句子：广告对大学生的影响是微乎其微的。

　　误译：Advertising has merely a small effect on college students.

　　正译:

　　1) Advertising has very little ef-fect on college students.

　　2) Advertising has merely an in-significant/ unimportant effect on

　　college students.

　　3) The influence that advertising makes on college students is very

　　small/ trivial.

　　解释：“小”或“微”有三层意思：体积(size)小、数量(quantity)小、

　　重要性(importance)小。“影响微乎其微”是“重要性小”，英语多用little/

　　insignificant/unimportant/trivial表示。没有smalleffect这样的搭配。但

　　可说smallinfluence/mistake/differences/change，如：1.我对这个孩子的影

　　响小，所以他不会按照我说的去做。

　　My influence over the child is small, so he won' t do as I say.

　　2.你犯了个小错误，要不你的工作干得很好。

　　You made a small mistake, but oth-erwise your work was good.

　　3.这两种译文之间仅有细小差别。

　　There are only small differences between the two translations.

　　4.这个计划有个小小的变动。

　　There has been a small change in the plan.“

　　5.这顶帽子太小，我戴不上。

　　The hat is too small for me.

　　“数量小”用a small number of，后跟可数名词；也可用a small amount

　　of，后跟不可数名词，例如：

　　6.我设法节省了一点钱。

　　I managed to save a small amount/ sum of money.

　　7.桌子上有少量的书。

　　There are a small number of books on the table.