双语君最近感悟人生,发现数学成为了我前进道路上的巨石,英语的倍数表达傻傻分不清啊求破……
看来,学英语要从数学抓起,这是没错的!
不如我们一起来补补数学课,看看英语里那些倍数表达究竟在说些什么。
测一测
首先,看看以下三句话,请准确而自信地告诉双语君,这三句话表达的是一个意思吗?
a. A is 3 times as great as B.
b. A is 3 times greater than B.
c. A is 3 times the size of B.
句子b是不是特别有迷惑性?A到底是B的3倍还是4倍呢?
但实际上,这三句都是一个意思,即A=3×B(A是B的三倍)。
下面我就来详细说一说倍数的表达方式。
1 A是B的N倍
表示A是B的N倍(即A比B大N-1倍)时,有以下三种基本表达:
❶ A is N times as large/long (形容词/副词原形) as B.
例:Asia is four times as large as Europe.
亚洲是欧洲的四倍大。
❷ A is N times larger/longer(形容词/副词比较级)than B.
例:Asia is four times larger than Europe.
亚洲是欧洲的四倍大。
尽管字面上来看是亚洲比欧洲大四倍,但是使用times的时候,实际上表示的是单纯倍增的关系,故而,理解为”亚洲是欧洲的四倍大。"
❸ A is N times the size/length (形容词/副词的名词形式) of B.
例:Asia is four times the size of Europe.
亚洲是欧洲大小的四倍。
❹ A is xxx% larger than B
例:Asia is 300% larger than Europe.
亚洲比欧洲大3倍。
最tricky的部分来了。我们要讲讲percent和times的区别。
如果你使用"times"表达一个倍数,那么它所意味的就是简单倍增的关系。
即,不管是n times larger 还是n times as large as,是多少times就是几倍。
但如果你说A is 100% larger than B(A比B大100%),这就等于说A=2×B(A是B 的两倍)。
所以,
如果A is 300% larger than B,那么就等于说,A=4×B;如果A is 3 times larger than B,那么就等于说,A=3×B。
2 by 和 to 的用法
by和to在英文中经常和数词连接,表示数量关系的增加。
❶ 动词 + by + 倍数/百分数/数词用“by+倍数”表示增加了的倍数,N times之前加上by表示增加了N倍,即是原来的N+1倍。
例: The production of grain has been increased by four times this year.
今年粮食产量增加了四倍。即,原产量x5.
❷ 动词+ to + 数词用“to+数词”表示增加到某个具体的数字。
例:Last year profits rose to $201 million.
去年利润增长到2亿零100万美元。
3 by a factor of
词组by a factor of 在《朗文双解》中的解释为:
"if something increases or decreases by a factor of N, it increases or decreases by N times." 简单说,就是将一个数字乘以N或除以N。
❶ Increase/grow...by a factor of N times 增加到N倍,或者增加了N-1倍
例: The output of diesel oil for farm use has been increased by a factor of 4 times these years.
这些年来,用于农业生产的柴油产量增至四倍 / 增加了三倍,即,原产量x4。
❷ Decrease/fall...by a factor of N times 减少到1/N,或者减少了(N-1)/N。
例: The production has decreased by a factor of three times as against 1977.
总产量减少到1977年的三分之一/ 减少了三分之二。
注意:
increase by N times 表示是原来的N+1倍,增加了N倍。 increase by a factor of N times 表示是原来的N倍,增加了N-1倍。
4 fold 和 percent
❶ N-fold increase N-fold increase表示增加了N-1倍,即 two-fold increase 表示增加了一倍(增加到原来的两倍),即是原来的N倍。
例:Those men who never smoked fared even worse, with a two-fold increase in risk.
那些从不吸烟的男性进展更糟糕,风险增加了一倍。
❷ N00% increase
100 percent increase表示增加了1倍,是原来的两倍。N00 percent increase表示是原来的N+1倍。
例:If 9500 is increased by 200% then the increase is 9500 x 200/100 = 19000. However, this amount is only the increase, the full value is 9500 + 19000 = 28500.
如果说9500增加了200%,那么增加的数量就是9500x200%=19000,但是这只是增加的数量而已,增加后的总和应当是9500+19000=28500。
5 double, treble, quadruple
增加至多少倍,还可以用更简洁的动词来表达,比如:
double 增加至2倍
treble/triple 增加至3倍
quadruple ['kwɔdrupl] 增加至4倍,或翻两番
double: The number of managers must double to 100 within 3 years.
3年之内管理人员的数量要翻倍,达到100名。
treble: The mine reportedly had an accident rate treble the national average.
据报道,那个矿的事故发生率是全国平均水平的三倍。
quadruple: China seeks to quadruple its income in twenty years.
中国力求在20年内将其收入翻两番。
好了!看完上面这些,小伙伴们是不是已经绕晕了呢?为了方便记忆,让我们总结一下吧:
是原来的N倍:
N-fold increase
increase by a factor of N times
A is N times larger than B.
A is N times the size of B.
A is N times as large as B.
是原来的N+1倍:
N00% increase
increase by N times
发现没有?只要记住两个特例,其他表述都是说几倍就是几倍呢。
上一篇: 爱情中的“备胎”:英语怎么说?
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