...it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days at some time during his early adult life.

If I were the president of a university I should establish a compulsory course in "How to Use Your Eyes".

...how you would use your own eyes if you had only three more days to see.

If with the oncoming darkness of the third night you knew that the sun would never rise for you again, how would you spend those three precious intervening days?

这些都是标准的现在虚拟句，即从句使用一般过去时态；如果是be动词，则不论句子的主语是单数还是复数，都是复数形式were，而不是was；相应地，主句用would/should＋动词原形。

（三）

来看下面这个幸福婚姻的秘诀：

4　It is not the lack of love that makes unhappy marriages; it is the lack of friendship. My advice to all men is "Choose in marriage a woman that you would choose as a friend if she were a man". This applies to women in the same way. One tragedy in many marriages is that the romantic love on which it was based never ripened into friendship.

妙语点睛

这里作者说“如果这个女人是一个男人”，但实际上女人是无法变为男人的（当然变性手术不算在内），所以这是一个对一般情况的虚拟。作者通过现在虚拟的句子...a woman that you would choose as a friend if she were a man，来说明夫妻之间有友情的存在对于幸福婚姻的重要性。

精品译文

婚姻不幸福并不是因为缺乏爱，而是因为婚姻中缺少了友谊。我对于男士们的建议是：选取结婚对象时，要找这样的女人——假如她们是男人的话，你愿意和他们做朋友。我的这个建议同样也适用于女人。许多婚姻的不幸往往是：作为婚姻基础的浪漫爱情没有升华成为友情。

说到美国人的极大浪费，美国环境保护专家彼得·拉文（Peter Raven）有这样一句话：

5　If everyone lived like Americans, then you would need three planet earths to sustain that level of consumption.

妙语点睛

由此可见，美国人常常指责别国破坏地球环境，浪费资源，殊不知他们自己才是破坏地球环境真正的的罪魁祸首。在这句话中，彼得就是用了虚拟语气，因为事实上我们没有三个地球来供我们浪费和糟蹋。所以，主从句的谓语分别采用了“would＋动词（need）原形”和过去式（lived）这样标准的一般虚拟形式。

精品译文

如果世界上每一个人都像美国人这般生活的话，那我们得需要三个地球方能维持这样的消费水平。

下面这句话则用虚拟语气反问，假如中国也达到美国人一般的生活水准，比如每个家庭拥有两辆小汽车、每人每年肉类的消费量达到122公斤，那中国该怎样应对这种需求呢？

6　How would the Chinese cope if the average family in China had two cars, and, like Americans, the average person ate 269 pounds (122 kilograms) of meat a year?

妙语点睛

由于事实上，中国目前还远没有达到这种生活水平，所以在叙述时也不要忘了使用虚拟语气，即主句用would＋cope，从句用过去式ate。

精品译文

如果中国人也达到美国人那样的生活水平，比如平均每个家庭拥有两辆小汽车、每人每年平均消费269磅（122公斤）肉类食品，中国将如何应对这种情况呢？

第五章“完成时态”的5.3节谈到罗素的自传中有这个句子：

7　This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.

这就是我的一生。我已经找到了它的价值。而且如果有机会，我很愿意能再活它一次。

一个美国教授谈到语言学习时说：

8　For a North American or European, languages such as Chinese, Korean, and Japanese have what is like pictograph or ideographic type of language. Native speakers of European languages often have a very difficult time in learning one of the Asian languages, as our ears are not attuned to the sounds or characters of the language. In China, I am like a child in terms of the language, and illiterate in terms of being able to read or write Chinese. If I could read and write in Chinese, I would need to recognize at least 3,000 or more characters.

Chinese also have a hard time learning the European languages such as English, French, Spanish, Italian, or German, because each of these languages is filled with many idioms which don't make much sense in terms of the formal language that they learn.

妙语点睛

因为这位美国教授不懂汉语，所以他用了虚拟语气说If I could read and write in Chinese, I would need to recognize at least 3,000 or more characters.

精品译文

对于北美人或欧洲人来说，汉语、韩语和日语等语言就像是图画语言或表意文字。以欧洲语言为母语的人往往会发现这些亚洲语言很难学，因为我们的耳朵生来就不适应这些语言的发音或写法。在中国，在语言方面我像是一个孩子，就汉语的读写能力而言，我则像是文盲。如果我希望能够具备中文的读写能力，我则需要认识至少3,000汉字或更多。

中国人在学习欧洲的语言方面，比如英语、法语、西班牙语、意大利语或德语等，也常常会感到困难，因为这些语言中含有大量的成语，而这些成语，如果按照他们所学的正式的外语来解释，并没有什么意思。

笔者的一位美国朋友在和笔者聊起中国学生学习英文所遭遇到的众多困惑和难题时说道：

9　From the letters I have been receiving from our Chinese readers, the problem with tense seems to be foremost. English tenses would make me tense if I were a Chinese student.

