英语论文网

谨,尽可能滴水不漏。作者的主张、观点、判断要言之有理,要经得起辩驳。理由和证据较充分时,可以把话说得绝对一些,反之,要克制一些。按Hyland at al(1997)的说法,要“肯定地不确实”(confidently uncertain)。在对事物发生的盖然性作判断时,如何才能做到“肯定地不确实”呢?一般常用这几种手段:1.情态动词(modal auxiliary);2.特定形容词(specialadjectives);3.弱语气动词(weakerverbs);4.限定词(qualifiers)。1.情态动词学术英语中,盖然性(有可能但又不是必然的性质,又称可能性,相对于确实性而言)最简单的表达方法是使用情态动词。不同的情态动词表达不同程度的盖然性。以下句子表达的盖然性由强变弱:a. Smoking causes lung diseases.b. Smokingwill cause lung diseases.c. Smoking can/may cause lung diseases.d. Smoking could/might cause lung diseases.2.特定形容词另一方法是使用数量有限的特定形容词。试比较以下句子,注意盖然性如何由强变弱:a. It is certain that smoking will cause lung dis-eases. (100%肯定)b. It is probable that smoking will cause lung dis-eases. (70-80%肯定)c. It is possible that smoking will cause lung dis-eases. (50%肯定)d. It is unlikely that smoking will cause lung dis-eases. (20-30%肯定)e. It is impossible that smokingwill not cause lungdiseases. (0%肯定)如果在这些形容词前面加上不同的程度副词,盖然性还会进一步由强变弱:It is almost (→very→slightly→remotely) certain(→probable→possible→unlikely) that smoking will (→may→might) cause lung diseases.3.弱语气动词英语有的动词语气很强,有的较弱。选择较弱的动词,判断的可信度在理由或证据欠缺的情况下,往往反而可以得到增强。这是因为弱动词给判断留有充分的回旋余地。动词语气过强,会给人造成不容置疑或咄咄逼人的感觉,容易引起异议。下面句子中,括号内的动词语气就比较强(新南威尔士大学,2002):a. The results indicate /suggest (establish/show)that there is a link between smoking and lung diseases.b. The results given in Figure 4 support (validate)the hypothesis.c. Changes in ambient temperature may have influ-enced (distorted) the test results.d. In their earlierwork, they neglected (failed) totake ambient temperature into account.另外几个与盖然性表达有关的常用动词不好分类。它们是tend,seem和appear。在判断、主张、观点或结论前面加上tend,可以表示这个主观意识只是倾向性的认同,加上seem或appear则表示这个主观意识只是从远距离产生的,也不具有十分的确实性。例如:a. Smoking causes lung diseases.b. Smoking tends to cause lung diseases.c. Smoking seems/appears to cause lung diseases.4.限定词除了前文提到过的方法外,还有一个很重要的,这就是使用限定词。限定词多种多样,凡是对作者的判断、主张、观点或结论进行限定的词语统统属于限定词。实际上,限定词主要是指各种状语。通过对动作或状态发生的范围、时间、地点、程度、数量、频率等