few意思是“少数的,不多的,几乎没有”,意在表达数量少;little意思是“小的,少的,几乎没有”,包含两层含义,一是表达“体积小”,二是表达数量少。举例说明:
例1:There are few eggs in the fridge.
冰箱里只有很少的鸡蛋了。
例2:There is a little dog in the playground.
操场上有一只小狗。
例3:There is little milk in the glass.
杯子里只有很少的牛奶了。
二、意义相同
few和little在单独用时,在形容数量方面,两者表达的都是否定概念,表示“几乎没有”,它和no/not any表达“没有”不同,毕竟few和little仍表示“还有一丢丢,只是很少而已”。举例说明:
例1:There is little fruit at home.
家里几乎没有水果了。
例2:There are few people in the street.
街上几乎没有人了。
例3:There is no people in the park.
公园里没有人。
三、用法不同
few后面加可数名词复数,little后面加不可数名词。举例说明:
例1:There are few students in the class.
教室里还有少数的学生。
例2:There is little water in the kitchen.
厨房里还有很少的水。
We need a little more time.
我们还需要一点时间。
Don't call me little tom.
不要再叫我小汤姆了。
They can survive on very little money.
他们用很少的钱就可以生存。
Italy is not little ireland.
意大利可不是小小的爱尔兰。
There is little evidence that dominant position is changing.
没有什么证据表明这种主导地位发生了变化。
1.The reality is that only a few young people will go into teaching.实际情况是,只有很少的年轻人会去当教师。
2.Only few plants can immigrate to the island.只有很少的植物能够移植到这座岛上。
3.I made only a few small changes to the report.我对报告只做了几处小改动。
4.In my experience, very few people really understand the problem.据我的经验看,真正理解这个问题的人很少。
5.A few kind words at the right time make all the difference.在适当的时候说几句体贴话效果迥然不同。