从中国读者给我的来信中看出，他们学习英文最大的难题似乎是在时态方面。如果我是一名中国学生，时态同样会让我犯憷。

的确，时态问题一直是我们学习英语的一个“老大难”问题，在复杂的时态变化的迷宫里，我们往往一筹莫展，迷失方向。于是在口语或作文中，只好把英语当成汉语一样不作谓语的变形，通篇都是“一般现在时”。虚拟语气其实就是时态问题，不过它要比一般的时态问题更难，因为它不仅需要判断谓语动作发生的时间，还要能够敏锐地“嗅出”与事实相反的虚拟“味道”来。比如上文中的“如果我是一名中国学生，时态同样会让我犯憷”这句话，从时间的角度来看，是表示一般的情况，即现在时间；从语义的角度来看，因为是一个美国人在说假如他是一名中国学生，这显然就是与事实相反的一个虚拟假设。综合这两方面，所以要用对现在虚拟的谓语形式：主句谓语采用would＋动词原形，从句谓语采用过去式；若从句谓语是be动词，就多用were，而较少用was。这就是对一般情形虚拟的谓语表达形式，或者叫做所谓的“语法规则”。在这里，笔者之所以不愿意说是“语法规则”，是因为很多英语学习者总是把“语法规则”当作捆住自己英语学习手脚的“死规则”，而没有把它们看成是引导和帮助我们正确使用英语的“活思维”！由此往往会造成这样的误解：以为是先有一套语法规则和教条，然后必须按照这些规则才能制造出具体的语言。而事实恰恰相反，是先有语言，然后再从大量的语言实践中总结出在使用这种语言时所遵循的一般思维规律或表达倾向，即所谓的规则。套用鲁迅先生的一句话就是：世界本无语法规则，说的人多了便成了规则。所以，语法规则不是什么不可逾越的清规戒律或天规，而是人们的思维规律或语言表达习惯。中国的英语学习者和native speakers of English最大的区别就是：我们懂英语语法规则却没有英语思维，而老外是在使用英语思维，尽管他们不懂语法规则。我们学的语法规则都用来对付英语考试的选择题了，而没有真正懂得规则背后的英语思维。由于没有形成真正的英语思维，所以在使用英语，如口语交际或作文时便成了“残疾人”——说不出、写不来。

这里讨论的虚拟语气尤其能考量我们的英语思维能力。在日常的口语交际中，我们会遇到大量虚拟假设的情景，此时就需要有良好的思维嗅觉能力，敏感地辨别真假情形，正确地使用语气表达。比如对于“假如我当总统，我会……”这样一个简单的句子，都要根据说话人的不同身份来选择不同的语气表达。比如，这句话若是出自一个小学生之口，他应该说成：

10　If I became President, I would...

因为对于一个小学生来说，“当总统”是一个与现实相反的虚拟假设，所以这句话要借助谓语动词变化（即从句用过去式became，主句用would接一个原形动词）来传达这种虚拟的情形。但若是对于一位正在竞选中的总统，比如现在（指2004年9月笔者写下这句话的时候）的美国民主党候选人约翰·克里（John Kerry），他则要这么说：

11　If I became President, I will (make America stronger at home and more respected in the world.

如果我当了美国总统，我要（让美国变得更强大，在国际上更受尊重）。

因为他应该用表示真实条件的陈述语气来表明对自己未来总统竞选获胜的信心。如果克里用虚拟语气说：

If I became President, I would...

恐怕连本来支持他的选民都要改旗易帜支持小布什了。由此可见虚拟语气的表达之精妙，它决不是一个死规则，而是一种活生生的英语思维。



思维总结

这一节讨论的是ZxCx型虚拟语气，即主句和从句都表示对现在一般情况的虚拟。此时，主句用would do，而从句用一般过去时态did；若从句的谓语是be动词，则一律用were。



思维训练

Exercise 7.3

请阅读下面的美文，并用括号中动词的适当形式填空。

1．If I Were a Boy Again

If I_____(be) a boy again, I______(practice) perseverance oftener, and never give up a thing because it was hard or inconvenient.

If I_____(be) a boy again, I______(school) myself into a habit of attention; I______(let) nothing come between me and the subject in hand. I_______(remember) that a good skater never tries to skate in two directions at once.

If I______(be) a boy again, I_________(look) on the cheerful side. Life is very much like a mirror: if you smile upon it, it smiles back upon you; but if you frown and look doubtful on it, you will get a similar look in return.

