【问】 It was what he meant rather than he said.
 句中的rather than是什么意思呢?我查了我手头上的所有英汉词典，都没有查到。
 【答】 上句中的rather than是英语里一种非常常见的格式。但是，有趣的是，我国出版的所有英汉词典都没有对这一用法进行注译，甚至1995年出版的《最新高级英汉词典》也是如此。下面是我国出版的一些英汉词典对rather than的注译，它们忽略了上面的用法：
 1.《英汉大辞典》：(与其)……毋宁愿;不如……的好。
 2.《新英汉词典》：宁可，宁愿，与其……倒不如……
 3.《最新高级英汉词典》：宁可，愿意;[与其……]倒不如。
 其实，rather than在不跟情态动词(would，will)等连用时，并无“宁可”、“与其……倒不如”的意思，而仅仅表示否定，可以译为“(而)不是”。这种用法的rather than叫做准并列连词，在语义上相当于and not。但是，必须注意，它只能连接词性相同的词项：
 1. She telephoned rather than wrote. (CGEL)
 她打了电话，而没有写信。
 2. John ought to go rather than Jean. (LDCE)
 是约翰应该去，而不是琼(应该去)。
 3. The color seems green rather than blue. (UED)
 这颜色似乎是绿的，而不是兰的。
 4. He was an objective rather than a subjective writer. (Fox)
 他是客观主义作家，而不是主观主义作家。
 5. He is to be pitied rather than to be disliked. (CGEL)
 他应该得到怜悯，而不是被厌恶。
 6. I'm going to forget the whole affair，rather than cause trouble. (CGEL)
 我打算把整个事情都忘得一干二净，而不是打算惹麻烦。
 请做下面的英语试题：
 1. I will do it myself_________ask him to do it.
 A. than B. in stead
 C. in place of D. rather than (EPT，80)
 2. Clinical experiments have shown that children generally relate to other childern'sstrengths and abilities，rather than____.
 A. to one weak B. a weakness is
 C. to their weaknesses D. theirs is a weak one(TOEFL，89. 3)
 3. We are taught that a business letter should be written in a formal style________in a per-sonal one.
 A. rather than B. other than C. better than D. less than(攻读硕士学位研究生入学考试英语试题，95A)