【问】 My daughter has written to them frequently since they lived in New York.
 自从他们离开纽约以来，我的女儿经常给他们写信。(《英语陷阱》，商务印书馆，1996.P.249)
 “我女儿经常写信”的时间跨度(长度)究竟从什么时候开始算起?是从他们在纽约居住的开始点(假定是1980年)算起呢?还是从他们离开纽约的时间点(假定1990年)算起呢?不同理解带来的差别该有多大!
 【答】 关于这个问题，我国英语学界是有争议的。为了增强说服力，我想在这里介绍一下著名语言学家R.Quirk等人对这个问题的论述：
 “Within the adjunct too it is possible to be specifying a continuous activity through the timespan，as in：
 Since they have lived in London，they have been increasingly happy. [=‘during that time’]
 

[1]

 Alternatively，we may refer to a period dating from a discrete event，as in：
 Since they went to live in London，they have been increasingly happy. [= ‘from that point intime’]
 

[2]

 There is thus a contrast between[1]and[3]：
 Since they lived in London，they have been increasingly happy.
 

[3]

 This is because，while the span involved is the same，[1]defines their living in London as coter-minous with that span (ie as still being true ‘now’ ，which is as far as the speaker can commithimself)，but[3]makes no claim on how long they lived in London beyond the entailment thatthey no longer live there ‘now’：
 
 Fig 8.61c(CGEL，PP.538-539)
 (“在时间状语之内，时间状语也可以指贯穿整个时间跨度的延续性活动，例如：
 Since they have lived in London，they have been increasingly happy.(=在此时间之内)
 

[1]

 或者，可以指从一个具体动作开始算起的一段时间，例如：
 Since they went to live in London ，they have been increasingly happy.(=从那个时间点算起)

[2]

 这样，例[1]与下面的例[3]就有了差别：
 Since they lived in London，they have been increasingly happy. [3]尽管它们所涉及的时间跨度相同，但是例[1]表示他们在伦敦的居住时间是与(主句所表达的)时间跨度是一样长的(讲话人明确表示他们‘现在’仍然住在伦敦)，而例[3]却没有表明他们在伦敦住了多久，只是断定他们‘现在’不再住在伦敦了。”)
 从上面的论述和图表我们可以得出如下结论：
 1.例[1]和例[3]的since从句所涉及的时间跨度是相同的，即都从“他们住进伦敦”开始算起一直延续到现在。
 2.例[1]和例[3]的区别仅仅在于：例[1]表示“他们现在仍住在伦敦”，而例[3]则表示“他们现在不再住在伦敦了”。
 据此，我们有理由说：《英语陷阱》的译文是背离原意的。