569　rather than和rather…than

◎ rather than意为“而不是，与其……宁愿”，rather…than意为“是……而不是”。应注意如下几点：

① rather than作连词用，所连接的可以是动词、副词、形容词、名词短语等，被连接的成分应在词性上保持一致。

② rather than位于句首时，后跟动词原形，该动词前不可加to，也不受句中谓语时态的影响。

③ rather than位于句中连接两个动词时，其后的动词形式应同前面与其平行的动词形式一致。

④ would rather…than…意为“宁肯……而不……”，前面表示肯定，后面表示否定；than后用动词原形，不带to。

⑤ had better+动词原形意为“最好干……”，不可说had better…than，一般也不说had rather或had rather…than。但可以说would sooner…than。

Rather than sell the eggs at a very low price，she would keep them for her own children. 她宁愿把鸡蛋留给自己的孩子吃，也不愿低价卖出。

He killed himself rather than got caught by the enemy. 他自杀了，不愿让敌人抓住。

He insisted on walking on foot rather than going by bike. 他坚持步行，而不骑自行车。

It was what she meant rather than what she said. 她说的是那个意思，而不是真那么说了。

I'd rather go hungry than borrow money from him. 我宁愿挨饿也不向他借钱。

The cap is comfortable rather than pretty. 这帽子不好看，可却很舒服。

他与其屈辱而生，宁愿光荣而死。

Rather than live in dishonour，he would die.

=He would （just）as soon die as live in dishonour.