If I______(be) a boy again, I__________(demand) of myself more courtesy towards my companions and friends, and indeed towards strangers as well. The smallest courtesies along the rough roads of life are like the little birds that sing to us all winter long, and make that season of ice and snow more endurable.

Finally, instead of trying hard to be happy, as if that were the sole purpose of life, I would, if I_______(be) a boy again, try still harder to make others happy.

请用括号中动词的适当形式填空。

2．A: The subway sure is packed this morning.

B: Yeah. It's a pain that if we all______(drive) everyday we______(not, be) able to breathe in this city.

3．How fast does light travel?

How fast does light travel? About 300,000 kilometers per second. So light from the sun takes about 8 minutes to go to earth. Does this seem slow? Well, if you_______(can, drive) to the sun at 100 kilometers per hour, it______(take) you 177 years to get there!

请回答下面问题。

4．Man: I haven't seen George all day.

Woman: Have you checked the lab? I wouldn't be surprised if he slept there.

Question: What does the woman imply about George?

A．He is probably still asleep in the lab.

B．He spends a lot of time in the lab.

C．She needs to check his work.

D．She has no idea where he is.



开心一刻

请阅读下面笑话故事，并找出其中使用的虚拟语气。

5．If I were a millionaire

The teacher asked his pupils to write an essay, telling what they would do if they had five million dollars. Every pupil except little Sammy began writing immediately. Sammy sat idle, twiddling his fingers and watching the flies on the ceiling.

Teacher collected their papers, and Sammy handed in a blank sheet.

"How is this, Sammy?" asked the teacher. "Is this your essay? Every other pupil has written two sheets or more, while you have done nothing!"

"Well," replied Sammy, "that's what I would do if I were a millionaire!"

阅读下面美文，并找出其中使用的虚拟语气。

6．If I could save time in a bottle

the first thing that I'd like to do

would be to save every day until eternity passes away

just to spend them with you

if I could make days last forever

if words could make wishes come true

I'd save every day like a treasure and then

again I would spend them with you

如果我能把时间存入一个瓶子，

我要做的第一件事就是，

把每一天都存下来直到永恒，

再和你一起慢慢度过。

如果我能把时间化作永恒，

如果我的愿望能一一成真，

我会把每天都像宝贝一样储存，

再和你一起慢慢度过。





7.4　过去虚拟（ZgCg）

（一）

只要有Love，就会有Wealth和Success

从前有位老妇人，有一天在自家门口发现有三个白须飘然的老头正坐在她家前院。但她并不认识他们，于是她对三个老头说道：“我想我应该不认识你们，但我想你们一定是饿了，请来我家吃些东西吧（I don't think I know you, but you must be hungry. Please come in and have something to eat.）”听了老妇人的邀请，他们说道：“我们三个人不会同时进去的（We do not go into a house together.）”老妇人很是纳闷，就问：“为什么呀？”

这时，有个老头就告诉她理由。他指着其中一个老头说道：“他名叫‘财富’（His name is Wealth.）”又指着另一个老头说：“他是‘成功’，我是‘爱’（He is Success and I am Love.）”说完，他又补充道：“现在请你回家同你丈夫商量一下，我们这三个人你们愿意邀请谁进去（Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home.）”

于是，老妇人回到家里告诉她老伴儿院子里发生的事，并且跟她老伴儿商量，有Wealth, Success和Love三个老头，到底该邀请谁进屋呢？她老伴儿提议说：“既然这样，那我们就邀请‘财富’老人进来吧，这样我们家就会充满财富（Since that is the case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come and fill our home with wealth!）”

但是老妇人对此并不同意，她说道：“老头子，我们为什么不邀请‘成功’老人呢（My dear, why don't we invite Success?）”

这时，他们的儿媳妇听到了老两口的对话，说出了自己的想法：“如果我们把‘爱’邀请进来不是更好吗？这样我们家就会充满爱（Wouldn't it be better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with love!）”老两口最后一商量，也都赞成儿媳妇的意见，于是老头对老妇人说：“那我们出去把‘爱’请进来作为我们的客人吧（Go out and invite Love to be our guest.）”随后老妇人又来到门口准备邀请“爱”进来做客。看着三位老头，她问道：“你们仨谁是‘爱’呀？请进来做客吧（Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest.）”

这时，老头“爱”就站起身开始朝屋里走去，但与此同时另外两个老头“财富”和“成功”也跟在“爱”的后面朝屋里走。老妇人很惊讶，就问“财富”和“成功”：“我刚才只邀请了‘爱’，你们俩为什么也要进来呀（Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success, "I only invited Love. Why are you coming in?）”

下面是这两位老人的精彩回答：

1　The old men replied together, "If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would've stayed out, but since you invited Love, wherever he goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!"

