1) 表示相对于某主要人物的次要职务。

• secretary to the manager经理的秘书
• adviser to the Secretary General秘书长的顾问
• special assistant to the president总统特别助理
• consultant to a big firm一家大公司的顾问
• foreword to a book某本书的前言。

2) 表示与另一人或一事物相对的身份。

• rival to somebody某人的竞争者
• kin to the owner所有主的亲属
• a concubine to an alcoholic inn-owner某个酗酒的客栈老板的小老婆
• successor to the chief justice首席大法官的后继者
• heir apparent to the presidency总统席位的当然继承人
• a party to the settlement参加诉讼和解的一方
• a direct competitor plane to the Boeing 7E7同波音 7E7 直接竞争的机型
• slave to the lie谎言的奴隶
• witness to the deal交易的见证人
• victim to political pressure政治压力的受害者
• Once she was a nude model and muse to French artist Henri Matisse.她曾经一度是法国画家马提斯的裸体模特儿和美神。

3) “对…起某种作用”。

• the key to the front door前门的钥匙
• solution to the problem问题的解决办法
• prerequisite to success成功的先决条件
• the real secret to success成功的真正秘诀
• an obstacle to recovery康复的障碍
• an incentive to his research一个鼓励他进行研究的因素
• home to impressive exhibitions一些引人入胜的展览会的场所
• The Yellowstone National Park is home to a large variety of wildlife.黄石国家公园容纳了各式各样的野生动植物。
• We get tickets to most of their openings.他们的大部分开场表演，我们都有票。

4) 表示某具体或抽象事物带有某一情状、属性或内容（因此往往同表示“有”的 there is 或动词 to have 一起出现），这是中国人不大习惯的（中国人可能更偏向于凭直觉而用 in 或 on）。

• There is depth and structure to the skin (of the fossilized dinosaur) ... there is a pattern of banding to the larger and smaller scales on the skin.(The Associated Press, Dec. 2, 2007)（恐龙化石）的皮肤有深层，有结构。…皮肤上的大小鳞甲有带状花纹。
• There was some truth to that, she thought.她觉得这里面也有真实之处。
• There was no truth to this.这毫不真实。
• It has a nice ring/sound to it.这听起来还很不错。
• And there seems to be an upside to all this. (Newsweek, July 16, 2007, p.16)看来这一切也有好的一面。
• Yet there are virtues to living here (= in an old-age home)。(Newsweek, Sept. 11, 2006, p.13)住在这里有这里的好处。
• There were definite benefits to being the director's personal aide.当局长的私人助手，肯定有些好处。
• There is a dark side to the bonanza. (The New York Times, April 4, 2007, E8)美中也有不足之处。
• The notion that many Clinton voters cannot be easily transferred to Obama contradicts much "expert" opinion. But a Super Tuesday exit poll suggested there is something to it. (Froma Harrop, The Daily Gazette, Schenectady, New York, Feb. 20, 2008, A9)那种认为（希拉里·）克林顿的选民们不可能轻易转到奥巴马一边的看法，同许多“专家们”的意见是相左的。但是超级星期二的民意测验结果却使人觉得这种说法也不无道理。
• But there's an upside to the samples. (The New York Times, May 1, 2007, F5)但是赠送药品样本也有其好处。
• There is a soul to an army as well as to the individual man... (US News & World Report, Oct. 28, 2002, p.44)军队同人一样，也是有灵魂的…
• As a matter of fact, Saffo says he's hard-pressed to think of any downside to the flood of seniors here. (US News & World Report, Oct. 2, 2006, p.56)的确，萨福市长说他很难想到大批老人涌入此地会有任何不利之处。
• While he knew that there was no more to the message, he could not accept its finality.他尽管知道这个信息到此为止，没有别的内容了，但是这样结束，他是怎样也接受不了的。
• There is much more to a successful life than simply finding a job.成功的生活，远远不只是仅仅找到一份工作而已。
• There is a strong spiritual dimension to the act of eating food—a spiritual dimension that is raised to its highest height when we gather at Mass to eat the Bread of Life and drink the Cup of Salvation.进食这种行为，有其强烈的心灵作用，这种心灵作用，当我们聚集一起做弥撒，吃下生命之面包，喝下得救之杯时，就上升到了最高点。

5) 表示遭受损失的原因（这也是中国人不大习惯的）。

• He'd lost his parents to(*in) an airliner crash at Chicago.他的父母在芝加哥的一次空难中丧生（本来 lose something to somebody 是把什么东西输给了某个对手，这里也仿佛“空难”是一个对手，自己在对抗中输了，父母输到了对手手中）。
• He has lost his hair and beard to chemotherapy.他因为化疗而头发胡须脱落。

