■ (be) supposed to inf.

1) “按理”按的是法律、规则、习惯之理（事实上是否做了，这里不管）。

• You are supposed to report it to the police as soon as possible.你应该尽快将这件事情报告警察。
• I'm not supposed to talk to you about this.这件事情我是不应该同你谈的。
• You're not supposed to abandon your car on the highway.你是不应该在高速公路上离开自己的车子的。
• It is supposed to be kept in a cool place.它应该放在阴凉处。
• What's that switch supposed to do?那个开关是管什么的？
• You're not supposed to use dictionaries.不准查词典。
• The door wasn't supposed to close so fast.门按理不应该关得这样快。

2) “按理”按的是临时约定之理（往往事实上没有做）或是原先推测之理（但是结果却不符合推测）。

• "You were supposed to meet me at one," she said, her voice cracking.“你本来应该是一点钟来同我会面的，”她声音激动地说。
• Where are we supposed to be meeting them?我们本来应该在哪里同他们见面？
• This was supposed to be his moment of glory, his pièce de résistance—a back door in the world encryption standard. But instead, he had sent a virus into the main databank of the National Security Agency. (Dan Brown, Digital Fortress, p.309)这本来应该是他功成名就的时刻，是他的压轴好戏，竟然能够在全世界加密表标准背后开了个后门。可是，想不到他干的却是给国家安全署的数据库里放进了一个病毒。

3) “按理”按的是常识之理（但事实并非如此）。

• Aren't you supposed to be at home?你难道不是应该在家的吗？
• It wasn't supposed to come to this.本来事情不应该闹成这个样子。
• Retirement is supposed to provide a respite from life's travails, but there are some realities even a day on the golf course won't let one escape. (US News & World Report, Aug. 12, 2002, p.40)退了休，本来人生的辛劳就可以得到一点喘息，但其实有一些现实问题，并不是打一天的高尔夫球就可以逃避得了的。
• Then, looking into an incongruously blue sky, she (a survivor of the Katrine Hurricane in New Orleans) whimpered, "You're supposed to be a loving God. You're supposed to love us. And what have you done to us? Why did you do this to us?"于是，她望着那偏偏晴朗的蓝天，呜咽着说：“你本来应该是个有爱心的上帝。你本来应该爱我们。但是你对我们干了些什么？你为什么这样对我们？”

4) “按理”是按一般人看法的常理（但是说话者可能另有看法）。

• It's supposed to be a very interesting book.据认为这是一本很精彩的书。
• You're supposed to be the expert, not me.要算专家的是你不是我。

5) 如果是疑问句，就包含“遇到难题”的意思。

• How am I supposed to finish all this work by ten o'clock?这一切的工作，我十点钟以前怎么能完成得了？
• What was he supposed to do? How was he going to win her back?他该怎么办？他该怎么样把她争取回来？

6) 也可以表示这是一般的看法，不包含实际上的否定。

• He's supposed to be quite rich, you know.你知道，据大家看，他是相当富有的。
• This stuff is supposed to kill flies. Let's try it.这种材料据说是杀苍蝇的。咱们试试看。

7) supposed 可以作为定语，放在名词前面，有“所谓”（“不见得名副其实”）的意思。

• all these supposed experts所有这些所谓专家。

8) 值得注意的是：supposed to inf. 作为表语（例如 is supposed to inf.）或是作为后置定语（例如 the man supposed to inf.），意义是不同的。前面 1) 至 6) ，都是作为表语，意思大致上都是“按理应该”。但是这个意义，必须以前面有动词 to be 的各种形式为前提。如果没有 to be，此时 supposed 作为一个名词成分的后置定语，情况就发生变化：

首先，意义不同了，没有 to be，意义就变成“据说”、“据称”、“据推测”（相当于下面 9) 的意义）。

其次，to be supposed to inf. 的 inf.，可以是延续体的，也可以是瞬时体的；但是如果没有 to be 在前，则这个 inf. 只能是延续体的（如果是瞬时体的，就要用 to have + pp 的形式，表示瞬时动作留下的延续状态）；其被动式 to be + pp 也不是表示被动的瞬时事件，而是表示留下的延续状态。

• This book, supposed to be written by a traveler这本据认为是一位旅行家所写的书，在这里，第一，supposed to 没有“按理应该”的意思；第二，to be written 不是“将要被写”，而是“已经写出的状态”（被动的瞬时事件 to have been written 留下了延续状态 to be written）。

此外，即使是 to be supposed to inf.，也不一定就是“理应”的意思，也可以作为 to be 再简单地加上 supposed to inf. 两个意义的相加，即“被假定为”。

• When a number of persons (whom we may style subjects) are supposed to be in the habit of paying obedience to a person..., such persons altogether (subjects and governors) are said to be in a state of political society. (Philip Schofield, Utility and Democracy, p.56)当有一批人（我们可以称之为“臣民”）被假设为习惯于服从某一个人…之时，这些人合在一起（“臣民”和“统治者”），就可以说是处于一个政治社会之中。

由于 supposed to inf. 前面没有 to be 就是“被假定”的意思（即使有 to be，也可以是这个意思），因此，如果要表示“按理应该”，就不要让 supposed to inf. 充当名词成分的后置定语，而最好采用一个从句，好让动词 to be 出现。

• The houses that are supposed to (*The houses supposed to) be destroyed are occupied.本来要拆毁的房子是有人住着的。
• The guides who were supposed to(*The guides supposed to) show us the path were sick.那些本来要给我们引路的向导们病了。

9) to be supposed to inf. 表示“按理应该”时，如果要加以否定，可以有三种方式：

10) supposed 可以派生出副词 supposedly，有“据称”的意思。

• The robot is supposedly capable of understanding spoken commands.机器人据称能够听懂口头指令。
• He's supposedly too sick to walk.据认为他病得厉害，不能走动。
• A Japanese publisher has put out a novel supposedly completed by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.一家日本出版商出版了一本据说是伊拉克独裁者萨达姆·侯赛因写的小说。

参见 allegedly 与 reportedly 条。