不多的，很少　not many

　～ words　沉默寡言
　～ years　没有几年

　He is a man of few words.　他是个沉默寡言的人。
　Few students attended the meeting.　没几个学生出席会议。
　I have too few chances to enjoy myself.　我享受生活乐趣的机会太少了。
　Changes in policy were few.　政策很少变化。

 ♣ few and far between
　稀少，罕见　rare; not happening often
　People who work as hard as you are few and far between!　像你这样努力工作的人真是太少了！
 ♣ no fewer than
　至少，约有　as much as
　No fewer than 10 students were absent through illness.　因病而缺课的学生不下10名。
　It was an enormous ship, there were no fewer than a thousand cars on it.　这是一艘硕大无比的船，上面至少载有上千辆汽车。

 ♣ no fewer than, not fewer than
　这两个词的意思表示的主观意愿不同：no fewer than表示“几乎一样多”; not fewer than则表示“最少一样多或更多”。试比较：

　少数，很少，几个　a small number; but at least some

　have ～　喝几杯
　chosen〔select〕 ～　精选出的少数
　faithful ～　少数几个忠诚的人
　for ～　为少数人
　of ～　在…中的几个

　Few know and few care.　很少有人知道，也很少有人关心。
　Few of them came to class during last storm.　上次暴风雨期间他们很少有人来上课。
　I have very few left.　我所剩无几。
　Very few of the students are from Beijing.　极少数的学生是北京人。
　They'll probably have a few in by this time.　到这个时候他们多半会喝上几杯。
　Only〔So〕 few of them care to sing a song.　他们没几个人愿意去唱支歌。
　Some few of the students are absent today.　有些同学今天缺席。
　Quite a few of us are getting worried.　我们当中有不少人在担心。
　The bad news will disturb me not a few.　这坏消息将使我深感不安。

 ♣ few, a few
　few　的意思是“很少的…，几乎没有的…”，表示“虽然有，但很少”，强调“少”，表示否定的意思；a few的意思是“少数的…，几个…，一些…”，表示“虽然少，但还有”，强调“有”，表示肯定之意，两者之间的差别主要是主观上的，而不是实际数字上的差别。例如：

 ♣ few, little
　这两个词都有“很少”“没多少”的意思，都表示否定含意。few用于可数名词前，与many相对；little用在不可数名词前，与much相对。

　［同义词］ adj. hardly any, limited, not many, unusual pron. some
　［反义词］ adj. many, numerous, plentiful
　［词源］中古英语fewe<古英语feawa（少，少的）