have the folly to do sth / of doing sth的用法值得商榷
I had the folly to trust such a man. 我真愚蠢,竟相信这样的人。
= I had the folly of trusting such a man.
笔者认为句中 folly 的用法有两点值得商榷:一是 have是否可以与folly搭配?二是have the folly是否可以接 to do sth或of doing sth作后置定语?
1. have是否可以与folly搭配?
(1) Jonathan Crowther Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of English (外语教学与研究出版社 2003年7月第1版) P318:
folly lack of good judgement VERB+FOLLY realize, recognize, see, demonstrate, show, underline
(2) (日) 市川繁治郎主编《英语搭配大辞典》(外语教学与研究出版社2006年10月第1版)P724:
folly <动词+> commit (a) folly | denounce sb’s folly | I realize my folly. | We have seen the folly of such a course.
(3) 王文昌主编《英语搭配大词典》(增订版)(江苏教育出版社2004年11月第2版)P918:
folly V commit a folly counterfeit folly‖denounce sb’s folly‖hint at sb’s folly‖The government persisted in its folly. ‖We have seen the folly of such a course.‖Smith smiled at his own folly.
(4) 郭杰克主编《当代英语搭配大词典》(高等教育出版社 2002年11月第1版)P687:
folly V argue against the folly of the hesitation‖commit a folly‖counterfeit folly‖Her beauty deluded me to folly.‖denounce sb’s folly‖The government persisted in its folly.‖The old man smiled sadly as he remembered the follies of his youth. ‖She seduced him into folly.‖We have seen the folly of such a course.‖Please talk to her about the folly of quitting school.
(5) 朱榕贞主编《最新英语句型搭配词典》(四川人民出版社 2004年6 月第1版)P518:
folly [动+名] commit a folly counterfeit folly
(6) 在BUY-BNC BRTISH NATIONAL CORPUS (UK,1980s-1993) (Mark Davies, Brigham Young University ) http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/ 上搜索“[V﹡] the folly”即“动词+the folly”共得到28个不同的动词形式(如see与saw属于两个不同的动词形式)与“the folly”搭配的38个例句,但没有一例包含“have,has,had,having”与“the folly”的搭配例句。
(7) 在The CORPUS OF CONTEMPORAY AMERICAN ENGLISH (1990-2012) (Mark Davies, Brigham Young University) http://www.americancorpus.org/上搜索“[V﹡] the folly”即“动词+the folly”共得到61个不同的动词形式(如see与saw属于两个不同的动词形式)与“the folly”搭配的104个例句,而仅有一例包含“had”与“the folly”的搭配例句:Each contributed to the rise of systematic theology in the Christian faith, what Aldous Huxley called that " busy fantasy of jurists, " men who were " so far from having transcended selfness and the prejudices of education that they had the folly and presumption to interpret the universe in terms of the Jewish and Roman law with which they happened to be familiar, " and who in the process well ruined the best of what Jesus's teaching had to offer.
通过以上例证可知,have几乎不与the folly搭配。
2. have the folly是否可以接 to do sth或of doing sth作后置定语?
(1) 在BUY-BNC BRTISH NATIONAL CORPUS (UK,1980s-1993) (Mark Davies, Brigham Young University ) http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/ 上搜索“the folly of [verb.ING],共得到14个包含“the folly of+Ving”的例句,但没有一例“have,has,had,having”与“the folly of+Ving”的搭配例句(笔者注:至于“the folly of+Ving”的用法见下面);在BUY-BNC BRTISH NATIONAL CORPUS (UK,1980s-1993) (Mark Davies, Brigham Young University ) http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/ 上搜索“the folly [verb.INF]”,得到的结果是“Sorry, there are no matching records.”
(2) 在The CORPUS OF CONTEMPORAY AMERICAN ENGLISH (1990-2012) (Mark Davies, Brigham Young University) http://www.americancorpus.org/上搜索“the folly of [verb.ING]”,共得到72个包含“the folly of+Ving”的例句,但没有一例“have,has,had,having”与“the folly of+Ving”的搭配例句;在The CORPUS OF CONTEMPORAY AMERICAN ENGLISH (1990-2012) (Mark Davies, Brigham Young University) http://www.americancorpus.org/上搜索“the folly [verb.INF]”,得到的结果是“Sorry, there are no matching records.”
