王正勋
先看一道高考题:
No one helped me, I did it all ______________ myself.(全国卷Ⅱ2005)
A. for B. by
C. from D. to
答案: B
该题意在考查“介词 + oneself”的用法。oneself可以和不同的介词搭配,表示不同的意义。本文试列举其主要搭配并举例说明。
1) all by oneself, 意为“独立地;单独地”等。例如:
He will be (all) by himself tomorrow.他明天独自在家。
He came here (all) by himself. 他独自到这里来。
2) for oneself, 意为“亲自的;为自己的”等。例如:
You have to decide for yourself. 你得亲自决定。
She kept the largest apple for herself.她把最大的苹果留给自己。
3) to oneself, 意为“单独用;单独所有”等。例如:
He wished to have a room to himself. 他希望能有一间属于自己的房子。
Tom keeps himself to himself.汤姆不与人往来。
4) of oneself, 意为“自动地;自行的;自然的”等。例如:
The enemy will not perish of itself.敌人不会自行消灭的。
The door opened of itself.门自己开了。
5) in oneself, 意为“本身;本质上”等。例如:
The substance is not poisonous in itself.
这种物质本身并没有毒。
This talk was all right in itself but it went on too long.这次讲话本身是不错的,但是讲得太长了。
6) within oneself, 意为“在心中;暗自地;己力所能的”等。例如:
He is laughing at you within himself.他在暗自嘲笑你。
We can live within ourselves without their help.没有他们的帮助,我们照样能生活。
7) between ourselves(或between you and me), 意为“只是你我两个私下谈谈,不要告诉别人”等。例如:
Let it be between ourselves.这件事不许向局外人说。
Between ourselves, he was disappointed in a love affair.咱们私下说他失恋了。
8) among oneself, 意为“在……中间”等。例如:
We must be at peace among ourselves.我们必须和睦相处。
They agreed among themselves in it.在这件事上他们意见一致。
9) beside oneself, 意为“发狂;丧失理智”等。例如:
When he learned of the good news, he was beside himself with joy.当知道这个好消息时,他欣喜若狂。
He was almost beside himself with rage. (他愤怒得几乎发疯了) 他怒不可遏。
10) beyond oneself (= past oneself), 意为“忘形;神态错乱”等,常与动词go连用。例如:
He went beyond himself (past himself) with joy.你得意忘形了。
The old man went beyond himself (past himself) with anger.那老人气得发昏。
11)above oneself, 意为“妄自尊大;过高地估价自己;兴高采烈”等。例如:
He is a man who always gets above himself. 他是一个妄自尊大的人。
You should not be above yourself though you have made great achievements.虽然你取得了很大成绩,但也不应该得意忘形。
They got above themselves at the news.
听到这个消息,他们兴高采烈。
12) in spite of oneself, 意为“不由自主地”等。例如:
Jim came into the study in spite of himself when he heard a noise.吉姆听到一声响,不由自主地来到书房。
We laughed in spite of ourselves at the news. 听到这个消息,我们不由自主地笑起来了。
总之,oneself可以和许多介词搭配,有些可以从字面理解,但更多的有更深的含义,我们在学习中应加以留心。