插入语是一种独立成分,与句子的其它成分一般没有语法上的关系,大都是对一句话作一些附加说明或解释。它通常由一个词、一个短语或一个句子构成,位置较为灵活,可置于句首、句中或句末,一般用逗号或破折号与句子隔开。下面以高考题为例,谈谈插入语的用法。

　　一、形容词(短语)用作插入语

　　常见的形容词有strange(奇怪的),sure enough (果然),worse still (更糟糕的是),even better(更好的),strange to say(说也奇怪), needless to say(不用说), most important of all(最为重要的)等。例如:

　　Sure enough, enemy planes came again the next day. 果然敌机第二天又来了。

　　Strange, he often forgot to turn off the lights. 真奇怪,他经常忘记关灯。

　　[原题再现]

　　Greenland, ________island in the world, covers over two million square kilometers.

　　A. it is the largest

　　B. that is the largest

　　C. is the largestD. the largest

　　答案:D

　　二、副词(短语)用作插入语

　　常用作插入语的副词有indeed(的确), surely (无疑), however(然而), obviously(显然), frankly(坦率地说), naturally(自然), luckily / happily for sb.(算某人幸运), fortunately(幸好), strangely(奇怪), honestly(老实说), briefly (简单地说)等。

　　[原题再现]

　　Two middle-aged passengers fell into the sea. ________, neither of them could swim.

　　A. In fact B. Luckily

　　C. Unfortunately D. Naturally

　　答案:C

　　三、介词短语用作插入语

　　常用作插入语的介词短语有in a few words / in sum / in short (简而言之),on the contrary(相反), in other words (换句话说), in a sense (在某种意义上), in general(一般说来), in my view (在我看来),in conclusion (总之), in summary(概括地说), in fact(事实上), at first (首先), in addition (此外), of course(当然),to my joy / delight / satisfaction. (使我欣慰 / 高兴 / 满意的是), for instance / example(例如),as a matter of fact (事实上) 等。

　　[原题再现]

　　① Boris has brains. In fact, I doubt whether anyone in the class has ________IQ.

　　A. a high B. a higher

　　C. the higher D. the highest

　　② Your performance in the driving test didn’t reach the required standard— ________, you failed.

　　A. in the end B. after all

　　C. in other words D. at the same time

　　③ Helen was much kinder to her youngest son than to the others, ________, of course , made the others envy him.

　　A. whoB. thatC. whatD. which

　　答案:① B ② C ③ D

　　四、不定式短语用作插入语

　　to be frank (坦率地说),to tell (you )the truth (老实说),to be sure (无疑地), to sum up (概括地说)等。例如:

　　That’s a wonderful idea, to be sure!这个主意好极了,肯定的!

　　To sum up, success results from hard work.总之,成功来自于努力。

　　五、分句用作插入语

　　常用作插入语的分句有:I think(我认为),do you suggest / suppose (你建议 / 猜测),I hope (我希望),I’m afraid (恐怕),what’s more (而且),what’s worse (更糟糕的是),you see (你知道),I am sure(我可以肯定地说),I wonder(我不知道), that is (也就是说),it seems(看来是),as I see it(照我看来),what is important (重要的是),believe it or not (信不信由你)等。

　　[原题再现]

　　① As I know, there is ________ car in this neighborhood.

　　A. no such B. no a

　　C. not such D. no such a

　　② It is so nice to hear from her. ________, we last met more than thirty years ago.

　　A. What’s more B. That is to say

　　C. In other words D. Believe it or not

　　③ ________ be sent to work there?

　　A. Who do you suggest B. Who do you suggest that should

　　C. Do you suggest who should

　　D. Do you suggest whom should

　　④ —How do you ________ we go to Beijing for our holidays?

　　—I think we’d better fly there. It’s much more comfortable.

　　A. insistB. want

　　C. suppose D. suggest

　　⑤ She has set a new record, that is, the sales of her latest book ________ 50 million.

　　A. have reached B. has reached

　　C. are reachingD. had reached

　　答案:① A ② D ③ A ④ D ⑤ A

　　六、有时说完一句话之后,再补充几个词或一句话,以作进一步解释说明,这也是一种插入语,前面常用破折号。

　　[原题再现]

　　① Let Harry play with your toys as well, Clare—you must learn to ________.

　　A. support B. care

　　C. spare D. share

　　② If you want help—money or anything, let me know, ________ you?

　　A. don’t B. will C. shallD. do

　　答案:① D ② B

　　(文/籍万杰 英语辅导报高三年级版2004-2005学年第22期；版权归英语辅导报社所有，独家网络合作伙伴新浪教育，未经许可，不得以任何形式进行转载。)