精品译文

两位老人齐声回答道：“如果你刚才只邀请了‘财富’或‘成功’中的任何一位，那剩下两位都将留在门外。但是，既然你已经邀请了‘爱’，所以，他去哪里，我们就跟到哪里，因为只要有‘爱’的地方，就会有‘财富’和‘成功’！”

这个故事的寓意不需在此赘述。我们再看看两位老人最后的回答：

2　If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would've stayed out.

但实际上被邀请的是Love，所以这句话说“如果你刚才邀请了‘财富’或‘成功’”，显然是对过去事实的一个相反的假设，也就是对过去的虚拟。根据英文的思维表达，表示对过去的虚拟，主句的谓语要采用would have done的形式，从句的谓语则要用过去完成时态had done。所以，上述例句正是采用了这一虚拟形式：would have stayed和had invited。

（二）

上面这个故事告诉我们：“只要有爱，就会有财富和成功”。这并不是说“爱”就真的一定会给我们带来物质和金钱上的财富，而是要告诉我们，爱与被爱才真正赋予了生命的意义，就如同人们说的：Love is a reason to live.还有一句至理名言是这样说的：Love makes the world go around.不过下面这个故事也许会给恋爱中的你带来另外的启示：

3　"Do you love me?—Yes. Do you really, really love me?—Yes." It was a question that has been posed to many a lover. But Stephanie Powell had a special reason for asking her boyfriend, Wayne, if he loved her. Because Stephanie had just won $7 million on the lottery and wanted to make sure of Wayne's devotion before she told him the good news. "If he had known about the win I would never have known whether it was me or the money he would want to stay with," she said. "I don't know what I would have done if he hadn't answered yes. I love him and want to enjoy spending the money with him."

精品译文

“你爱我吗？——爱。你是真的爱我吗？——真的爱。”这样的问题许多恋人相互之间都问过，但是斯蒂芬妮·鲍威尔问她的男朋友韦恩是否爱她时，却是有特别的原因。因为她刚中了700万美元的彩票，想先确证她男友是否真的爱她，然后再告诉他这一好消息。她后来说：“如果他先知道我赢得了这个大奖，那我就无从知晓他和我交往是因为爱我，还是因为爱我的钱。如果他当时没有回答说爱我，我真不知道该怎么办，因为我爱他，所以愿意和他分享这笔巨款。”

从这个故事我们看到，韦恩因为说了“爱”，而获得与女友一起分享700万美元巨款的机会。所以，当如果有同样的“机会”惠顾你时，记住一定要毫不犹豫地告诉他／她“爱”，因为Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth！

故事中的斯蒂芬妮·鲍威尔说的两句话：

1）If he had known about the win, I would never have known whether it was me or the money he would want to stay with.

2）I don't know what I would have done if he hadn't answered yes.

妙语点睛

这显然是在她后来回顾这个事件时说的话，此时，这个事件已成为过去。斯蒂芬妮用了两个假设从句说“假如他知道”和“假如他没有回答‘是’”，这两个从句都是表示与过去的事实相反。主句同样也是表示过去虚拟假设。因此，主句和从句的谓语分别用了would never have known和had known，以及would have done和hadn't answered这样的动词虚拟形式。

爱情是人类永恒的话题，但并不是每段美好的爱情最终都能走进幸福的婚姻。如果婚姻不幸，最终导致离婚，那对孩子的伤害应该是最大的。下面这篇短文就是英国球星贝克汉姆谈论父母离婚给他留下的阴影——他始终认为父母的离异或许是自己的错。

4　Beckham and Divorce

I grew up in the love of a family. Without Mum and Dad, none of my story would be here for the telling. Like any son, I wouldn't have grown up into the person I am if they hadn't passed on their values to me. Marriage and parenthood, I think, are the two most important things any of us ever take on in our lives. That explains why my parents' splitting up has been probably the most difficult episode I've ever had to face up to in my whole life. To be honest, I'm still trying to face up to it now, probably the hardest thing to deal with has been thinking — or being made to think — that the split was somehow my fault. I remember the time and the energy they both put into me as a son and as a promising footballer. Should they have given some of the attention they gave me to each other instead?

However old you are when it happens, children in a divorce always find themselves feeling guilty. I believe that what happens between husband and wife, deep down, is between husband and wife and nobody else; not even their sons and daughters can change the outcome.

The story of my parents' marriage makes me feel sad, empty inside. What was home isn't anymore. Who can tell what lies down the road for you in your own life?