■ short of

1) 不修饰任何名词，short of something 作为状语成分，可以表示“在没有…的情况下”，“除了…之外”。

• Short of asking him outright, I don't know how you can find out.除非开门见山问他，否则我真不知道你怎能够查得出来。
• Short of climbing railing four metres high, there was no way into the garden from this road.除非爬过四米高的栏杆，否则没有路可以从这条马路进入花园。
• There's nothing that can be done about it short of banning all advertising for all offensive products.除非对所有刺激性产品的广告都一律禁止，否则对此是没有什么办法的。
• Short of a miracle,... the most that can be hoped for in politics is the establishment of a moderate government under the stable rule of law.除非出现奇迹，…否则在政治上可能抱的最大希望，也只是在稳定的法治下，建立一个温和的政府。

也可以表示“只要不达到某种程度就行”。

• Ellipsis is a useful device that should be encouraged, short of ambiguity or conveying a misleading idea.省略法是一种有用的手法，应该提倡，只要别流于含糊或是传达一种误导的意义。

2) 作为名词的后置定语，表示“除了…之外的…”、“只差…的…”。

• The public pined for an approach short of war to disarm Saddam.公众渴望有一种能解除萨达姆武装但又不必诉诸战争的办法。
• Options exist short of war. (USA Today, March 18, 2003, headline)还有不诉诸战争的办法。

3) to be short of something 是“拥有的某物不足”（“某物”不定指）。

• We're short of time.我们时间不够。
• They were short of staff.他们人手不够。

Short of 也可以作为宾补语。

• Her father's illness left the family short of money.由于她父亲害病，她一家都很缺钱。

有时候 short 可以恢复“短小”的原意，同“短缺”的转义合并一起使用。

• He was somewhat short of stature but certainly not of intellect.他个子略矮，但智力可一点不差。

4) 也可以表示“（差多少）尚未达到（某一点）”，“某一点”要定指，差距放在 short 前，不用介词；动词的体可以是延续的，也可以是瞬时的。

• We're still a long way short of our target.我们离开达到目标还很远。
• He stopped a hundred yards short of the building.他走到离那栋建筑物一百码的地方就停了下来。
• She came up short of the emergency room and ended up giving birth in her car in the parking lot of the hospital.她还没有来得及进入急诊室，就在医院停车场上分娩在汽车里。
• It was Saturday, a few minutes short of midnight.那是星期六，离午夜还有几分钟。
• She was one step short of stardom.她只差一步路，就可以成为明星。

short of 除了可以充当表语或状语之外，还可以充当宾语补足语。

5) short of + 某个程度或某个目标，是“还差一点没有达到”的意思。前面如果加上动词 stop，是“自己主动停住不做到那个地步（点到即止）”（瞬时体）；前面如果加上动词 fall，则是“由于外部原因没有能够做到那个地步”（瞬时体或延续体均可）。如果连“差多少”也说出来，这个“差多少”就不用介词而直接放在 short 前面。

• But the pope's statement stopped short of the apology demanded by Islamic leaders around the globe, and anger among Muslims remained intense.(The Associated Press, Sept. 16, 2006)但是教皇的声明并没有作出全世界各地伊斯兰教领袖们所要求的道歉，穆斯林的愤怒仍然很强烈。
• (Pataki) also hinted strongly that he would seek reelection next year, but stopped short of committing to the race.帕德基还强烈地暗示他明年将谋求连任，但是他没有表示参加竞选。
• Johnson & Johnson, the maker of Tylenol and Motrin, said Tuesday that it would work with the FDA to improve safety information for consumers, but stopped short of saying it would quickly adopt the proposal. (The Los Angeles Times, Dec. 20, 2006)出产泰诺林和布洛芬的强生制药公司星期二说，它将同食品药物管理局合作改善向消费者提供的安全信息，但是它没有表示会很快采取这个建议。
• CIA "outing" might fall short of crime. (USA Today, July 14, 2005, headline)中央情报局的“外泄”也许算不上犯罪。
• He fell well short of meeting his military obligation.他远远没有履行自己的兵役义务。
• The 56—34 vote (in the Senate) fell four short of the 60 needed to advance a nonbinding measure identical to one the House passed Friday. (The Washington Post, Feb. 17, 2007)56 票对 34 票的表决，还差 4 票，未能达到所需的 60 票，因而未能通过一个同众议院星期五通过的一样的无约束力的措施。
• Those countries that are global leaders in best practices, as well as those which have fallen short of the mark for the treatment of trafficking victims may be identified.那些在全世界带头干得最好的国家，以及那些在对待人口贩卖受害者方面不及格的国家，都可能被指出。
• 2003 OZONE "HOLE" APPROACHES, BUT FALLS SHORT OF RECORD (NASA, Sept. 25, 2003)2003 年的臭氧“洞”接近纪录水平，但仍未及纪录水平。
• The legislation received a majority vote but fell short of the two-thirds needed for passage...(The New York Times, Nov. 14, 2006, C1)法案得到多数票支持，但仍达不到通过所需的三分之二…
• Pinpointing a difference in genomes falls short of explaining the mystery of what it is to be human.(Time, Oct. 30, 2006, p.8)抓住基因谱的一个差别，仍然解释不了成为人类是怎么一回事这个奥秘。
• But if her face fell short of being beautiful, her body more than made up for it.不过，尽管她的相貌算不上漂亮，她的身材却填补了这个缺陷而且绰绰有余。
• Expert: Dems Likely to Fall Just Short of Taking Senate.（报纸标题）专家称，民主党人很可能差一点未能夺取参议院。
• On Wednesday, the Senate fell 18 votes short of the two-thirds majority required to pass a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.星期三，参议院差 18 票未能达到通过禁止同性恋婚姻的宪法修正案所需的三分之二多数。
• But the three vaccines are likely to fall billions of dollars short of making up for the patent expirations. (Wall Street Journal, June 7, 2006, A1)但是，三种疫苗（的收入），很可能还差几十亿美元才能弥补专利满期（造成的损失）。

