【问】 查《远东英汉大辞典》、《远东英汉双解成语大辞典》，at any rate意为“无论如何”。举的例子如下：

“He will get some valuable experience，at any rate.

无论如何他会得到些宝贵的经验。”

请问下面句子里的at any rate也作“无论如何”解吗?

They felt，or at any rate Dan felt，both relieved and frightened.

【答】 at any rate主要有两个含义：

A.“无论如何”、“不管怎样”：

1. At any rate we must go on Tuesday. (LDEI)

无论如何我们必须星期二去。

2. At any rate，the medical supplies will reach you within a week. (NECD)

无论如何，医疗用品将于一周内运到你处。

B.至少，至少说(You use at any rate to indicate that what you have just said might be exagger-ated or too general，and that you want to be more precise。使用at any rate是为了表示刚才说的话可能有些夸张或者太概括，因而想说得更精确一些。)

1. They felt，or at any rate Dan felt，both relieved and frightened.

他们既感到慰籍，又感到害怕，至少丹是如此。

2. It isn’t much of a car，but at any rate it was not expensive. (DAI)

这部汽车不怎么好，但至少说它并不贵。