一、用形容词表达"约数"。常用的形容词有some, many, much, few, little, several, enough等。如：

　　Didn't he give you some money? 他难道没有给你一些钱吗？

　　My friend can speak several languages. 我朋友会说好几种语言。

　　Few people live to be 150, but a few people can live to be 100. 几乎没有人能活到150岁，但有人能活到100岁。

　　二、用副词表达"约数"。常用的副词有about, around, nearly, almost, hardly, some等。如：

　　We have about forty minutes to leave. 我们大约还有40分钟才离开。

　　The Great Wall is around 6,700 kilometres long. 长城大约有6700公里长。

　　It took us nearly two hours to find our neighbour's two little children. 我们用了将近两个小时才找到邻居的两个小孩。

　　Almost no one took any rest. 几乎没有人休息。

　　三、用介词表达"约数"。常用的介词有above, over, below, under, past等。如：

　　There is nothing in this shop above five pounds. 这家商店没有售价超过5英镑的商品。

　　The building is over 200 metres high. 那座楼高200多米。

　　四、用数词表达"约数"。常用的数词有tens, hundreds, thousands, millions及billions等。在用这些数词表示约数时，其后通常跟介词of。如：

　　Tens of thousands of trees will be planted there. 那里将种植成千上万棵树。

　　Several millions of things are on show. 数百万件物品在展出。

　　The bright star has been there billions of years. 那颗明星已存在那里几十亿年了。

　　五、用词组表达"约数"。常用的词组有or so, more or less, a number of, less than, more than, a lot of, or more, or less, between...and等。如：

　　The car went more or less sixty kilometres. 这辆汽车走了60公里左右。

　　More than two months has passed. 已经过去两个多月了。

　　He lived for ninety years or more. 他活了90多岁。

　　I have one hundred yuan or less. 我有一百元，或者不到一百元。

　　The train will arrive at between seven and eight. 火车将在7点到8点之间到达。

　　另外，or连接两个数词或"a (an)+名词+or two (=one or two +名词)"也可表达"约数"。如：

　　He will be back in a day or two/ one or two days. 他一两天就回来。

　　He may give me two or three hundred pounds for this stamp. 他可能会付给我二、三百镑来买这枚邮票。

　　He has been away one or two days. 他才去了一两天。

　　(文/宋永安；英语辅导报初三版03--04学年度第40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。)