There are two cheap hotels ,but failing either of these,you may go back to where you were before
问题描述：
There are two cheap hotels ,but failing either of these,you may go back to where you were before
请问其中的'failing either of these'为什么翻译成“要是两家都不行”,而不是“要是任何一家不行”?
答
是“要是(两家中有)任何一家不行”之意啊.你没错!不是“要是两家都不行”!可是朗文词典上翻的是要是两家都不行明白了！原因是："failing either of these” 虽语法机构上不是否定式，但 fail 被视为是个否定词(见英英词典的解释)。所以，如果用 failing both of these 则反成半否定了--即一家可以，另一家不行，那后半部分逻辑上就不通了。换句话说，如果为“要是(两家中有)任何一家不行”则 “you may go back to where you were before” 说不通。在这个地方，词典对，我们理解错。参考：Both students were not strongly motivated. (正确意义：不是两个学生都目的明确、干劲十足。)All students were not from Japan. (不是所有学生都来自日本。)