Question about a translation

[MengJiaSheng]

I found this translation online but dont quite get how it works.

Studies show that once the basic needs of shelter and food are met, additional wealth adds very little to happiness.

研究表明，一旦衣食住行的基本需求得到满足，额外的财富并不能增添多少幸福。

Why is the 并不能 needed? Would it be enough to say 额外的财富仅增添多少/稍微幸福？

Is it used to emphasize, ie as a double negation?

Thanks for the help.

[chrix]

where's the double negation, I only see one...

Edited February 2, 2010 at 01:19 AM by chrix

[Daan]

并 acts here as an intensifier, so 并不能 means something like 'really cannot'. Note that while this does emphasise the negation, this is not a double negative, which is a technical term used in linguistics

I don't think 僅 would work in this context, but you should probably wait for someone else to confirm that.

[skylee]

额外的财富并不能增添多少幸福 = additional wealth cannot add much to happiness

额外的财富仅增添多少/稍微幸福

If you use 僅, you don't use 多少. If you want to turn it into positive, consider 額外的財富所能增添的幸福微乎其微 ~ the happiness that additional wealth brings is minimum

[HashiriKata]

"额外的财富仅增添多少/稍微幸福"

If you use 僅, you don't use 多少

That is right. One thing I notice is although 多少 is often equated to 稍微 in dictionaries, but here, 多少 is the opposite of 稍微, so if you want to use 多少, you must use it with a negative, such as: 不/没...多少 = 稍微.

[MengJiaSheng]

Well once again I need your help with a translation:

Once the basic needs of shelter and food are met, additional wealth adds very little to happiness.

一旦衣食住行的基本需求得到满足，额外的财富并不能增添多少幸福。

I am not getting how 多少 can be used here? Doesnt it mean "somewhat"? How is it used here?

Thanks

[Wang Yao]

Seems to me like it sound be 很少 instead of 多少 (doesn't 多少 also mean "how much/how many/as much as"?) : Not sure though.

[Glenn]

I get the feeling when used with a negative (like in this sentence) it means something like "what(so)ever." I'm interested to see how close that is.

[chrix]

Merged.

[natra]

研究表明，一旦衣食住行的基本需求得到满足，额外的财富并不能增添多少幸福。

Research shows that (when) the basic necessities of clothing, food, and shelter are fulfilled, extraneous wealth will not add to (will not prove additionally beneficial to) our well-being.

并 here functions to negate a previous assumption made on behalf of one who is spoken to. For example, people might generally think that having extraneous wealth would help to better improve their overall well-being. However, research shows that this is not the case. Thus, I would use 并 to illustrate that this common assumption is incorrect.

(Given the context of the sentence, I do not think happiness is a correct translation of 幸福 here.)

Another example is:

拥有高学历并不能保证找到理想工作。

Having a high level of education cannot (necessarily) guarantee that (someone) will find an ideal job.

While some people may think that a high level of education will make finding their dream job very easy, my use of 并 here refutes this misconception.

[creamyhorror]

I am not getting how 多少 can be used here? Doesnt it mean "somewhat"? How is it used here?

It means "much" here. 不能增添多少兴福 = cannot add much happiness

[Kenny同志]

Studies show that once the basic needs of shelter and food are met, additional wealth adds very little to happiness.

研究表明，一旦衣食住行的基本需求得到满足，额外的财富并不能增添多少幸福。

There is shelter and food, but where is 住 and 行？The translator went too far.

研究表明，一旦衣食的基本需求得到满足，额外的财富也增添不了多少幸福。

And I'd like to 请教诸位

Of the following sentences, which one is correct?

There is shelter and food.

There are shelter and food.

Edited April 20, 2010 at 12:24 PM by kenny2006woo

[skylee]

There are shelter and food.

I think this is correct.

衣食足然後知榮辱，何須研究。

[Glenn]

Strictly speaking "there are shelter and food" is correct, but I hear "there is shelter and food" so often that really you could use either (I think the former may even sound a bit stilted and formal these days).

[creamyhorror]

Of the following sentences, which one is correct?

There is shelter and food.

There are shelter and food.

It depends on the intended meaning of the sentence. "There is" can mean [这里]有 ("there exists"), or it can mean 在那里有 ("at that place is").

If the sentence means [这里]有shelter和食物, then I would say "There is shelter and food". But I would also say either "Shelter and food are here" or "Shelter and food is here."

I think there's a grammatical reason but I can't remember why at the moment. I think it might possibly have to do with an elided "there is":

"There is shelter and [there is] food."

or because "shelter and food" are taken as a single item:

"There is {food and shelter}."

However, if the sentence means 那里(there)有shelter和食物, then both "There is shelter and food" and "There are shelter and food" seem acceptable to me.

Edited April 20, 2010 at 05:17 PM by creamyhorror