8.hardly,scarcely,barely
三者都含有否定的意思,前两者一般可以互换,但严格地说,在用法上是有区别的。Hardly往往强调困难,常用来修饰表示能力的词。Scarcely往往强调不足,常与enough,sufficient,any等表示程度的词连用。Barely一般与上述两词意思相近,往往表示仅仅、勉强、刚刚等意思。
试看下面这些例句:I hardly/scarcely/barely know him.我和他不熟。He is so uneducated that he can scarcely/hardly/barely write his name.他没有受过什么教育,连自己的名字也不会写。Such rumors are scarcely/hardly true.这些传言不会是真的。You can hardly imagine how delighted they will be to have this chance to come to Beijing.你简直想象不出,他们能有这个机会来北京是多么高兴。The corridor is so narrow that there is scarcely sufficient space for a fat man like me to go dowm it.这个走廊太狭窄了,简直让我这样胖的人无法走过去。I barely entered this department as a technician of the lowest rank.我勉强进入这个部分当上了一名最低级的技术员。
9.often,always,usually,frequently,a lot of times,several times often
表示在不同场合中屡次发生的实,而a lot of times,several times用于表示在同一场合下屡次发生的实:I often had inspirations for poems when I was young.我年轻时常常有写诗的灵感。I have often been ill in the past year.过去的一年中我常常生病。I fell several times when I was learning to ride a bike.我学骑自行车时摔了好几次。What a lot of times he has won in chess tournaments in the past year!他过去的一年中在国际象棋比赛中获得了多少回奖啊!