ashamed, shameful, shameless 的用法辨析

一、ashamed 的用法

ashamed 的意思是“感到羞恥的”，主要用于形容人。如：

He is ashamed of his failure [having failed]. 他對自己的失敗感到羞慚。

I’m not ashamed of her. If anything, I’m proud. 我并不為她感到羞恥，相反，我還為她感到驕傲。

I’m ashamed of him. 我為他感到羞愧。

I’m ashamed for him. 我替他感到羞愧。

You should be ashamd of your behavior. 你應該為你的行為感到羞愧。

He was ashamed at being unable to give an answer. 他因不能回答而感到慚愧。

Inside, she felt ashamed about being a failure. 她內心為事業失利而感到羞愧。

I’m ashamed of myself for being so stupid. 我因自己這么愚蠢而感到害羞。

She was ashamed to tell her husband that she had lied. 她很害羞不敢告訴丈夫她撒了謊。

補充說明：

1. 許多以a-開頭的表語形容詞，通常要用much或very much修飾，而不用very修飾，但ashamed 是個例外，它可隨意地受very修飾：

I behaved badly yesterday and still feel very ashamed of myself. 我昨天失禮了，至今我仍感到羞愧。

2.后接不定式，通常表示由于羞恥或慚愧而不愿做某事或不好意思做某事：

I’d be ashamed to take his money. 我不好意思拿他的錢。

Her room was in such a litter that she was ashamed to ask me in. 她的房間十分雜亂，她不好意思請我進去。

3. 表示對已做的事感到羞愧，其后通常接 of doing sth或of oneself for doing sth：

You should be ashamed of lying to him.=You should be ashamed of yourself for lying to him. 你應當為對他說謊而感到羞恥。

有時也可接不定式的完成式of having done sth：

He was ashamed of asking [having asked] such a simple question. 問了一個這么簡單的問題，他感到很難為情。

相關諺語：

Poverty is not a shame, but the being ashamed of it is. 貧非恥，恥貧乃恥。

The more things a man is ashamed of the more respectable he is. 一個人引以為恥的事情越多，就越可尊敬。

He who is afraid of asking is ashamed of learning. 害怕問者恥于學。

二、shameful的用法

shameful 的意思是“可恥的”“丟臉的”“不體面的”，主要用于事物。如：

I hate such shameful conduct. 我憎恨那樣的可恥行為。

I couldn’t see anything shameful in what I had done. 我看不出我做了什么丟臉的事。

The family kept their shameful secret for years. 這個家族把他們的家丑隱藏了多年。

用法補充：

本詞不表示感到羞愧或羞恥，若要表示感到羞愧或羞恥，可用feel shame或be ashamed of等。

相關諺語：

Better a glorious death than a shameful life. 與其忍辱偷生，不如光榮而死。

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