A is no more＋形容詞＋than＋B 意為“A和B都不…”

比如：

[1] He is no taller than I.= He is as short as I

[2] This room is no cleaner than that one.= This room is as dirty as that one.

這種說法是有依據的，比如：

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章振邦《新編高級英語語法》p682

[3] Mary is no wiser than Jane.

句子含義側重于瑪麗和簡一樣不聰明，也就是說一樣笨。

no better than = as bad as

no wiser than = as stupid as

no richer than = as poor as

no bigger than = as small as

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R. Quirk et al., A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, 15.70

When more is an adverb , no more ... than has special implications.

Consider:

[3] Rachel is no more courageous than Saul .

The sentence implies that both Rachel and Saul are not courageous . Here are some further examples:

[4] Tom is no more athletic than he ever was. [‘Tom is not athletic, any more than he ever was athletic’]

[5] I can no more apologize than I could kneel to them.

[6] I would no more think of hitting a student than I would a policeman.

No more ... than has the same meaning when more modifies a tradable noun:

[7] She is no more a fool than you . [‘She is not a fool, any more than you are’, ‘She is not more foolish...’]

[8] They are no more scholars than my baby . [‘They are no more scholarly ...’]

The rhetorical effect of the construction is not so much to make a comparison as to intensify the negation. That effect is most obvious when the comparison is absurd.

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但對于下面如此的句子：

[9] John is no more stupid than his brother -- they simply cant be more stupid.

[10] Im no more intelligent than the next guy. Im just more curious.

假如把[9]中的no more stupid than講解為as intelligent as，而把[10]中的no more intelligent than講解為as stupid as，句子的意思就非常荒謬了。

[9]的意思是說John和他兄弟都愚蠢至極，沒哪個比哪個更蠢這個說法，更不表示Both of them are not stupid；而[10]中愛因斯坦也不過只不過想強調自己不比其他人更聰明，并沒The next guy is stupid.的潛臺詞。這兩個句子都是經過不少母語者驗證過的，并沒語法上的問題。

如此的句子非常不錯地說明了一點問題：no more + adjective + than如此的結構在沒語境的狀況下，并未必要根據1中的說法來理解，而可能有其它的意思。

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下面是一道專四題：

This idea is no more creative than that one. This sentence means that:

A. Both the ideas are creative.

B. This idea is less creative than that one.

C. Both the ideas arent creative.

D. The idea is as creative as that one.

【參考答案】C

【分析】no more ... than為固定詞組，意為和...一樣不...，表示否定兩者。注意與not more ... than區別開來，指不如....，表示否定前者，一定后者。

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大家將這個問題拿去咨詢母語者，得到的回復是如此的：

英國倫敦lingobingo:

It doesnt really mean any of those options. It means what it says.

This idea is no more creative than that one.

This new idea is not any more creative than the old one.

The old idea is creative. So is the new one -- but its no more creative. Theres nothing to choose between them

英國倫敦Jimbo_Disco:

It doesnt necessarily mean that neither is creative -- it just means that they are both on an equal level of creativity -- they could both be extraordinary creative, or they could be averagely ceative, or not at all creative.

美國東北部Roxxxannne:

The difference between

A) these ideas are on an equal level of creativity and

B) this idea is no more creative than that one is often in the context on which they are used.

B is a negation of the implied comparison that this idea is more creative than that one.

The same is true for shes no slimmer than I was at her age. This is a negation of the implied comparison that she is more slim than I was at her age.

Both sentences mean the same thing: these ideas or our bodies are equally creative or equally slim, as others have said.

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而對于下面這兩句話：

[11] Drinking juice is no better than drinking soda.

[12] Drinking juice is not better than drinking soda.

母語者的評價是:

美國科羅拉多州owlman5:

Saying Drinking juice is no better than drinking soda makes perfect sense when you are saying that soda quenches thirst just as well as juice does.

美國阿肯色州Forero:

Both sentences deny that drinking juice might be better than drinking soda, so both may express the same objective reality.

