1. shame 在作为名词使用时,有以下注意要点:
(1) 表示一般意义的“羞耻,耻辱”等,是不可数名词。如:
He has no shame. ,
He felt shame at having told a lie.
(2) 表示具体意义的“可耻的事,遗憾的事”等,是可数名词(可与不定冠词连用,但通常不用复数)。如:
What a shame you didn’t win.
It’s a great shame to treat him like that.
(3) 汉语说“感到羞耻,感到羞愧”,直接说feel shame即可。如:
He felt no shame and no regret.
He felt shame at having told a lie.
注意,不要想当然地用feel shameful表示“感到羞愧”,因为shameful的意思是“可耻的”“丢脸的”,相当于 causing shame。
2. shame 还可以用作动词,并且只能作为及物动词来用,它的意思不是“感到羞愧”,而是“使感到羞愧,使感到羞耻,使感到难为情”,例如以下的正误对比:
误:I shame to say it, but I really told a lie.
正:It shames me to say it, but I really told a lie.
正:It shames me to say it, but I really told a lie.
3. shame 的派生形容词shameful,shameless 和ashamed 的意思对比:shameful 意为“不体面的,可耻的,丢脸的”,shameless 意为“(人)不知羞耻的,无耻的,脸皮厚的”,而ashamed 则表示“惭愧的,羞耻的”(常见句型为be ashamed of sb for sth)。比较如下的用法:
I hate such shameful conduct.
She is quite shameless about her ambition.
I felt incredibly ashamed of myself for getting so angry.