王逢鑫句子：广告对大学生的影响是微乎其微的。误译：Advertising has merely a small effectoncollege students.正译:1) Advertising has very little ef-fectoncollege students.2) Advertising has merely anin-significant/unimportant effect oncollege students.3) Theinfluence thatadvertising makes on college students is verysmall/trivial.
解释：“小”或“微”有三层意思：体积(size)小、数量(quantity)小、重要性(importance)小。“影响微乎其微”是“重要性小”，英语多用little/insignificant/unimportant/trivial表示。没有smalleffect这样的搭配。但可说smallinfluence/mistake/differences/change，如：1.我对这个孩子的影响小，所以他不会按照我说的去做。Myinfluenceover the child is small, so he won t do asIsay.2.你犯了个小错误，要不你的工作干得很好。You made a small mistake, butoth-erwiseyour work was good.3. 这两种译文之间仅有细小差别。There are onlysmalldifferences between the two translations.4. 这个计划有个小小的变动。Therehasbeen a small change in the plan. “5. 这顶帽子太小，我戴不上。The hat istoosmall for me.
“数量小”用a small number of，后跟可数名词；也可用a smallamountof，后跟不可数名词，例如：6.我设法节省了一点钱。I managed to save a small amount/sum of money.7.桌子上有少量的书。There are a small number of books on thetable.
（本栏目主持：王逢鑫教授）