But there is a difference of nuance: Not better compares reality to better and says it is not so, that drinking juice may be worse than or equally as good as drinking soda, but no better compares reality to much better or a little better and is not really concerned about better compared to worse.

The difference in nuance is the same whether no/not better means no/not better for quenching thirst, no better an idea/not a better idea, no/not better nutritionally, or something else.

The sentences can of course be used ironically, sarcastically, or whatever, but that has to be determined from the context and tone of voice. It is not apparent in the wording of either sentence.

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甚至還有些母語者直接反駁了Quirk書中的說法：

[3] Rachel is no more courageous than Saul .

The sentence implies that both Rachel and Saul are not courageous .

英國倫敦Jimbo_Disco:

No, it doesnt - it simply implies that Rachel and Saul are on an equal level of courageousness, which could be anything from extremely courageous to not courageous at all. Sometimes the problem with grammar books is that they dont always reflect actual contemporary usage of the language! Often with English there is a huge difference between what is grammatically correct and idiomatically correct, which must be so annoying for learners!

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除此之外還有不少母語者的看法，大家就不詳細列舉。總之，他們的看法大概是如此：

not more ... than強調less .... than or equally ... as而no more ... than一般是對于much better, a little better之類怎么看的否定，一般強調almost the same。

no more ... than可以修辭性地表示both are not...，但并非說no more ... than都表示both are not...，具體含義需要依據語境確定。

有些母語者覺得no more ... than和not more ... than并沒非常大有什么區別，而且他們傾向于用no more ... than。



大家覺得這一點十分要緊。國內現在對于no more ... than的理解好像已經固化為both are not...。假如根據如此的理解，就會把[9][10]翻譯成：

[9] 約翰和他的兄弟都不蠢 --- 他們都蠢得不可以再蠢了。

[10] 我和別的人都非常愚笨。我只不過更有好奇心罷了。

這種翻譯顯然是成問題的。這里應該理解為：

[9] 約翰并不比他的兄弟蠢 -- 他們都蠢得不可以再蠢了。

[10] 我不比別的人聰明。我只不過更有好奇心罷了。



趙振才還在《英語容易見到問題解答大詞典》第963頁做出過如此的答疑：

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【問】

This book is no more expensive than that one.

[原譯] 這本書并不比那本貴。（《牛津高階英漢雙解詞典》，商務印書館，p994）

從譯文看，no more expensive than和not more expensive than是毫無不同的。是如此嗎？

【答】

從結構上看，no more expensive than與no better than是相同的，因此，其含義在于強調expensive的反面性質——“實惠”。譯文未把這層含義翻譯出來。究其緣由是譯者忽視了not more expensive than與no more expensive than之間的語義差別，請對比：

John is not more diligent than his brother. 約翰沒他兄弟用功。

John is no more diligent than his brother. 約翰跟他兄弟一樣不需要功。

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大家覺得，詞典的原譯是準確而沒偏見的，而趙振才的理解是片面的。見下面朗文詞典中的說法：

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 詞條more:

[13] Selling goods abroad is no more difficult than selling to the home market.



不了解各位老師的建議怎么樣呢？



覺得no more...than...不等于not more...than...并不是中國人的創造或編譯錯誤，這是夸克的看法。以下為夸克的《大全》的論述，看法明確，毫不含糊：

15.70 When more is a determinative or a head of a noun phrase - functions and
in 15.69 - the unit no more than is synonymous with only as many
as in countable contexts or with only as much as in noncountable
contexts :
Paul has no more friends than I have. [. . . only as many as. . .]
I have no more money than you have. [ . . . only as much as. . .]
Ted got no more than he needed. [ . . . only as many
as . . .]

She said no more than we expected. [ . . . only as much as. . .]

But when more is an adverb , as in the
other function types in 15.69, no more . . . than has special implications.
Consider:
Rachel is no more courageous than Saul .
The sentence implies that both Rachel and Saul are not courageous . Here are some further
examples :
Tom is no more athletic than he ever was. [Tom is not athletic, any
more than he ever was athletic.]
I can no more apologize than I could kneel to them.
I would no more think of hitting a student than I would a policeman.
No more. . . than has the same meaning when more modifies a gradable noun:
She is no more a fool than you . [She is not a fool, any more than
you are, She is not more foolish . . .]