至于一方受损，另一方得益，得益的一方用 to 引入，更是顺理成章了。

• Even the housing boom and stock-market rebound failed to give much of a lift to the likes of Fortune and BusinessWeek, which have lost readers, and ad dollars, to the Web. (Newsweek, Dec. 18, 2006, p.46)就连房屋旺市和股市反弹，也重振不了《财富》和《商务周刊》之类的出版物，它们的读者以及广告收入，都纷纷输给了互联网。

6) 表示某一事件附带对某人造成的心理效应（通常作状语，是新知信息，但非主要信息）。

• to their amazement令他们诧异
• to my surprise使我惊讶
• to our delight使我们高兴
• to everybody's horror使得人人恐惧。

要注意的是，如果要加重这种效果，通常不在名词前加上形容词（to their great amazement，尽管也有这样用的），而更多是在 to 前面加上副词 much。

• much to their amazement令他们十分诧异。

1) 动词不定式，在句中充当状语时，其实有弱意和强意不同的两种。弱意的动词不定式，它的信息分量较弱，是附属在前面的成分的。

• He will go to the clinic tomorrow to be examined by the doctor.他明天去医院让医生检查一下。

中文翻译时不必另起一个高潮，顺着英文的思路一带而过就可以了。这对中国人来说，没有多少别扭或不习惯之处。更为值得注意的，却是强意的动词不定式，它的信息分量较重，不是附属于前面的成分（这成分往往带有“应该”或“需要”的含义），而是另起一个高潮，不受“应该”或“需要”所管辖，中文翻译时需要加字加意（表示达到某目的），不能一带而过（通常如果前面是“应该”，to inf. 就译成“才可以”）。例如：

• You must appeal to public opinion to win the election.

这一句中，to win the election 不是 must 所一路管下来的成分，而是独立于 must 的，所以不能译成平平淡淡的“你必须诉诸公众舆论去赢得选举”，而应该译成“你必须诉诸公众舆论，才能赢得选举”（“（才能）如何如何”，其实是个“已知信息”，所以 to inf. 强意与弱意的区别，其实是已知信息与新知信息的区别）。

• You have to be over 18 to buy cigarettes.你要十八岁以上才能买香烟（不是：“你应该超过十八岁以便买香烟”）。
• You've got to feel it to believe it. (Mattress advertisement)您非得感受一下，才会相信。
• Depending on where you place the thermometer, you may need to add or subtract a degree from the reading to get the accurate temperature.要看体温表放在身体的什么地方，读数可能需要加一度或减一度，才能得到准确的体温。
• Both men had to talk loudly to be heard.他们两人都只好大声说话，才能听得见。
• The press conferences... must be seen to be believed. (Newsweek, Sept. 26, 2005, p.64)新闻发布会…非得亲眼看见，才会相信。
• There you have to go along to get along.在那里，要随和将就，才能搞好关系（不能译成“要随和将就以便搞好关系”）。
• All passengers must have a picture ID to obtain boarding passes. (Southwest Airlines Notification)所有旅客都必须携有带照片的身份证明，方可取得登机通行卡（要不要去领登机通行卡，每个旅客可以自由选择，不属于“必须”的范围）。
• The team that cloned Dolly waited until she was seven months old to announce her existence. (Time, Feb. 19, 2001)那个克隆了多利羊的小组，一直等到它七个月大了，才宣布它的存在。
• In the end, the Clinton campaign had to lose to win. (US News & World Report, Jan. 21, 2007, p.27)归根到底，（希拉里·）克林顿的竞选活动，只好先败，才能获胜。
• She'd give anything to know.只要能知道，她什么代价都愿意付。
• Why did Darwin wait twenty-two years to write On the Origin of Species?达尔文为什么等了 22 年才写《物种起源》？

如果前面的“必须”或“应该”是否定的，或是有 only 之类表示“仅仅”的副词管着，后面的 to inf. 在中文可以译成“就可以…”（此时，否定或限制作用管不到 to inf.）。

• We need to think through a new kind of relationship with Russia, one in which we don't need to incinerate each other to get along.我们需要考虑同俄国的一种新的关系，一种不必互相化为灰烬就能够彼此相处的关系。
• It doesn't take a computer to figure out what happened.用不着电脑，就能够弄清楚发生了什么事。
• The soldiers were exempted from getting command clearance to fire.士兵们已经不必得到指挥官的同意，就可以开火。
• Undecided voters will not necessarily have to love him to cast a ballot for him.尚未决定投票意向的选民们，不一定要喜欢他，就会投他一票。
• One didn't have to be an expert to understand what they found.对于他们的发现，用不着是个专家，都能懂得。
• Diplomacy doesn't have to guarantee our winning in advance to be useful, given its chance to resolve or improve situations. (Newsweek, Nov. 6, 2006, p.21)外交既然提供了机会，可以解决或者改善局面，那就不见得非得事先保证我们得胜，才算是有用的。
• One does not need to have cancer to analyze its symptoms.要分析癌症的症状，用不着自己患癌症。
• ... they need not risk their or their country's honor to prevail. (Senator McCain on Torture, Newsweek, Nov. 21, 2005, p.36)…他们不必拿自己的或者本国的荣誉来冒风险，就可以取胜。
• You don't need to read Russian to recognize that of the editions available in English, the Knopf edition is by far the one that most closely resembles literature. (Newsweek, Oct. 15, 2007, p.81)用不着要能阅读俄文，就可以发现，现有的各种英译本当中，以诺普夫的那一版最为能够贴切接近文学。
• You only had to look at him to know he was lying.只要看看他的样子，就知道他是在撒谎。
• He had only to come home, he reflected, to be treated like a child.他心里忖想，他只要一回到家，就会被当作小孩子一般对待。
• They needed only to develop the habits of thrift and industry to realize their potential.他们只消发挥自己勤俭的习惯，就能够实现自己的潜力。

