张惠妹2017照片:能不能说“read books"?

            ———————————————————————孔礼战

                                                  2011.11.15

   汉语的“读书”，英语是不是能翻译为“read books”，看是一个非常简单的问题，却困扰了我多年。

   谈到“读书”，我们最容易联想到的英语是“read a book”，或者是“read”，这没有任何问题。但英语里有没有“read books”这一说法，存在着争议。

   我最早见到否定“read books”这一说法是英语大师葛传槼先生编著的《英语惯用法词典》。该词典P99（上海译文出版社，2002年6月第一版）葛传槼明确指出：

    “ 除了在必须说明所读的是“书”而不是其他东西的场合以外，用read 就够了，不该说read books。”

     持同样观点的也有其他专家。马志芳、马志馨编著的《英语词汇用法指南》（国防工业出版社，2008年5月第一版）p11也明确指出“read books”是错误的用法：

     他们正在读书。

     F.They are reading books.

     T.They are reading.

     但笔者在阅读中也会经常遇到“read books”的类似表达方式。例如：

    （1）蔡基刚主编的《英汉写作修辞对比》p17上有“read books”。

    （2）《朗文英汉多功能分类词典》（上海外语教育出版社，1997年11月第一版）P1043上有“He has read many  such books.”该词典P1043同时还有这样的例句：“He has read many such books.”

     (3)《中小学英语教学与研究》2008年第9期 P15页，多次出现“read books”。

    （4）《英汉多功能词典》（外语教学与研究出版社，2008年7月第一版）中关于类似的表达出现多次。不仅有“

     “read the book”(P1787),“read a book”(P1838,P308)。P1530也出现有：“He passed the time reading books all day. 他一整天都在看书。”；P339出现有“Reading good books helps devolop the charactor of young adults.读好书有益于青年人良好人格的形成。”

       能用吧，像葛传槼这样的大师级权威都说不能用。不能用，但国内外的词典都有类似的例句。

       能用，还是不能，确实是个问题。

      今天，带着这个困扰我多年的问题查询了“British National Corpus”(英语语料库)，发现类似的用法颇多。结果复制如下：

“Your query was

read books

Here is a random selection of 50 solutions from the 62 found.

A17 293 Children sit on the floor and read books

A68 2182 He determined beforehand that he would not mention to Fisher his longing for time to read books.

AK4 221 Pillars of Gold by Alice Thomas Ellis Viking, ￡14.99 ‘I CAN'T read books by men,’ says one of the characters in Alice Thomas Ellis's new novel.

AMB 1774 He had read books on Medicine, Art, History, Mathematics, Science, Sport, Road Surfaces, Philosophy, Weaving, Woodwork, Envelopes, Religions, Pond Life, Tea-making, Politics, and all the novels the library possessed.

AS0 1109 He wanted to read books and the letters his many friends sent him.

B0U 683 Now this was to be the country in which I should eat and sleep, read books and write letters for the rest of the war.

B1F 1624 Indeed, I was slow to discover that other men had had this experience, for it had been possible to read books and to associate with men on other grounds…

B25 182 Although I am myself very much in favour of people going to the theatre and reading books it is very useful for my research for me to play devil's advocate on these activities and to ask ‘Why should people go to the theatre?’ and ‘Why should people read books?’

B28 784 They read books now and sometimes a few 0& them write poetry.

B7G 1301 One way in which adults can test their interest in some novel subject matter is to watch television programmes, or read books.

BN1 2624 I also read books of a spiritual content — not the statements of hauntings of the Edgar Allen Poe variety!

CAB 1570 I've read books that are set in the country and, of course, poems, and I've lived in towns near the country and gone into the country on Sundays or when there was no school.’

CAB 3254 Who wants to read books?

CAD 1558 T: The sound of people that read books.

CB0 915 At the same time, I had begun to read books.

CD6 222 WAITING TO EXHALE Terry McMillan America's hippest book of the year — even people who don't read books bought this one.

CD6 1872 And just like Spike Lee, they have had to start by doing it themselves, since, of course, all the major publishers knew that black people don't read books.

CGB 1259 All her family read books, so, as the youngest, she hated it, and rebelled against it.

CH4 1260 To read books,’ Miss Honey said.

CH6 7153 I used to read books about love.

ECT 2976 We read books and sometimes recommend them to our friends.

EV3 1435 While some schools did evaluate in committee the development of the library in the context of the project — and it is clear that developments in pedagogy were attributed at least partly to the project — we were not made aware of any which specifically monitored the number of times children and teachers borrowed or read books purchased specifically with project funds.

FB7 648 Spaniards did not read books: they talked.

FB7 820 Thus there was in Spain a minority who, if not free thinkers, were extremely critical of the position and claims of the Spanish Church; in the Salamanca of the seventies, a small group of intellectuals had read books containing rejections of the central beliefs of Catholicism itself.

FBM 730 I like to read books on the Impressionists.

FM1 81 Or if you're a bridge player you might go and ask advice or read books but what do you do about your driving?

FP5 309 They wrote a newspaper —The South Polar Times — and read books.

FS0 1679 We encouraged him to read books and watch some television.

GUD 2499 It wasn't what it said, I mean I've read books and heard jokes just as bad, it was just the thought of Mummy getting it.

H7A 386 "Ever read books, Stephen?

H7A 548 "Ever read books?" he said.

H7A 1209 "Ever read books, Stephen?

H7E 1607 I used to laugh when you read books about missionaries with bobby sox and funny old clothes.

H85 1581 Peter did not read the newspapers, nor listen to the radio or watch television much; he read books or played his games.

HAC 6386 Read books when you find them, keep hold of keys, explore dark passages, search cupboards and drawers, and above all — find a weapon before the next creature finds you!

HEN 394 We all read books and passed on what we learnt to the others.

HHX 14999 I am desperately in favour of my children learning to read books.

HYU 616 What we done in that brief session is giving you an overview of identifying training needs and you can go to, I have seen books written identifying training needs and I have read books that thick and they so many ideas there give you a starter.

J0W 872 He'd read books about murders and we talked about them for years.

JJH 897 It's quite a good thing as well for A type people, is to read, read books.

JSA 483 If you read books on body language then erm that says erm I'm not quite sure what I'm talking about yes, I'm not being truthful and that means that that I'm really not being really very sincere or again I'm unsure.

JSY 348 The rip there're a number of problems with feature analysis and you can read books on them.

JTE 898 She's actually working under the direction of Peter who cooks you may If you're interested in cooking you've probably read books by Peter .

JXW 1383 ‘No, I haven't, but I've been hearing a lot about it, and I've read books, of course.’

KAY 95 The reason I have chosen these two books for a comparison is because I always prefer to read books that are either true or close to reality as they bring out more emotions in my reading and at leat I know my feelings towards certain situations in the books have been felt by someone before, whether it may be another reader or the character himself, but in more depth.

KAY 1296 It is strange how people like to read books like these two, as surely there is enough violence in the world already?

KB8 4674 You read books like erm Lark Rise to

KBH 5992 Charlotte you don't read books when you're watching the television.

KD5 2309 And read books.

KDM 11394 I mean, she doesn't read books。”

   问题到此已经有明确的答案了。看来英语中的确有“read books”这种用法。至于葛传槼先生的《英语惯用法词典》上论述，可能是该词典最初编写与上个世纪30年代，语言在不断发展，过去少见的，今天可能就常见了。