大家知道,a little 用于修饰比较级的用法比较广泛。如:
The paper should be a little thicker. 这纸应该再厚一点儿。
Can’t you walk a little faster? 你不能走得快一点儿吗?
Do work a little harder. 务必请你工作再努力一点吧。
Couldn’t you come a little earlier? 你是否能提前一些日子来?
I wish you would stay a little longer. 我希望你再待一会儿。
Do the vegetables a little longer. 让蔬菜煮的时间长一点。
She was feeling a little better than usual. 她感到比平时好一点了。
It’s a little colder today than it was yesterday. 今天比昨天冷一点儿。
You are a little fatter than when I saw you last. 你比我上次见你时胖点了。
A little more slowly. 再慢一点。
You might tune that wireless a little lower, children. 你们还是把那收音机开小一点儿吧,孩子们。
但是,副词little修饰比较级时,其用法比较有限,主要用于修饰better和more:
1. little better:其意为“好不了多少”,相当于not much better。如:
His second suggestion was little better than his first. 他的第二条建议比第一条好不了多少。
His legs were in little better shape than they had been the year before. 他的双腿与前一年相比没有多少好转。
2. little more (than):其意为“只”“只不过”。如:
He was little more than a child when his father died. 他父亲去世时,他差不多还是个孩子。
Aid to the Third World is at present little more than a drop in the ocean. 目前对第三世界的援助不过是杯水车薪。
He left school with little more than a basic education. 他只接受了点基础教育就退学了。