有时候前面有否定或 only 时，后面的 to inf. 不是“就可以”，而是“就实行”。

• McCain did not have to consult his advisers to instantly identify the aggressor. (Charles Krauthammer, The Daily Gazette, Schenectady, New York, Oct. 27, 2008, A5)麦凯恩根本用不着咨询他的顾问们，就马上点出了谁是侵略者。
• They had only to smell damp in a basement to move house, only to have two days'rain on a holiday to change districts. (John Fowles, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Chapter V)他们因为嗅到底楼有潮湿气味便搬了家。有一次在外度假时，因某个地方一连下了两天雨，他们就赶紧离开那儿。

要注意的是：不一定是正面的意图，甚至负面的后果，也可以用这种强意的 inf. 来表达，此时千万不能逐字照搬。

• You would have to ingest something to be at risk. (The Washington Post, Nov. 26, 2006)本来要咽下一点什么东西，才会有（中毒的）危险（不能照字面理解为：你本来应该咽下一点什么东西，以便冒（中毒的）危险）。
• You would have to be in a madhouse to say that we're isolated.唯有疯子才会说我们是孤立的（不能理解为“你本来应该到疯人院去以便说…”）。
• You have to willfully discard rationality, and accept hundreds of bizarre rationalizations to believe in your "God."如果要相信你的“上帝”，你就只好固执地排除掉理性，而且接受数以百计的稀奇古怪的推理（不能理解为：“你应该固执地排除掉理性，…以便相信你的上帝”）。

有时候 to inf. 是强意还是弱意，全句的意思会截然相反。例如一家出售旧车的商店登广告：Used cars for sale: Why go elsewhere to be cheated? Come here first! 这里的 why go elsewhere 含有否定的意思，后面的 to be cheated 如果理解为强意的，就是不被否定：“要上当不必到别处，我们这里就已经会骗你上当了”，这当然是荒谬的。正确的理解，to be cheated 应该是弱意的（就是顺势跟着 why go elsewhere 顺其自然地被否定）。但是，最好把 to be cheated 改为 and be cheated，就同 go elsewhere 一起被否定，就不会有误解（“到别处会上当的，这里不会”）。

但是，有时候一个动词不定式究竟是弱意的还是强意的，单凭一句并不足以判明，要看上下文和语境。例如：

• She had to go into the forest to get strawberries.

这一句既可以译成“她只好到森林里去采草莓”，也可以译成“为了采草莓，她只好到森林里去”或“她只好到森林里去，才能采到草莓”。至于充当后置定语（如 the order to fire）或充当形容词补充成分（如 glad to see you）或充当宾语（如 like to see）的动词不定式，一般都是弱意的，只有充当状语时，才有弱意强意之分。

2) 另一个强意的 to inf.，常常出现在疑问句的末尾，用来表示前面所问的事情现在造成的现实结果（结果可以是正面或负面的）。

• What did they do to be indicted?他们何罪，竟被起诉？
• What did I do to make you hate me?你这样恨我，我哪里得罪了你啦？
• What did you do to be so lucky?你哪里修来的这样一份福气？
• What did I do to deserve such a good wife?我何德何能，竟然有这样一位贤妻？

3) 由于 to inf. 的形式在英文用得极为广泛，“五步一楼，十步一阁”，每一个 to inf. 的作用和联系都需要弄清楚，以免误解。

• The Patriot Act makes it a crime for the person or organization ordered to produce records to tell anyone about the request. (New York Review of Books, Nov. 18, 2004, p.57)按照《爱国法案》，一个个人或是团体被指令提供纪录，如果将这件被指令的事告诉任何人，都属犯罪。

这句中有一个“假宾语”it，因而就需要期待后面出现真宾语（to inf. 或 that 从句），但是后面接连出现了两个 to inf.，究竟哪一个是真宾语？如果 to produce records 是真宾语，则前面的 ordered 后面没有进一步的说明，意义落空，必须 ordered to inf. 才有意义，所以这个 to inf. 不是真宾语，后面的 to tell... 才是真宾语。