以a-開頭的形容詞用法新探 • aghast

江蘇豐縣  李  翔

一、aghast 的用法

基本義：驚奇的；驚恐的 (filled with horror or amazement)

■作表語

1. aghast at sth。例如：

Scarlett was aghast at such words coming from Melly of all people. 思嘉想不到媚蘭竟說出這樣的話來，覺得太可怕了。

2. aghast to do sth。例如：

As I lay in that dark hour, I was aghast to realise that something was within me. 當我在黑夜里躺著的時候，吃驚地體會到我心里有某種東西。

■作賓語補足語

The door of the room was thrown open, and Julia appearing at it, with a face aghast, exclaimed," My father is come!" 門霍地開了，朱麗葉站在門口，大驚失色地叫道：“我父親回來了！”

■作狀語

And you married a Christian minister to a heathen?" Abner asked, aghast. “你把一個基督牧師同野蠻人結成了夫婦？”艾布納駭然問道。

■(有時)作前置定語

She passes an aghast English-speaking European tourist, ...她從一個驚恐的、講英語的歐洲游客身邊經過……

二、aghast 的搭配

1. a little [a bit, equally, properly，quite, slightly, truly，totally]aghast。例如：

I was quite aghast when I read some of the questions. 當讀到一些問題時， 我相當驚恐。

注：楊發河著《英語形容詞句型活用指南》(江西高校出版社1992年12月第1版)p14：aghast前不用very，如不說very aghast，而說much[very much] aghast。

然而，在BNC(http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk)和BUY-BNC BRTISH NATIONAL CORPUS (UK,1980s-1993) (Mark Davies, Brigham Young University ) http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/ 上共有152例包含aghast 的例句，竟無1例much[very much] aghast；

在BYU: THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY(http://corpus.byu/oed/)上共有49例包含aghast 的例句，竟無1例much[very much] aghast；

在TIME CORPUS OF AMERICAN ENGLISH (1923-2006) (Mark Davies, Brigham Young University ) (http://corpus.byu.edu/time) 上共有273例包含aghast 的例句，竟無1例much[very much] aghast；

在BUY CORPUS OF AMERICAN ENGLISH (1990-2008) (Mark Davies, Brigham Young University) http://www.americancorpus.org/上共有489例包含aghast 的例句，竟無1例much[very much] aghast。

由此看來，盡管語法專家根據語法理論認為much或very much可以修飾aghast，但實際上，無論英國英語還是美國英語都不用much或very much修飾aghast，而是通常用all 來修飾aghast。

2. be [feel, look, seem, sound, stand]aghast。例如：

“Ten days? ” She was aghast. “十天？”她很驚奇。

I still feel slightly aghast at the idea of her leaving him there.一想到她把他留在那里，我仍然感到有點吃驚。

She looked almost aghast under the new idea she was receiving. 她聽到這件從未想到過的事情后，幾乎嚇呆了。

Co-workers had seemed aghast, and wanted to comfort them. 同事們似乎很吃驚，想安慰他們。

“A space station?”“George sounded aghast. “太空站？”喬治聽上去很吃驚。

The neighbours all stood aghast, and dared not move. 鄰居們都目瞪口呆, 再不敢動。

3. aghast at sth.。例如：

I was aghast at the incomprehension of our leadership.我對于我們領導不理解形勢的情況也大感吃驚。

He stood aghast at the terrible sight. 他被那可怕的景象嚇呆了。