一、rather作副词,意为"宁愿;宁可"。作此意解的rather常和would / had连用,构成固定短语。would / had rather…than译为"宁愿……而不愿" ,应该特别注意此短语的否定构成及其后接的动词形式。如:
He would rather have the small one than the large one.
他宁愿要一个小的,而不要大的。
I'd rather take the slowest train than go there by air.
我宁愿坐最慢的火车,也不乘飞机去那里。
I would rather not tell you the secret right now.
我现在不愿把那个秘密告诉你。
would/ had rather后可跟从句,表示主语宁愿让某人干某事.从句谓语动词用虚拟语气,即用一般过去时表示现在或将来要做的事;用过去完成时表示过去要做的事.如:
I’d rather she set out to do the work now.
我宁愿她现在就着手做这项工作。
I’d rather you met her at the airport tomorrow morning.
但愿你明天早上能在机场见到她。
I’d rather you hadn’t told him the news that day.
我真希望你那天没有把那消息告诉他。
You always go without me and l’d rather you didn’t.
你总是不带我去,我可不愿意你这样。
I would / had rather you posted the letter right away,
我倒希望你把这封信立即发出。
I would / had rather that she had stayed at home.
她那时要是留在家里就好了。
Katie went by car and I’d rather she hadn’t. 凯蒂是坐汽车去的,我宁愿她不坐汽车去。
二、rather作副词用时,意为"更确切地"。此用法的rather常用在or rather这一短语中,表示想要纠正已经说过的话,或欲使已说过的话更确切。(纠正所说的话或提供更确切的信息)如:
She worked as a secretary, or rather, a personal assistant.
她当了秘书;确切地讲,是私人助理。
In the end he had to walk─or rather run─to the office.
最后他不得不走着——应该说是跑着——去办公室。
His son is a doctor, or rather, a surgeon.
他的儿子是医生,或者更确切地说,是外科医生。
Thanks to his efforts, or rather the efforts of his employees, they made a decent profit.
由于他的努力,或者更确切地说是他的员工的努力,他们获得了可观的利润。
He worked till late last night, or rather, early in the morning.
他一直工作到深夜,或者更确切地说,到今天凌晨。
The building is like a palace, or rather a temple.
这幢建筑物像一座宫殿,或者更确切地说像一座寺庙。
三、rather作副词用时,意为:而是,恰恰相反;(提出与前面相反的观点或看法):
He didn’t succeed ; rather, he failed long ago.
她没有成功,相反,他早就失败了。
The walls were not white, but rather a sort of dirty grey.
墙面不是白的,而是灰不溜秋的。
四、rather作副词用时, 还可作"相当;颇;有点儿"解。如:
You've done rather well.
你做得相当好。
The way he is living is rather strange to me.
他的生活方式我觉得很怪。
rather, fairly, quite, pretty的区别:
1. 从程度上说, fairly是最轻的一个;quite比fairly 语气稍强;rather 在程度上比quite更重一些;pretty 和rather 差不多,但大多数情况下用于非正式文体。如:
They were getting along fairly well with each other.
他们相处还不错。
He was quite polite, but he wasn't ready to help me.
他相当有礼貌,但他并不愿意帮助我。
There's something rather strange about the way he talks to you.
他跟你说话的样子真有点怪。
He was conscious that he was talking rather too much.
他意识到他说得实在太多了。
She fell and hurt her leg rather badly.
她跌倒了,腿伤得相当重。
It was a rather difficult question.
这是个相当难的问题。
It was rather a difficult question.
这真是个难题。
Twenty-five is pretty old to take up ballet dancing.
二十五岁才学跳芭蕾,年纪就太大了。
(与动词连用以减弱语气)有点儿,稍微
I rather suspect we're making a mistake.
我有点儿怀疑我们正在犯错误。
We were rather hoping you'd be able to do it by Friday.
我们希望你最好能在星期五之前做这件事。
(放在动词前用以加重语气)更…,宁愿…
I rather think he was telling the truth.
我倒觉得他讲的是真话。
2. rather 和quite可放在不定冠词前,也可放在不定冠词之后,还可以和动词连用,而fairly 和pretty没有这些用法。如:
It's rather a good book. =It's a rather good book. 那是一本相当好的书。
That is quite / rather a surprising result. =That is a quite / rather surprising result. 那是一个相当惊人的结果。
I rather / quite like to go for a walk after supper. 我颇喜欢在晚饭后出去散步。
3. 只有rather可以修饰比较级,还可和too连用。如:
This computer is rather more expensive than that one.这部电脑比那部昂贵一些。
This book is rather too difficult for the beginners.这部书对初学者来说太难了。
五、rather than 的用法。
rather 不仅是一个表示程度的副词,还能用来表示选择,意为"而非;(与其……)倒不如"。rather than 经常用在"平行结构"里,即连接两个对等成分。
He wanted to be an actor rather than a comedian.
他想当演员而不是喜剧演员。
I'd prefer to go in August rather than July. 我愿八月去,不愿七月去。
I'd call her hair chestnut rather than brown. 我宁愿说她的头发是栗色,而不是棕色。
We ought to invest in new machines rather than buildings. 我们应该在新的机器上而不是在房屋上投资。
I decided to write rather than telephone. 我决定写信而不打电话。
I always prefer starting early, rather than leaving everything to the last minute. 我总是愿意早开始而不愿意把所有事情都留到最后。
I prefer getting up early rather than rushing at the last minute.
我宁愿早起,也不愿赶在最后一分钟。
I prefer to leave now rather than wait for all the speeches.
我宁愿现在就走也不愿等所有的演讲。
She prefers to stay in detention rather than be released and go into exile.
她更愿意呆在拘留所而不是被释放然后开始流亡生活。
有时 rather than 也可以置于句首,翻译跟正常语序的一样,例如:
Rather than pay the taxi fare, he walked home.
他宁愿步行回家,也不愿花出租车费。
Rather than get money in such a dishonest way, he would beg in the streets.
他宁愿在街上乞讨,也不愿以这种不正当的手段挣钱。