英语讲义【23】few & a few 一 a 之别

　　下面是一句从一张餐馆广告中看到的话：

　　If you have few years of experience in managing a fine dining restaurant and possess the capability to organize and operate banquet functions, you are the person we are looking for.

　　这句话很清楚，但是否有不妥之处？有！看起来是芝麻绿豆事，但却是关系到数目和数量的问题。

　　英语里的数目词包括many, a few, few, a large number of 等。数量词是much, a little, little, a great deal of等。前者和可数复数名词连用，如例①-③；后者则和不可数名词连用，如例④-⑥：

　　① Jason has written many books.

　　② David has a few good friends.

　　③ There are a large number of people in the cinema.

　　④ How much money do you need?

　　⑤ I need only a little sugar for my coffee.

　　⑥ One can get a great deal of knowledge from reading.

　　在数目词中，有few和a few两个。看似相同，其实差别甚大，一不小心，可能有错。例如：

　　⑦ The minister is leaving Singapore for few days.

　　⑧ Many students here can speak English quite fluently, but a few can write well.

　　显然，⑦里的few和⑧里的a few要对换，才符合全句的意思。

　　Few的意思是not many（ 不多；少）；反义词是many 。A few的意思是some（一些）；反义词里none（没有）。例如：

　　⑨ Though Jason is not sociable, he has a few bosom friends.

　　⑩ Mary is very extroverted, but she has few intimate friends.

　　11. The teacher has spotted a few grammatical errors in her essay.

　　12. There are few errors in Bettys report; it is excellent.

　　从上面例子看，a few和few的意思有些相似，但在句中整体的含义有差别。A few出现之处，few不适合，反之亦然。

　　Few约等于little：a few和a little相近。但 little和a little只和不可数名词连用，例如：

　　13. As we have little money left, we should spend carefully.

　　14. There is still a little hope, so dont give up.

　　13里的little和14里的a little语意分明，各得其所。如果两个对调，便牛头不对马嘴，格格不入。

　　餐馆广告中的few对吗？是不是应该改为a few呢？