They are np more scholars than my,pby . [They are no more
scholarly. . .]

The rhetorical effect of the construction is not so much to make a comparison
as to intensify the negation. That effect is most obvious when the comparison
is absurd :
Hes no mbre your friend than Im your mother.
Not any more than is an emphatic variant of no more . . . than:
Paul hasnt any more friends than I have. [only as many as. . .]

Rachel isnt any more courageous than Saul . [Rachel isnt
courageous, any more than . . .]
Not more . . . than, on the other hand, is different from both no more. . . than
and not any more . . . than when more is an adverb or modifies a gradable

Rachel is not more courageous than Saul .

This last sentence allows for the possibility that Rachel is less courageous
than Saul. It may also be merely a denial sentence in response to Rachel is
more courageous than Saul .
Similar distinctions apply to no Iess than, not any less than, and
not less than, except that the double negative is less common and as a
consequence the distinctions are somewhat blurred.



Huddleston等著 The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language（劍橋英語語法） 比較結構一章的4.5Comparative idioms and reanalysis一節有如下論述：（P 1133）

No/any more than + comparative clause

[33] i The horses were no more on parade than was their driver.

ii Kim wouldnt do anything prematurely or in bad taste any more than Pat would.

More in this construction is in modifier function, but the usual degree meaning has effectively been lost. We dont interpret [i] as a comparison between the degree/extent to whch the horses were on parade and that to which their driver was: it can be glossed without a degree modifier as The horses werent on parade, just as their driver wasnt. The difference between this and the ordinary comparison may be fairly slight: This prospect did not please Mrs. King any more than did the possibility that her daughter might marry a Bohemine. The literal interpretation compares degrees of pleasinig , whereas the idiomatic one says that neither the prospect nor the marriage possibility pleased Mrs. King . Where the subordinate clause expresses an obviously false proposition, the rhetorical effect is to emphasise the negatives: Social invention did not have to await social theory any more than the use of the warmth of a fire had to await Lavoisier.



綜觀夸克和Huddleston的有關論述，大家可以看出，夸克覺得no more...than...結構中假如more為副詞或則為曲折式比較級er, 則為修辭性使用方法，表示否定意義，即neither... nor...的意思，不是普通的比較結構。所以，no more... than...不同于 not more...than....后者僅僅表示比較意義。

而Huddleston則覺得，no more... than... 除去表示比較意義外，還可以是比較習語。作為比較習語的no more... than...已經不是字面上的比較意義了，而是強調否定意義。換句話說，Huddleston并沒否定no more...than...仍然大概表示比較意義，而不是不是定。當從句表示的意思顯然不成立時，則no more...than為比較習語，表示否定意義。

比如下句：

The whale is no more a fish than the horse is.

= The whale is not a fish, just as the horse is not.



WR網站部分老外否認no more...than...的修辭性使用方法，覺得no more... than...與not more... than...同義，這種認識是膚淺的。

國內語法書依據夸克的看法，把no more...than...結構都覺得是修辭性使用方法，不承認這種結構也可以表示普通比較意義，顯然與語言實質應用狀況是不符的。

我覺得《劍橋語法》的看法是可取的，即no more... than...除去普通的比較使用方法外，還可能是習語使用方法，即修辭性使用方法，表示否定意義，特別是在比較分句內容顯然不成立的狀況下。

另外，You are no cleverer than me. 假設這是修辭性使用方法，句子則等于：You are not clever, just as Im not. Neither you nor I am clever. 但，not clever 并不等于stupid。not clever可以是不聰明，但也未必笨。不可以把這個修辭性使用方法翻譯成，You are as stupid as me. 除非特定狀況如，You are no taller than Wu Dalang. 武大郎是個矮子，這是大家都知道的，這個句子才能講解為 You are as short as Wu Dalang.