2012年商务英语写作：分清few、little

会计考友

There’s a big difference between “few” and “a few”. In fact they have opposite meanings.
1 a( R5 ?' x' E' R1 nfew和a few之间区别很大，事实上，它们的意思几乎完全相反。
If you say, for example, “I have a few friends in the Ministry”, it sounds impressive.
1 Y  D+ S+ R) ^5 ?/ l比如你说“我在上头有些朋友”，那别人会对你刮目相看的。
“few” = not many;“a few” = several. “Few” and “a few” are used with countable nouns.
few就是不多的意思，a few就是有一些的意思。Few和a few都是用来形容可数名词的。
Ex: The Regulator has presented this standpoint on few occasions.
例1：该官员在很少的一些场合发表过这一观点。 wｗw.ExamＷ.CoM
Ex: The Regulator has presented this standpoint on a few occasions.
例2：该官员在不少场合发表过这一观点。   
“Little” and “a little” work in the same way as “few” and “a few”.
little和a little的用法和few和a few类似。
! U: Y8 M7 U: l# J: d' @“little” = not much; “a little” = some. “Little” and “a little” are used with uncountable nouns.
5 ^* ]0 O% u8 C% @0 \  Jlittle的意思是不多，a little的意思是有一些。Little和a little都是用来形容不可数名词的。
$ u" ~3 W$ Z% b5 s4 Z" K' qEx: I have a little money” (a modest way of saying you’re reasonably wealthy).
* l/ W- I0 d5 ]3 S5 ^% h例3：我有些钱（这是对我是有钱人的委婉说法）。
Ex: We hope to be able to complete the project in as little time as possible. (i.e. not much time – “as little … as possible” is a common phrase)
例4：我们希望能花最少的时间来完成这个项目（花越少…越好，“as little … as possible”这在英语中是个习惯用法）。