副词long的若干用法限制

◆long用作副词时，原则上只用于肯定句和疑问句。如：

—How long will it take to get there?  到那儿需要多长时间?

—It won’t take long. 没多长时间。

英语一般不说：It would take long. 可考虑改为将：

It would take a long time. 那样会需要很长时间。

在日常会话中 (for) a tong time常被 (for) ages替代。如：

I waited for ages. 我等了好长时间。

It took us ages to get there. 我们花了好长时间才到那儿。

◆但是，long的比较级和最高级longer和longest却可以不受限制地使用。如：

It took longer than I expected. 花得时间比我预料的长。

No one can say how much longer the strike will last. 谁也说不出罢工还会持续多久。

Women, generally speaking, live longer than men. 一般说来女人比男人活得长。

Which type of battery lasts longest? 哪一种电池使用寿命最长?

◆另外，带有修饰语的long，如too / so+long或long+enough结构可表示肯定语气。如：

Could she have been waiting so long? 她能等得这么久了吗?

Gone from home so long, they joyously embraced their mates of boyhood. 他们久离家乡，高兴地拥抱他们的儿时伙伴。

They might have found it impossible to have lived together so long, had not a particular circumstance occurred. 如不是情况特殊，他们是不可能长久住在一起的。

Don’t bother to read all these papers. It would take too long. 不要费事看所有这些文件了，那会花太多时间。

The bread baked too long. 这面包烤的时间太长了。

This route to Boston takes too long. There must be another route that is shorter. 这条到波士顿的路线费时太多了。一定会有一条较短的路线。

I’ve been working here long enough. Time to get a new job. 我在这里工作时间太长。该换个新工作了。

My own view is that this kind of store, these kinds of supermarkets, have been around long enough for us to get used to them. 我自己的观点是，这类店铺、这种超市存在的时间够长了，我们可以适应。