| 释义 |
■ begin这个动词（当然是瞬时体，第四类），学英文的人无人不知。但是真正用起来也有一些值得注意之处。 1) 中文说“从何时或何处开始”，但由于 begin 是个瞬间动词，而 from 则涉及一段时段，所以规范的英文不用动态的 to begin from，例如：“十点半钟开始”，不说 to begin from ten thirty，而仍然用静态的 to begin at ten thirty；“星期一开始”，不说 to begin from Monday，而仍然说 to begin on Monday。“从第三十页开始”是 to begin at page 30；但如果起点不是很明确，仍可以说 to begin from page 30。或者没有具体确实的时间，而只是泛泛的原则规定，也用 from。 - Warranty begins from the date of purchase.产品质量保证自购买之日起生效。
有些不规范的英语，即使是具体明确的时间，也用 from。 - begin from Oct. 11 自十月十一日起（参见 start 条）。
2) to begin + -ing 或 to begin to inf. 同 to start + -ing 或 to start to inf. 意义相近，但是用 begin 比用 start 更多暗示所开始的是一个有意延续一段时间的过程，而 start 则更为着重开始的那一下子。例如：begin to cough 可能是自己主动的或者开始后可能延续一段时间，而 start to cough 则是自己控制不了而咳出来，而且开始咳后很快会停止。 3) to begin + -ing 与 to begin to inf. 都可以表示开始某一延续动作或状态，所以后面的动词不可以是表示瞬时动作的第四类动词，但可以是其余的三类动词中任何一类。不过 to begin by + -ing 则是“开始时先做某事”、“从做某事入手”，这件“某事”可以是延续的，也可以是瞬时完成的。 - The doctor began by feeling my pulse.大夫先给我把脉。
另外，虽然 begin + -ing 与 begin to inf. 都可以，但是如果 begin 已经用了 beginning 的形式，则后面的动词就只能用 inf. 形式。例如：It began to rain. 与 It began raining. 都可以，但只能说 It was beginning to rain. 不能说 *It was beginning raining. 这个道理是很容易理解的。 4) can't (even) begin to inf. 是一个惯用词组，表示“根本无法做某事”，此时后面的 inf. 可以是延续的，也可以是瞬时的。 - We can't begin to imagine.我们简直无法想象。
- I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am.我简直没法告诉你我是多么的感激。
- There were certain aspects of the case that he did not begin to understand.事情当中有些问题他根本理解不了。
同样，do not (even) begin to inf. 表示“根本不可能做某事（连开个头都开不了）”。 - That did not begin to explain why she had married him.那根本说明不了她为什么嫁给他。
- Those measures do not even begin to address the problem.那些措施根本对付不了这个问题。
- This economic measure doesn't even begin to deal with the problem of inflation.这个经济措施根本处理不了通货膨胀的问题。
5) begin to inf. 如果是否定的（本来 begin 是第四类动词，不能用一般现在时，但在此却是第一类动词，表示延续状态，可以用一般现在时），有时候也不能“一对一”地理解为“不开始如何如何”，而是相当于 cannot begin to inf.，也就是“根本无法做到”的意思。 - Even the official numbers do not begin to capture the severity of the problem.即使是官方数字也未能显示问题的严重性。
- The headlines do not begin to tell the story of US troops injured by roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan. (The Star-Ledger, Newark, New Jersey, Aug. 6, 2007)报纸的头条新闻也没有说出美国官兵在伊拉克和阿富汗被路边炸弹炸伤的情况。
6) to begin with 是一个用得十分广泛的习惯词组，原先的意义是“作为开始”，但是经过发展，除了原先意义之外，还有了相当于中文“本来”所具有的几个含义，同 in the first place 意义相近（参见 in the first place）。 a) 原先意为“作为开始”。 - Yes, most likely three hours of outage every day to begin with, then for longer periods if things get worse.是的，很可能是一开头每天停电三小时，然后如果情况恶化，停电的时间还要长些。
- She realized that, if the man had been dressed that way to begin with, she probably would not have noticed him.她觉察到，要是一开头那个人穿着不这样奇怪，她说不定就不会注意他。
b) 还可意为“甚至”： - Her parents don't have any money, and she probably couldn't afford the right kind of dress for the party, to begin with.她父母一点钱也没有，她自己连像样的衣服也买不起来参加聚会。
c) 列举多个事项中的第一项： - To begin with, he got the figures wrong.首先，他的数字就弄错了。
- ... To Noah, the expenses of his family seem to keep spiraling upward in a kind of endless Laffer curve... To begin with, more income means more taxes.在诺阿看来，他家的开销，就像是沿着一条没完没了的拉弗曲线一直往上冒升。…首先，收入增加，税收就增加。
- To begin with, I would like to thank American University for putting on this conference.首先，我要感谢美利坚大学举办这次会议。
d) to begin with 同中文的“本来”意义相似。中文的“本来”，分析起来，有如下几个含义，英语的 to begin with (in the first place 亦同) 都大致上与之相对应： d1) 先如何，后来变了： - Everything went well to begin with.事情本来进行得好好的。
d2) 开头时就已经如何，所以后来与之相反的某事是不合理的。 - It's not their money to begin with... so how could they be angry over losing it?本来就不是他们的钱…钱丢了他们怎能生气呢？
- There's hardly enough food or water here to begin with, so you can't blame them.本来这里吃的喝的都不大够，所以怪不了他们。
但是如果是“现在本来就已经如何，再加上别的什么就更不可接受”，“本来”就更多用 as it is。 - Don't disturb me. I'm nervous as it is.别打扰我。我本来就已经够紧张的了。
d3) 本来已经如何，何况后来更甚（或后来只不过是更进一步）。 - The plate was cracked to begin with.盘子本来就是有裂缝的（后来碎了不足为奇）。
- The list of people who could be counted on for that, she decided, was not long to begin with, and even shorter in the middle of the night.她明确了，在这件事情上可以依靠的人，名单本来就已经是不长的，到了半夜，名单变得更短了。
- Johnson's expression was melancholy to begin with, and became a shade more so.约翰逊的表情本来就忧郁，现在更加显得忧郁。
- The bedroom, which was small to begin with, looked tiny, as if it could barely contain him.卧室本来就小，现在更显得狭窄，仿佛容不下他了。
- They eliminated six full-time and three part-time elevator men — a vanishing breed to begin with.他们取消了六名全职电梯司机和三名兼职电梯司机，而这一类职工本来就已经在消亡中。
- He's had too much success too soon. He's got a stupid, sick mind to begin with.他太少年得志了。况且他本来的精神状态就痴呆有病。
- And the head of the police wondered whether the wanted criminal had ever been there to begin with.警察局长对于通缉犯究竟本来是不是到过那处地方也打个问号。
- You shouldn't have come here to begin with.你本来就不应该到这里来。
- The origin of the calendar is inaccurate to begin with, and our "year" is not strictly astronomically accurate but varies between 365 and 366 days.历法的来源本来就不精确，何况我们的“一年”在天文学上又不是严格算准而是介乎 365 与 366 天之间。
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