high与highly的用法区别与辨析

1. high 的用法

high 用作副词，通常表示具体的高。如：

He that climbs high falls heavily. 爬得高，跌得重。

An eagle circled high overhead. 一只鹰在高空盘旋。

A red balloon is floating high up in the sky.  一个红色气球飘浮在高空中。

He didn't jump high enough to win a prize 他跳得不够高，没能得奖。

The plane flew high above the clouds. 飞机在云层上飞行。

He climbed high up the mountain. 他爬到山上高处。

注：有时用于比喻义。如：

We paid high for the house. 我们付出很高的价钱买下了这幢房子。

He never got very high in the company. 他在公司里所担任的职务从来就不是很高的。

注意以下用于比喻义的常见固定搭配：

live high 过富裕生活

aim high 目标高   

stand high in sb’s favour 为某人所赏识

2. highly 的用法

highly 主要表示很高的程度，除修饰动词(如 speak, praise, think of等)外，还通常用于修饰分词或形容词(尤其是那些由动词派生而来的形容词, 有时相当于 very 或 much)。如：

Its highly amusing. 它有趣极了。

He is a highly ambitious person. 他是很有野心的人。

The Chinese were then a highly civilized people. 中国人那时已有高度的文明。

Wolves are highly social animals whose success depends upon cooperation. 狼是高度群体化的动物，它们的成功依赖于合作。

She speaks very highly of your work. 她对你的工作十分赞赏。

They spoke very highly of him. 他们对他的评价很高。

highly 表示程度相当于 very 时，通常只与某些特定的形容词连用，如可以说 very reliable 和 highly reliable，但是只能说 very old，而不能说 highly old。通常可受 highly 修饰的形容词有ambitious, amusing, dangerous, desirable, effective, efficient, intelligent, poisonous, popular, probable, regrettable, scientific, significant, social, successful, suitable, suspicious, unlikely等；通常可受highly修饰的分词有 civilized, developed, educated, excited, gifted, organized, paid, pleased, polluted, praised, regarded, respected, skilled, talented, trained, valued 等。