如何理解“in+what从句”

本站特约作者  李 翔

陈根花老师在英语语法网(www.yygrammar.com) 之《这个in what该如何理解？》一文（见www.yygrammar.com/Article/201005/1595.html）中对下面的一句话：…but since the porter agreed with him, she rang up her daughter and asked for her help in what she described as a little spot of bother. 是这样分析的：句中的 what 不是关系代词，引导的不是定语从句，而是连接代词，在此用于引导宾语从句。句中的介词 in 可理解为“在……方面”（在本句中指“在……方面请女儿帮忙”），连接代词 what 除“引导”宾语从句外，还在宾语从句中用作动词 describe 的宾语（注意所涉及句型 describe…as…，其意为“把……说成是……”“称……为……”）。

陈老师接着还说道：我们可以简单地将 in what sb describes as 视为一个固定搭配，将其理解为“某人称这是……”“某人把它说成是……”“某人把它称为……”（在不同的语境中可以有比较灵活的翻译；其中的介词 in 也可能根据语意的不同而表示不同的意思）。

诚然，陈老师分析的无疑是正确的，但陈老师“简单”地把 “in what sb describes as视为一个固定搭配”的做法是不可取的。这样做，无疑会让人错误认为what 只能作 describe的宾语，而实际上，what 也可以作 describe以外的动词的宾语。再者说“in+what从句”也不像 in that 或So what？成为一个固定搭配(idiom)。硬把in 和what固定在一起，不仅把简单的问题复杂化了，而且也是毫无道理的，更是没有根据的。

通过分析可知：“…she rang up her daughter and asked for her help in what she described as a little spot of bother.”中的“in what she described as a little spot of bother”作状语，但它又不符合张道真教授在《英语语法大全》下(外语教学与研究出版社2001年8月第7次印刷)p350上所列举的15种状语从句中的任何一种。（笔者注：15种状语从句即：时间状语从句、地点状语从句、比较状语从句、方式状语从句、伴随情况状语从句、对比状语从句、原因或理由状语从句、结果或程度状语从句、目的状语从句、条件状语从句、依据状语从句、让步状语从句、“不管” 状语从句、限制状语从句以及例外状语从句。)

因此，张鑫友教授在其编著的《英语语法难题探微词典》(华中师范大学出版社2004年5 月第1版)p589上把这种状语定义为“方面状语(adverbial of aspect) ”。并解释说：方面状语是用来回答“在……方面”、“关于……方面”、“在……上”意义的状语。

In what aspect has the young man made rapid progress? 这个年轻人在哪方面进展的很快呢？

The young man has made rapid progress in his studies. 这个年轻人在研究方面进展的很快。

以上第二句中的in his studies是方面状语，用来回答第一句中的In what aspect(在哪方面)的提问。

据此，我们也可以对文章开头的句子进行提问：In what aspect did she ask for her help?

再请看what 可以作 describe以外的动词宾语的例证：

以下是摘自BUY CORPUS OF AMERICAN ENGLISH (1990-2009) (Mark Davies, Brigham Young University) http://www.americancorpus.org/ 上的真实例句：

2009  Pete bared his teeth in what he hoped was a smile. 皮特露出牙齿，表明他希望的是个微笑。(笔者试译，下同)

2008 In most cases, Hopkins uses hypnosis in what he says is a way to connect the person to memories that have allegedly been repressed. 在大多数情况下，霍普金斯在使用催眠术，他说这是一种把人和据称被压抑的记忆连接在一起的方法。

2008 Finally Lerner spoke in what he hoped were the tones of Fate. 最后，雷纳说他希望的是命运的色调。

2008 " I can’t remember! " Dr. Steibs frowned. " Please, Mr. Boeykens, this is very important. Try to focus on just the past few days. Can you recall entering our province? Our town? " He shook his head in what he hoped looked like Fearful Misery. " No. I don’t remember a thing. I was sitting at the bar, but before that... it’s all a blank! " 他摇头否认他所希望的看上去像可怕的瘟神。

2007  She didn’t know whether to believe his stories, but when she got home, he sent her videotaped footage of people being executed in what he said was Iraq. 她不知道是否该相信他的话，但当他到家时，他寄给她一些他录制的被处死的人的镜头，他说是伊拉克。

2000 The 70-year-old white politician admits he faces pretty tough odds in what he says will be his last bid for re-election. 这位70岁的白人政治家承认他面临获胜的几率非常小，他说，这将是他最后一次竞选连任。

1997 "Wall, wot wuz yer problem," he said in what he thought was an American accent. "Was your husband’s cock too big or not big enough?" 他说他所认为的是美国口音。

1993 I believe it was important to Scott for his father and his stepmother to accept him and to love him and respect him, and I just wanted to be there for Scott, and I would have done anything he asked me to do to support him in what he’s felt he has had to do within the past couple of weeks. 我已经做了他要我做的一切来支持他，这也是他感觉在过去的几周里他不得不做的。

1990  …during the 1981 World Series, he suffered a broken hand in what he claimed was a fist fight in an elevator with fans who had criticized the Yankees. 1981年世界联赛期间，在他宣称的、发生在电梯里的、和批评北方佬球迷的一次拳脚打斗中，他断了一只手。

另外，在“in+what从句”中，what不仅可以作动词的宾语，还可以做主语。例如：

Five weeks after surgeons transplanted a donor’s lung into 20-year-old Xu Danqiong in what was the country’s first transplant of a lung among non-blood relatives, the patient is breathing well, doctors at the Shanghai Chest Hospital said. (摘自中国日报12/11/2002) 上海胸科医院的医生说，外科医生将一位捐赠者的肺移植到20岁的许丹琼体内5周后，病人呼吸正常。该移植是国内首例无血缘关系肺器官移植。(摘自网上)

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