在非谓语动词的大家庭中,有这么一组动词的现在分词和过去分词,可以作宾语、表语和状语.在实践中其意义和用法很容易混淆,并且在全国大学英语四级考试中出现的频率也很高.我们先看几道从历年的四级考试试卷中选出的试题:

　　1. After a long walk on a hot day, one often feels ________. (CET-4:1990.1)

　　A. exhausted B. exhausting

　　C. exhaust D. exhaustive (key: A)

　　2. It is rather ________ that we still do not know how many species there are in the world today. (CET-4: 1993.6)

　　A. embarrassing B. leading

　　C. boring D. demanding (key: A)

　　3. She was so ________ in her job that she did not hear anybody knocking at the door.

　　(CET-4:1996.1)

　　A. absorbed B. attracted

　　C. drawn D. concentrated (key: A)

　　我们知道,非谓语动词的特征有二:①不能单独作谓语;②它还带有一些动词的特点,比如说,可被状语修饰,有被动式和完成式,并且及物动词可带有自己的宾语等等.但是我们今天提到的这类动词的现在分词和过去分词,已经没有了非谓语动词的动词特性,完全变成了形容词. 一般来讲,我们可以作如下区分:

　　1. 从意义上,并非所有动词都具有这一类现在分词和过去分词,只有表示"情感、心情"等的动词才有.例如:bore(让人心烦), please(使人高兴), interest(感兴趣), shock(让人震惊)等等.

　　2. 从用法上,一般而言,我们要抓住这类分词所修饰的中心词,如果其中心词是人,则要用其过去分词,可以翻译为"感到……的";如果其中心词为事物,则要用其现在分词,可以翻译为"令人……的".

　　上面几道四级真题的答案都为A.第1题的中心词为"one"(人),因而用了"exhausted";第2题中,其中心词是"It"(物),所以用"embarrassing",意为"令人尴尬的"; 第3题,其中心词为"she",因而要用"absorbed".

　　这类分词形容词的用法非常广泛,我们可以在很多地方看到它们.下面我们再看几个例子:

　　1. She said "Oh", as if instead of a messenger, she had thought she would open the door to someone she had known a long time and would be pleased to sit down with. (pleased的中心词是she)

　　2. Our industry is developing at an astonishing speed.(astonishing的中心词是speed)

　　3. They were infuriated by this insulting demand. (insulting的中心词是demand)

　　4. Delighted with her work, they made her the general manager. (delighted的中心词是they)

　　5. Encouraged by these successes, they decided to expand the business. (encouraged的中心词是they)

　　6. Greatly interested, I asked how he played these new works.(interested 的中心词是I)

　　从以上例子可以看出现在分词表示的是中心词的"性质和特征";而过去分词则表示的是中心词的"内心感受".常见的这类现在分词和过去分词还有:

　　shocking / shocked; pleasing / pleased;

　　worrying / worried; moving / moved;

　　disappointing / disappointed;

　　inspiring / inspired;

　　surprising / surprised; tiring / tired;

　　devoting / devoted;

　　frightening / frightened;

　　amazing / amazed; contenting / contented;

　　touching / touched等等.

　　另外,我们还要注意的是这类分词的系表结构与进行时态和被动语态形式相同,但是意义不同.进行时态和被动语态强调的是动作,而这类分词的系表结构的现在分词强调的是中心词的"性质和状态";过去分词强调的是中心词的"内心感受".例如:

　　1. I was cooking at home when he knock-ed at the door.(进行时态强调动作)

　　2. This film is more exciting than any that I've ever seen.(系表结构表示中心词的性质和状态)

　　3. With a school record like yours, I'm puzzled why you didn't try for a university scholarship. (被动语态)

　　4. I was not the least bit surprised, or impressed.(系表结构表示中心词的内心感受)

　　以上就是对这类分词形容词的意义和用法的一个小结.如果我们在平时注意到了这个问题,不论学习还是考试都会运用的灵活自如.

　　练习题:

　　A) 找出错误的一项:

　　1. People cannot but feel puzzling, for they simply cannot understand how he

　　A B C

　　could have made such a stupid mistake.

　　D

　　2.The teacher's lecture on the past participle was three hours long and the students felt very

　　A B C

　　boring.

　　D

　　3. His victory in the final was no more convinced than I had expected.

　　A B C D

　　B) 选择正确的答案:

　　1. The children were ________ by the story since the story was ________.

　　A. amused; amusing B. amusing; amused

　　C. amused; amused D. amusing; amusing

　　2. Mr. John is a very ________ man because he is always talking about himself.

　　A. tired B. interested

　　C. boring D. bored

　　3. ________ by the journey, he went to bed immediately after he came back home.

　　A. To have been exhausted

　　B. To have exhausted

　　C. Having exhausted

　　D. Having been exhausted

　　4. ________ by the bullets flying at them from all sides, they withdrew into the woods.

　　A. Confusing B. Having confused

　　C. Confused D. To be confused

　　5. The food was delicious; that was a ________ meal.

　　A. satisfaction B. satisfy

　　C. satisfied D. satisfying

　　6. Most of the people, ________, could not go to sleep that night after the party.

　　A. being so excited

　　B. being so exciting

　　C. to be so exciting

　　D. to be so excited

　　7. Frank had worked for two years to be a carpenter, but found his progress ________.

　　A. dissatisfying and discouraging

　　B. discouraging and dissatisfied

　　C. discouraged and dissatisfied

　　D. discouraging and unsatisfied

　　(文/邱云峰; 英语通大学英语四级考试版2004年第5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。)