■ rather

1) rather 放在名词前面时，这个名词必须是单数可数名词，而且 rather 必须放在 a 前面。

• I'm in rather a hurry.我现在很匆忙。

但是如果名词前面有形容词，则 rather 放在 a 的前面或后面均可。

• rather a good book 或 a rather good book一本相当好的书。

2) would rather（缩写为 'd rather）与 prefer 意义相同，可以互用。如果指的是通常的爱好，用 would rather inf. than inf. （都没有 to）。

• I'd rather listen to music than watch TV.听音乐和看电视，我更喜欢听音乐。

如果用 prefer，后面的动词则要采取动名词形式，如：

• I prefer listening to music to watching TV.

也可以只说喜欢什么，不进行比较，如：

• I'd rather listen to music.

但是 would rather 也可以用来表示“两害取其轻”的“宁可”，prefer 则没有这一层的意思。

• Armstrong disliked having to wait for anything to cool down. He would rather (*preferred to) be burned. (Jeffrey Archer, The Fourth Estate, p.5)阿姆斯特朗吃什么东西都不喜欢等它凉下来。他宁可烫了嘴。

参照下面的 4) 。

3) would rather ('d rather) 后面可以接上一个 that 从句（that 可省略），从句中换上另外一个主语，谓语动词尽管谈的是现在或将来要做的事，却采取一般过去时（其实是中国人所不习惯的虚拟语气）。

• —Shall we go out for dinner tonight?—No, I'd rather we ate at home, if you don't mind. —咱们今天晚上出去吃好吗？—不啦，你如果觉得行，我还是喜欢咱们在家吃。
• —Shall I write to Harry and tell him that we've sold the car? —I'd rather you didn't. —要不要我写信给哈里告诉他咱们把车子卖掉了？—我看最好还是别写。
• My mother would rather we caught the bus, rather than walk home after the party.我母亲主张我们在联欢会之后坐公共汽车回家，不要步行。

如果谈的是违反事实的愿望，从句就用过去完成时。

• I would rather you hadn't come.我巴不得你没有来更好。

4) rather than... 或 rather... than... 后面的动词用什么形式？这看来是个问题。大体上的规律是：如果属于尚未实现的主观愿望，用不带 to 的动词不定式；如果属于已经发生的事实，就参照前面与之相对比的另一动词的形式。

• Rather than cause trouble, I'm going to forget the whole affair.与其惹麻烦，我倒不如把整件事情作罢算了。
• He wanted to sunbathe rather than swim.他主要是要日光浴，不那么想去游泳。
• I'd rather not do a thing at all than do it badly.我宁可什么事情也不做，也比把事情做坏了好。
• He'd rather die than disgrace himself.他宁死不受辱。
• She feared General Tilney did not like her appearance: she found it was implied in his preventing her admittance to his daughter, rather than postpone his own walk a few minutes. (Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey)她担心蒂尔内将军不喜欢她出现：她从一件事情上看出这样的迹象，那就是他一直在防止她接近他的女儿，他自己的散步时间也不肯延缓几分钟。
• It rained rather than snowed.主要下的是雨而不是雪。
• He was pitied rather than disliked.与其说人家不喜欢他，不如说人家可怜他。

但是后一种情况时，如果涉及主观取舍，即使成了客观事实，也有用不带 to 的动词不定式的。

• I stayed at home rather than go(went) out in the rain.我留在家里，没有冒雨出去。

也有不问是否尚未实现的主观取舍或是客观事实，不问前面动词的形式如何，而一律使用动名词形式的。

• She made students think for themselves, rather than telling (told) them what to think.她让学生们自己动脑筋去思考，而不是告诉他们思考什么。
• Rather than throwing away banned items, bring a checkable bag big enough to accommodate items you can't take on board. (The Associated Press, Aug. 10, 2006)违禁物品不一定非扔掉不可，可以带一个便利检查的袋子，要大到容得下你自己不能带着上飞机的各件物品。

rather... than...后面，甚至可以是一个句子（用虚拟语气），意思仍然是“宁可…也不要…”，例如：

• I would rather die than you should think that of me. (John Fowles, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Chapter 18, p.144)您这样看我，我宁肯死去。

5) A rather than B 表示肯定 A 而否定 B。同样，rather A than B 也是肯定 A 而否定 B。在前者，A 和 B 没有结构对称的问题。而在后者，则按理 A 和 B 在结构上应该对称（见上面 4) 中的一些例句），但是在实际语言中也往往不对称。

• Qadhafi, it seems, would rather play the role of a leader feted at European Union headquarters in Brussels, as he was recently, than a fugitive pulled from a hole in Surt, his desert abode. (US News & World Report, June 7, 2004, p.3)卡扎菲看来宁可扮演堂堂领导人在不久以前在布鲁塞尔欧盟总部受到款待的角色，而不愿扮演逃犯的角色，在他的沙漠居住地苏尔特从洞穴中被拖出来。

6) rather 作为副词，可以放在表示异同的形容词 alike, similar, different 以及介词 like 前面，也可以放在形容词比较级前面，但是意义有点减弱，表示“略为”。

• Siamese cats are rather like dogs in some ways.暹罗猫在某些方面有点像狗。
• The weather was rather worse than I had expected.天气比我原先预料的差一些。

7) rather a 后面可以接上一些表示情绪反应的名词，如 disappointment, disadvantage, nuisance, pity, shame, joke 等，也是表示“略为”、“有点”。

• It's rather a nuisance that we can't park here.咱们不能在这里停车，这可有点不大方便。
• It's rather a shame that he has to work on Sundays.他星期天还得工作，这有点遗憾。

8) rather 如果放在 like 或 enjoy 前面，可以表示一种怪癖的喜好（中文可以译成“倒”、“倒是”）。

• I rather like the smell of gasoline.我倒挺喜欢汽油的气味。
• He rather enjoys queueing.他倒是挺喜欢站队的。