Rather than 的用法和注意点

一、rather than 用于表示主观愿望的抉择，即“宁愿……而不……”、“不是（或不应该是）这样，而是（或而应该是）那样”

1. He insisted on staying rather than go.（当时）他坚持要留下来，而不愿意去。（不可用 going 代替 go。）
2. He went rather than stay at home. 他走了，不愿呆在家里。
3. He would (或 had) rather join you in this work than stay at home. 他宁愿和你们一起参加工作，而不愿留在家里。（不可用 stayed 代替 stay。）
4. A few of us would rather not take the exam. 我们中间有几个人宁愿不参加考试。
5. He prefers to do rather than talk (或 …do instead of talking）。他喜欢干，不喜欢说。（也可改写为：He prefers doing to talking. ）
6. We’ll take less sugar rather than put you to the trouble of fetching more. 我们将少搁些白糖，免得麻烦你再去取些白糖来。

注："would (或 had) rather… than…" 句型常可用 "would sooner… than…" 或 "would as soon… as…" 句型代替，句意相似。例如上面第 3 句即可。

二、rather than 反映客观上的差异，即表示“是……而不是……”、“与其说是……不如说是……”、“倒不如说”之意。注意 rather than 连接的两端应是同类的词或成分

1. It is rather good than bad. 这倒是好的，不算坏。（联系同义或近义的句子：
   a. It is good, not bad.
   b. It is not bad, but good.
   c. It is more good than bad. ）
2. Linda is a senior programmer rather than an engineer. 与其说琳达是位工程师，不如说她是一位高级程序员。
3. She spoke about this matter in grief rather than in anger. 她是很痛苦地，而不是生气地讲这件事的。
4. Most things are now mass-produced rather than hand-made. 大多数东西现在是大量生产而不是手工生产的。
5. Rather than accelerate the reaction this compound brought about the side reaction. 这个化合物没有使反应加速，而是引起了副反应。（注意 rather than 在句首，也可置于句末。）
6. Atomic science is being developed in China to benefit the people rather than (to) harm them. 中国发展原子科学是为了造福人民，而不是危害人民。（连接不定式）
7. They are engaged in designing an engine rather than (in) repairing the machine. 他们从事于发动机的设计工作，而不是修理那台机器。（连接介词短语）
8. You should help them rather than they should help you. 你们应当帮助他们，而不是他们应当帮助你们。（连接两个分句）
9. Some times some of our most important learning takes place outside of school rather than in school. 有时候我们某些重要的学习是在校外而不是校内进行的。
10. If you jog rather than walk for 30 minutes, you’ll cover more distance, and therefore burn more calories. 如果你慢跑而不是步行 30 分钟，那么你就会跑更长的距离，因而消耗更多卡的热量。

三、判别时注意点

Ⅰ. 在句中有 would, had 等词，表示一种主观意愿时，rather than 多半作“宁愿……而不……”讲。

1. I would (或 had) rather join you in research work than go on holiday to the seaside. 我宁愿和你们一起参加科研工作，而不愿去海滨度假。
2. She would rather I stayed in the classroom than I went to the library. 她宁愿让我留在教室里，而不愿让我去图书馆。

注：上述两句中的 "would rather… than…" 也可用 "would sooner… than…" 或 "would as soon…as…" 代替。

II. 注意 rather than 有时省去 than 及其后的词。例如：

1. I would much rather go with you. 我很愿意跟你去。（句中被比较的东西省略。必须根据上下文去理解被省略的是什么。）
2. I would rather you didn't do anything about it for the time being. 我倒希望你对这件事暂时不要采取行动。（注意句中 would rather 后无原形动词，并且不用 that 就引出一个宾语从句。从句谓语要用过去时表示虚拟语气。在本句型结构中，后面也不再用 than 引出不希望有的事。）

III. rather than 如出现在句首，则该句就作“不是……，而是……”。例如上述第二项第 5 句。