如何理解never…a better的意思

在英語學習中，經常會見到 never…a better 之類的用法，你知道它是什么意思嗎？請看下面一題：

How beautifully she sings! I have never heard __________ voice.

A. a better                          B. a best

C. the better                        D. the best

【陷阱】容易誤選D，認為最高級前要用定冠詞。

【分析】其實此題最佳答案為A，該句可視為…I have never heard a better voice than her voice 之省略，全句句意為“她唱得多好啊！我從未聽過她這么好的聲音”。請再看以下類似的實例：

He is fine, never better. 他很好，比以往任何時候都好。

This bird is really lovely. I’ve never seen a finer one. 這只鳥真可愛，我從未見過這樣好看的鳥。

比較以下試題，情形也大致相同：

(1) “I’ve never found a better job.” “_______.”

A. I don’t think so                        B. Too bad

C. Congratulations                        D. Don’t worry

答案選C，I’ve never found a better job可視為 I’ve never found a better job than this job 之省略，句意為：我從來沒有找到比這份工作更好的工作，即這是我所找到的最好的工作。

(2) “What do you think of the service here?” “Oh, ______. We couldn’t have found a better place.”

A. too bad                                   B. sorry

C. wonderful                               D. impossible

答案選 C。We couldn’t have found a better place 可視為We couldn’t have found a better place than this place，其意為“我們不可能找到一個比這個地方更好的地方”，即“這是我們所能找到的最好的地方”。

(3) Boris has brains. In fact, I doubt whether anyone in the class has _____IQ.

A. a high                                     B. a higher

C. the higher                                D. the highest

答案選B，句意為“……我懷疑班上有沒有哪個人比他智商更高”，即“我認為他可能是班上智商最高的”。

(4)  How cold it is! We’ve never had ______ this winter.

A. the colder day                           B. a cold day

C. the coldest day                          D. a colder day

答案選 D。句意為“今年冬天我們還從未遇上過這樣冷的日子”。