(3) 在英国柯林斯出版公司编著《柯林斯COBUILD高阶英汉双解学习词典》(柯克尔等译)(外语教学与研究出版社 2011年7月第1版)P1031;【日】田中茂范等编《外研社英汉多功能词典》(杨文江等编译 外语教学与研究出版社 2008年7月第1版)P822;《牛津高阶英汉双解词典》(第7版) (商务印书馆 2009年4 月第3版)P789;《朗文当代高级英语辞典》(英英•英汉双解)(外语教学与研究出版社2004年7月第1版)P750;《麦克米伦高阶英汉双解词典》 (杨信彰等译 外语教学与研究出版社 2005年10月第1版 )P801;张柏然主编《新时代英汉大词典》(商务印书馆 2004年4月第1版)P903; 张道真编著的《现代英语用法词典》(重排本) (外语教学与研究出版社1994年10月第1版)P517;陆谷孙主编《英汉大词典》(第2版) (上海译文出版社2007年3月第1版)P723;吕志士主编《英语惯用法大词典》(中国科学技术出版社1994年12月第1版)P805;简清国主编《建宏•外研社英汉多功能词典》(外语与教学研究出版社1997年1月第1版)P587;戴炜栋主编《新世纪英汉多功能词典》(上海外语教育出版社 2003年11月第1版)P665;John Sinclair主编《柯林斯COBUILD英语词典》(上海外语教育出版社 2000年10月第1版) P655;;John Sinclair主编《COBUILD英汉双解词典》(上海译文出版社 2002年11月第1版) P746;Judy Pearsall主编《新牛津英汉双解大词典》第2版(上海外语教育出版社 2013年3月第1版)P842上均未有 have the folly to do sth/ of doing sth 的用法及例句。
由以上例证可知,have the folly to do sth/ of doing sth 的用法未见有工具书收录,是很值得商榷的。
那么,folly究竟有哪些用法呢?《麦克米伦高阶英汉双解词典》 (杨信彰等译 外语教学与研究出版社 2005年10月第1版 )P801给出了答案:
◆it is folly to do sth: It is absolute folly to go mountain climbing without proper equipment.
◆the folly of (doing) sth: She soon realized the folly of her actions. / I pointed out the folly of overspending on that scale.
另外,folly的这些用法在其它词典中也得到印证:
(1) 在英国柯林斯出版公司编著《柯林斯COBUILD高阶英汉双解学习词典》(柯克尔等译)(外语教学与研究出版社 2011年7月第1版)P1031上 folly 词条后标注 “oft N of n/-ing,it v-link N to-inf”(笔者注:即“folly”有两种用法:一是可以接名词或v-ing形式做后置定语,但此时却不构成“have the folly of doing sth”结构;二是可以用于“it v-link+n+to do sth”句式,却没有“have the folly to do sth”结构。)
(2) 吕志士主编《英语惯用法大词典》(中国科学技术出版社1994年12月第1版)P805:1.folly用作名词,有两个意思,一是“愚蠢”,是不可数名词;另一个是“愚蠢的行为,愚蠢事”。是可数名词。如:
……
Jane smiled at his folly. The follies of youth are food for repentence in old age.
2. 在“It is folly +动词不定式”的结构中,不用“a”的情况更普遍。如: It is folly to continue the investigation. It would folly to light a fire near that wood. It would be folly for you to try to lift the heavy stone.
3. 如果folly前有一个形容词修饰,则加不定冠词的情况更多一些。如:It is a sheer folly to play with fire. It is an absolute folly to talk like that in her presence. It is a great folly to bite the hand that feeds you.
(3)《朗文当代高级英语辞典》(英英•英汉双解)(外语教学与研究出版社2004年7月第1版)P750: it would be folly to do sth It would be sheer folly to reduce spending on health education.
the folly of a writer who satirized the follies of aristocratic society