考研

　　在一般阅读当中经常会遇到More often than not 或者often 这两个词组。通常我们会认为这个组是同意的，可以替换。但要仔细探究起来，这两个词组意思是不同的，尤其是对于native speaker. 下面这句话引自外网，”The OP unfortunately, was trying to convince me that "often" is a better alternative to "more often than not" and I don't agree. To me, they refer to two different degrees of frequency, which to a NATIVE would make perfect sense. (CocoPop )”在说话人看来，这两个词是不同的，需要区分。供2019考研的考生们参考。

　　我们先看下often 的解释

　　Often, many times, frequently

　　Examples They go out to dinner fairly often.

　　他们去外面吃饭的次数还是相当频繁的。

　　How often do you call your mother?

　　你多长时间给你妈妈打一次电话?

　　often这个词并不是很难理解，通常不会让我们产生困扰。

　　接下来在看看另外一个词组 more often than not

　　下面是引自外网上的native speaker 对more often than not 的理解。

　　”If a thing happens more often than not , it means in all the contexts where it might happen, it actually happens more than it does not happen.( FumbleFingers )”

　　“I would say that "more often that not" is similar to saying "frequently", almost always leaves a narrow/tiny margin. ( Mari-Lou A)”

　　上面两种解释说，如条件允许的话，一件事情如果发生more often than not ,而没有often 发生，表明说话人侧重的是他/偶尔没做这件事情，而如果用了often ，则表明说话人侧重传达的意思是经常做这件事情。

　　举个例子

　　I often floss my teeth before going to bed.

　　我经常睡前使用牙线清洁牙齿。

　　More often than not I floss my teeth before bedtime.

　　绝大多数情况下，我睡前会用牙线清洁牙齿。这句话也就是说，会有那么几次，说话人并没有这样做。

　　如果是学术讨论，从统计的角度去讨论这个问题，那么最直观的解释就是列出不同事件发生的概率或者说百分比是多少，发生的概率比较大的用 more often than not,而发生概率较小的用often。当然我们大多数人所接触的文章基本上是非学术性质类的通用英语(general English)通常非学术性质的讨论，不会去用实际的百分比的大小去区分 more often than not 与often之间的区别，这在native speaker 看来是非常可笑的。” This I think is General Reference, but whoever thought they could teach you how to convert often to percentage values is an idiot. ( FumbleFingers)”

　　所以，如果我们试图从中文思维或者说用中文的文化或者语言环境来解释英文的问题，并不能把这个语言现象说清楚，说明白。缺少相关的文化背景和常识，就会想当然地认为很多看似相近的词/词组会有相同的意思，但如果进一步探究就会发现事实并非如此。如果要避免这些问题的出现就需要扩大阅读，多了解其文化背景。

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