



代名词oneself前加各种不同的介词,据说可产生各种不同的意义,请分别例解。
【解答】 和oneself有关的常见的片语,计有for oneself、by oneself、of oneself、beside oneself、to oneself、in oneself六种,兹分别将其含义加以解释,并举例说明其用法如下:
(1)for oneself独力;自立。ISD上说without help from others and in order to benefit oneself,意即没有别人的帮助,为着自己的利益。例如:
You have opened for yourself the way to success.(你独力开辟了成功的道路。)
If you had an eye in your head,you might see what she is for yourself.(如果你有眼睛的话,你就看得明白她到底是一个怎样的女人。)
He has built a house for himself.(i.e. for his own use)(他为自己建造了一幢屋子;他独力建成。)
He is old enough to do for himself.(他年龄已大,足以自立了。)
There are some things one can’t do for oneself.(有些事是自己不能独力做的。)
照字面的本义来解释,当然是可以的,如:
This one I shall keep for myself.(这个我自己留下。)
又for itself = for its own sake(为其本身),例如:
He loves labour for itself.(他为着劳动而爱劳动〔不是为钱,也不是为体力运动〕。)
(2)by oneself独自,无伴,分开,退隐。alone,unaccompanied,apart,sequestered。例如:
She likes to take a walk by herself.(她喜欢独自散步。)
It is a virtue by itself.(那本身就是一种美德。)
He did not like to leave his daughter by herself.(他不喜欢让他的女儿独自一人。)
(3)of oneself自然地出于自动,自愿。spontaneously,in its own nature,separately considered,without the instigation or aid of another。例如:
He woke up of himself.(他自己醒来了。)
The league can do nothing of itself;it is nothing of itself.(联盟单独什么也不能做;它本身什么也不是。)
London seems like a world of itself.(伦敦本身好像是一个世界。)
Books,she thought,grew of themselves. ——V. Woolf(她认为书籍是会自然增多的。)
Cholera,small-pox,etc. cannot originate of themselves. ——Avebury(霍乱,天花等不能自己发生。)
The candle went out of itself.(蜡烛自熄。)
The door opened of itself.(房门自开。)
(4)beside oneself发狂,精神错乱。wildly excited,mad,out of one’s senses,crazy。例如:
His wife was almost beside herself with joy.(他的妻子欢喜若狂。)
Cathy,beside herself,gave the chair a violent push. ——E. Bronte(凯西发狂地把椅子用力一推。)
He is beside himself with anger. ——Kirkpatrick(他盛怒忘形。)
(5)to oneself私自,窃,心中。inwardly。例如:
I had kept the belief to myself. ——L. Bromfield(我把那个信念藏在自己心中。)
I must write as though I were a person of importance;and indeed,I am—to myself,to myself I am the most important person in the world. ——Maugham(我一定要把我写成一个伟大的人;对我自己来说,我诚然是一个伟大的人呀。对我自己来说,我是这世界上最伟大的人了。)
He was chuckling to himself over what he was reading.(他对所读的书觉得有趣而不免私自发笑。)
I chuckled to myself. ——Stevenson(我暗自发笑。)
下例中用的to oneself = by oneself、alone(独自),和上面的意思又有所不同了。
Life’s a wonderful thing,Kate,a thing one can’t live all to oneself,a thing one shares with everybody. ——Galsworthy(人生是奇妙的,凯特,是不能完全独自过活的,是要和大家分享的。)
But,this,he acknowledged to himself,was a thing he had never done before. ——Lawrence(但是他自认这件事,是以前他从来没做过的。)
Left to himself,Mr. Hutton got up and began to wander round the room. ——A. Huxley(留下他一个人的时候,赫顿先生就站起身来,开始在室内走来走去。)
Read that letter to yourself. ——Hornby(默读那信吧。)(to yourself = silently)
(6)in oneself 其本身,本来,不靠外力。independently of extraneous influence,apart from what is not essential to it。例如:
Lack of confidence in himself made him hesitate.(缺乏自信使他犹豫不决。)
Our very existence is a miracle in itself.(我们的生存本身就是一个奇迹。)
Diamond is hard in itself.(钻石本来是硬的。)
The charity in itself is admirable.(慈善本身就是可赞赏的。)
These substances are not poisonous in themselves.(这些物质本身无毒。)
A fine courtesy is a fortune in itself.(好的礼貌其本身就是一笔财产。)