■ pain 与 painful 及 ache, hurt

1) pain 作为不可数名词（无任何冠词）表示肉体的疼痛时，是笼统的或是泛指的疼痛。作为可数名词（有 the 或 a）时是特定场合下身体特定部位的疼痛。

不可数名词，

• Pain is the body's way of telling us that something is wrong.疼痛是身体用来告诉你出了问题的一种办法。
• You can pre-empt pain by taking a painkiller at the first warning sign.一发现警告信号，马上服用止痛片，就可以挡住疼痛。
• She was writhing in pain, bathed in perspiration.她痛得挣扎打滚，大汗淋漓。
• Mom's face was full of pain.妈妈的脸上一片痛苦的表情。
• She awoke in pain.她痛醒过来。
• He twisted his face with/in pain.他痛得脸形都扭曲了。

可数名词，

• I've got a pain in my leg.我腿痛。
• He has a pain in his ear.他耳朵痛。
• Where is the pain?你哪里痛？
• The pain is always in the same place.老是同一处地方痛。
• I felt a sharp pain in my lower back.我后背下部感到剧痛。

如果指特定部位但痛处分散或重复发作的疼痛，可以用复数的 pains 代替 a pain。

• He was suffering from pains in his abdomen.他肚子痛。

如果 pain 同别的不舒适并列，即使前后文表明了身体部位，也作为不可数名词处理。

• The bones begin to grind against each other, leading to pain and deformity.骨头开始彼此研磨，引起疼痛与变形。
• I have recently been suffering from pain and numbness in my hands.我最近手部感到疼痛和麻木。
• Heart disease often shows itself first as pain or tightness in the chest.心脏病最初的表现，往往是胸部疼痛和紧迫。

身体特定部位作形容词或名词前置，pain 仍是不可数。

• abdominal pain肚痛
• to alleviate back pain缓解背痛。

2) painful 作为形容词表示肉体疼痛，通常限于指代身体的个别部位，很少用于指整个人。因此，问别人“痛不痛”时不习惯说：Are you painful? 更多说：Are you in pain?

• I'm in constant pain.我一直都痛。
• She was in great pain.她痛得很厉害。
• He suffered from a painful back.他当时背痛。
• Her glands were swollen and painful.她的腺体肿大疼痛。
• Is your back still painful?你的背现在还痛吗？
• My back is so painful that I cannot stand upright any more.我背后痛得无法站直。

偶尔也有用 painful 描述整个人的，但不多见。

• Henry seemed to be pretty much the same man when he was painful (= was in pain) as when he was not.亨利痛的时候和不痛的时候，样子看起来都差不多。

说某人 painful 可能产生意想不到的歧义，指某个演员表演一塌糊涂，或是某个公共演说家或电视节目主持人讲的话语无伦次。这个特殊词义的来历，很可能是：说某人 is painful，其实后面略去了 to watch, to behold, to look at, to listen to 之类，不是本人 painful，是 watch him, behold him, look at him, listen to him 这件事情 painful。

• (At the beginning,) she was painful to behold. Everything she did was studied, whether she sat down, rose, walked, it appeared to be stilted, overdone, affected, and looked cruder than a slow-motion movie. (Florence Treadwell, About her friend Isadora Duncan, the famous American dancer, quoted in Peter Kurth, Isadora, A Sensational Life, p.23)（开头时，）她的举动十分难看。她的一举一动都经过观察研究，无论是坐下，站起，走路，都显得呆板做作、过犹不及、装腔作势，比慢镜头的影片还更加生硬。

这一来，painful 单独用，也保持了这个含义。painful 用于这个意义，还可以作为名词的前置定语。

• a painful actress一个糟糕的女演员
• a painful performance一场糟糕的演出。

兽医谈到宠物的病时，比之谈到人生病时更多说 She/ He is painful (in her abdomen). 这个疼痛不是猫狗自己说出来的，是人观察出来的，也有“给人印象”的意思。

3) 修饰 pain 的形容词有很多，如：acute, sever, excruciating, intense, unbearable, sharp, dull, slight, burning, stabbing, stinging, throbbing, constant, severe, gnawing, nagging。

