hardly，scarcely

這一對(duì)副詞都同樣“幾乎不”、“幾乎沒(méi)有”的否定意味，但涵義重心有細(xì)微的差異。

Hardly強(qiáng)調(diào)“困難”，指程度而言，常用以修飾表示能力的詞，與can、ever、any等詞連用。

He hardly knew what to say.

他簡(jiǎn)直不知道說(shuō)什么才好。

I can hardly believe that some socialites and dignitaries are involved in syndicated crime.

我簡(jiǎn)直不能相信，一些社會(huì)名流，達(dá)官政要竟然涉及集團(tuán)罪行。

scarcely強(qiáng)調(diào)“不足”，主要指數(shù)量而言，常與enough、sufficient、any或數(shù)詞連用。例：

When he played the piano he was scarcely four years old.

他懂得彈鋼琴還不滿四歲。

The tram was so crowded that there was scarcely sufficient room for you.

電車(chē)上十分擁擠，幾乎沒(méi)有你立足之地。

At midnight，scarcely any taxi could be found in the streets.

午夜時(shí)分，街上幾乎看不到一輛的士。

請(qǐng)注意，在表示“一…就…”的涵義時(shí)，hardly…when…和scarcely…before…，可互換使用。當(dāng)hardly或scarcely放在句首時(shí)，主句中的主語(yǔ)和輔助動(dòng)詞的次序要顛倒。例如：

Hardly(or Scarcely)had I entered the station when(or before)the last train left.

我剛進(jìn)入火車(chē)站不久，火車(chē)就開(kāi)走了。