名人教你讲英文：Few, the few, a few

名人教英文：few, the few, a few

few看似简单，但不同情况下，意思可以相差很远。

单字few解作“很少”。例如：mr lee kwan-yew, the former prime minister of singapore, is an outstanding political leader. he has published many books even after his retirement from public office. few political leaders can match his stamina.

few and far between即“极之少见”：mega-quakes and tsunamis like the one that pummeled northeast japan in 2011 are few and far between.
第二次世界大战时，英国皇家空军奋勇抵御德军的侵袭，首相丘吉尔这样赞扬英国空军："never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few (战争史上，这么多人欠下这么少人这样大的恩情，前所未有)." "the few" 因此成为这些英勇机师的代名词。

在一些情况，the few有“小众”的意思，例如：higher education is no longer the preserve of the few.
a few和few都表示小数目，但a few是指“有些”、“几个”，few则强调数量十分少。以下例子可说明两者的分别：