first 與 at first的用法區(qū)別

first 與 at first的用法區(qū)別

(1) first 意為“先”“首先”，主要用來(lái)說(shuō)明順序，暗示接下去還有其他的動(dòng)作或事件要發(fā)生，因此其后往往接有或暗示有 then, next, last 之類的詞。如：

First think and then speak. 先想后說(shuō)。

First, I must apologize to you. 首先，我要向你們表示歉意。

(2) at first 意為“起初”“開(kāi)始”，它主要強(qiáng)調(diào)前后對(duì)照，暗示接下去的動(dòng)作與前面的動(dòng)詞不同甚至相反，因此其后通常有but, afterwards, soon, at last 等詞語(yǔ)相呼應(yīng)。如：

The work was hard at first, but I got used to it. (www.yingyuyufa.com)起初這活兒很累，不過(guò)后來(lái)我習(xí)慣了。

At first they were very happy, but then things started going wrong. 起初他們生活得很幸福，但后來(lái)就開(kāi)始出問(wèn)題了。

注意上，at first與at last不是一對(duì)反義詞組，后者的意思是“終于”“最終”。如：

She has at last got everything ready. 她最后把一切準(zhǔn)備好了。

At last the bus came. I had been waiting for half an hour. 最后公共汽車來(lái)了，我已等了半小時(shí)。