4) 复数形式的 pains 可以转义为“劳苦”、“努力”。

• A cup of tea was all I got for my pains.我辛苦了一番，唯一得到的就是一杯茶。

这个 pains 常常结合另一些词语，形成惯用词组，如 to be at great pains to inf., take great/ considerable/ much pains to inf., go to great pains to inf. 之类。

• She was at great pains to dissociate herself from...她拼命要洗刷自己同…的关系。
• He was at pains to appear relaxed, for the Captain was clearly assessing him... (John Darnton, The Darwin Conspiracy, p.64)他努力要装出若无其事的样子，因为船长显然在打量着他…
• I took considerable pains to explain it to them.我费了很大的劲去向他们解释。
• He went to great pains to help us.他大力帮助了我们。
• They spared no pains to make
• in making me feel at home.他们竭力要使我过得舒服。
• Mobil is at pains to point out that the chances of an explosion at the site are remote.无比油公司在竭力表示，在这个地点发生爆炸的可能性是十分微小的。
• I had taken great pains with my appearance.我费了很大的劲整理自己的仪表。

Pains 作“劳苦”或“努力”解时必须复数，成了个复数形式的不可数名词，因此不能说 *many pains 而要说 much pains。作主语时往往不用 much pains，而改用 great pains. 但古英语仍可以以 much pains 作主语。

• Much pains were taken, during the second trial, to induce them to sign articles of subscription; this they steadfastly refused, and were delivered over to the secular arm, and condemned to the flames. (George Godfrey Cunningham, A History of England in the Lives of Englishmen, p.166).第二轮审判期间，费了很大的力气，要说服他们签署悔过书，但是他们坚决拒绝了，于是他们就被转送世俗法庭，判处火刑。
• I have it by me still, and sometimes look at it with surprise, to think how much pains were thrown away to little purpose... (William Hazlitt's Essay, "On The Pleasure of Painting")这幅画我现在还保留着，有时候我看着它心里就感到惊讶，为了这个微不足道的目的上，花掉了多少心血…

5) pain 是各种各样的疼痛。ache 则多指身体内部器官的疼痛而非外部肌肤的伤痛，而且 ache 既可以是名词，也可以是不及物动词。动词 ache（延续体表示状态的第一类动词）的主语可以是整个人，也可以是身体的某个部位。

• I ache/am aching all over.我全身都痛。（I ache 表示长时间的延续，I am aching 表示说话当时的延续）
• My feet ache.我脚痛。

如果疼痛部位尚未确定，可以暂时以 it 为主语，如：

• Where does it ache?

hurt 也同 ache 一样用法，但疼痛可以指外部肌肤的伤痛。

• My leg hurts.我腿痛。
• Where does it hurt?哪里痛？
• Do you hurt?你感到痛吗？
• I hurt all over.我全身都痛。

6) 上述几个单词当中，painful 以及 hurt（ache 及名词 pain 则不可），都可以转用于表示造成肉体疼痛的具体或抽象事物。

• My boots are still painful.我的靴子仍然痛脚。
• This condition is painful.这种病是很痛苦的。
• The procedure is not painful.手术不痛。
• He got a painful blow on the nose.他的鼻子被痛痛地打了一下。
• My shoes hurt.我的鞋子痛脚。
• The procedure hurts much less than open abdominal surgery.这种手术比开腹部手术疼痛轻得多。
• Dental disease hurts like hell.牙病痛得要命。

7) 上述几个单词当中，只有 ache 不能转义用于表示精神上的痛苦，其余 pain, painful 和 hurt 都可以转义。

• I remember, with pain, his tears.我痛苦地回想起他当时的眼泪。
• It's sometimes painful to know the truth.有时候，知道真相就令人难过。
• Remarks like that brought back painful memories.像那样的说法，就引起了痛苦的回忆。
• She finds it too painful to return there without him.她觉得，不同他一起，一个人会那边去，是太痛苦了。
• It hurts to have to admit it, but I was in the wrong.不得不承认这一点，是令人难受的，但是我的确是错了。