. (倍数+as +形容词+ as)

c. A is a third bigger than B. (分数+形容词比较级+ than)

d. A is a third as big as B. (分数+as +形容词+ as)

值得注意的是，twice (两倍)不能用在"倍数+形容词比较级+ than"结构中，只能用在"倍数+as +形容词+ as"结构中。也就是说，我们不能说"A is twice bigger than B"，而应该说"A is twice as big as B"。英语中有个使用比较结构的俚语为"as large as life and twice as natural"(出自刘易斯·卡罗尔的《爱丽丝梦游仙境》)，字面意思是"和真人一样大而且有真人的两倍那么自然"，真正含义是"正是其人，如假包换"。当某人激动地告诉别人自己遇到了某个名人时就会用到该词。比如你和别人提起自己在乘飞机时遇见了某位电影明星，就可以这样强调："It’s him as large as life and twice as natural."这里的"twice as natural"不能说成"twice more natural"。