rather

　　ad.

　　1.相当,颇,有点儿

　　I'mfeelingrathersleepy.

　　我有点困倦.

　　2.(常与would或had连用)宁可,宁愿;(与其...)倒不如;而不是

　　Hewouldratherplaythanwork.

　　他宁可玩,却不愿工作.

　　I'dratheryouknewthatnow,thanafterwards.

　　与其以后让你知道,不如现在就让你知道.

　　I'llneverbedependentonanyoneagain.I'dratherstarve.

　　我再也不依靠任何人了.我宁愿饿死.

　　3.(常与or连用)更确切地说

　　Heleftlatelastnight,orratherearlythismorning.

　　他昨夜很晚,或者应该说是今天一大早才走.

　　4.【英】(用于回答问题)确是如此;当然

　　课文中出现的一句话:

　　Theyknew,orratherthoughtthattheirfatherwasonthesametrain.他们知道,或者说他们认为他们的父亲是在同一列车上的.

　　这里orrather是固定短语,意为"或者说;更确切地说".那么rather还有哪些用法呢?

　　一、用作程度副词,意为"稍微;有点;颇;相当"

　　1.rather可以修饰形容词、副词的原级、比较级等;可以与介词短语连用.如:

　　Shewasratherhurtbyhisunkindwords.

　　She'sratherbettertoday.

　　Shelooksratherlikeherfather.

　　Thesematerialsarerathertoodifficultfortheseniors.

　　2.rather放在不定冠词a（n）前后均可.如:

　　MissSmarthasgotarather（=rathera）goodvoice.

　　二、用作副词,意为"宁可,宁愿"

　　1.ratherthan意为"而不是;与其……不如",后接名词、代词、形容词、动词原形等.如:

　　Theseshoesarecomfortableratherthanpretty.

　　Ratherthanallowthevegetablestogobad,hesoldthemathalfprice.

　　ItisheratherthanIwhoistoblame.

　　2.wouldratherdo...thando...=woulddo...ratherthando...宁愿做……而不愿做…….如:

　　Iwouldgotherebybusratherthantakethetrain.

　　3.prefertodo...ratherthando...宁愿做……而不愿做…….如:

　　Weprefertoreceivemoneyratherthantheusualgifts.

　　三、用作感叹词,意为"当然"

　　-Wouldyoulikeaswim?

　　-Rather.

　　四、习惯用语及搭配

　　1.orrather更确切,更恰当；更接近.如:

　　Hewenthomeverylatelastnight,orrather,intheearlyhoursthismorning.

　　2.wouldrather意为"宁愿",后接动词原形,其否定形式是wouldrathernotdo.如:

　　Whichwouldyouratherhave,teaorcoffee?

　　Americanyoungpeoplewouldrathergetadvicefromstrangers.

　　3.Iwouldratherthat...这是虚拟语气形式,若从句表示与现在或将来的情况相反,用一般过去时;与过去的事实相反,用过去完成时.如:

　　Iwouldratheryoucametomorrow.

　　I'dratheryouhadn'ttoldherthenewsyesterday.