光是 fall short，后面没有 of...，也可以，意思是“没有达到目的”。

• Sitting off to the side in the East Room was Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, who had winning election strategies in 2000, 2002 and 2004 but whose efforts to turn out conservative voters fell short against the tide this year. (The Associated Press, Nov. 8, 2006)布什的首席政治顾问卡尔·罗夫坐在东厅的一旁，他曾在 2000 年、2002 年和 2004 年拿出过取胜的选举战略，但是今年他发动保守选民的努力未能力挽狂澜。

stop short of 属于瞬时体的第四类动词，本身是瞬时的，它后面的名词或是 -ing 动名词，在词义上也是瞬时的。fall short of 则本身的“体”取决于后面的名词或动名词的“体”，或者属于第一类，或者属于第四类动词。

6) nothing short of something 是“否否得正”，强调“十足”、“分毫不差”。

• Nothing short of a miracle can save them now.现在唯有奇迹才能救他们了。
• Nothing short of a full apology will satisfy him.唯有全面道歉他才会满意。

Nothing 也可以改为其他否定词。

• That's not very far short of saying that I am stupid.那几乎等于说我是大傻瓜。

nothing 也可以改为准否定词。

• His escape was little short of a miracle.他的逃脱，几乎是一个奇迹。

后面也可以不是名词而是形容词。

• It would be nothing short of disastrous.这将是地地道道的灾难。
• The failure of Iraq's new government to fill the posts of interior and defense ministers is little short of calamitous for Iraq. (The New York Times, June 9, 2006)伊拉克新政府没有能够填满内政部长和国防部长的职位，这对于伊拉克来说，几乎是灾难性的。

7) to be caught/taken short 可以有几个意义（瞬时或延续均可）。最具体的是临时急于小便或大便但找不到厕所。经过转义，可以表示临时发现手头没有钱或钱不够。

• I'm afraid I'm caught short. Could you lend me a few dollars?恐怕我钱不够了。你能借我几个美元吗？
• We went to lunch and I was caught short and had to ask Tom to pay the bill.我们去吃中饭，我没带钱，只好求汤姆付账。

再进一步转义，表示陷于（瞬时）或处于（延续）缺乏某种东西的状态。

• Car rental companies are caught short as demand for smaller vehicles soars.租车公司因为对小型车辆的需求猛增而应付不过来。

还可以更加抽象地表示“陷于被动”。

• Nevertheless, the Obama camp was caught short... (E. J. Dionne, The Daily Gazette, Schenectady, New York, Aug. 6, 2008, A9)不过，奥巴马阵营还是陷入了被动…

缺乏什么东西，可以用 of 引入。

• Airlines were caught short of fuel because of oil workers' strike.各家航空公司由于石油工人的罢工而缺乏燃料。
• They openly wondered whether the vegetable oil industry would be caught short of supply if the demand for oilseed stocks for biodiesel continued in its fast-track growth.他们公开表示担心，用于制造生物柴油的油籽，如果存货的需求继续高速增长，植物油工业的原料供应会不会告急。

8) 还有一个不常见的简单的搭配，就是 to be short + 数量，表示缺少多少。

• The fact that the world is now short well over four million health-care workers, moreover, is all too often ignored. (Laurie Garrett, Foreign Affairs, January/February 2007)而且，全世界目前短缺四百多万医护人员，这个事实往往被忽视。