表示年龄,注意以下几组同义句 (后者比前者正式):
How old ishe?=What’s his age? 他多大年纪? He is ten
(years old). =Heis ten years of age. 他10岁。
He joined the army at (the ageof) 18.
= He joined the army when he was 18 (years old). 他18岁参军。
2.英语中表示年老和年轻的习惯与汉语不完全相同:
正:He is very old (young). 他年纪很大 (小)。误:His age is very
old (young). 正:He died at the early age of forty. 他年仅40岁就死了。
误:He died at the
young age of forty. (虽偶见此用法,但 学生不宜模仿)值得注意的是,old age 和 middle age 却是合符习惯的表达:Who
is going to look after them in their old age? 他们年老的时候谁来照顾他们呢? A person of 40 has
reached middle age. 一个40岁的人就算已经进入了中年。
3.按英国习惯:
(1) 人到了21岁就算成年,并因此引出有下列短语:come of
age 达到成年 be over age 过了成年be under age 未到成年be under age
(2) 另外,人到了65岁就算步入“老年”(old
age),并因此有相应短语 in (old) age 年老 / with age 因为年老。
4.表示“时期”、“时代”,多用单数形式;表示“很长时间”,可用复数形式也可用单数形式:
It’s ages [an age] since we last
met. 好久不见了。(I) Haven’t seen you for ages[an age]. 好久不见了。