My parents divorced when I was six, and I hardly knew my father.
我六岁时父母离婚,我对父亲几乎一无所知。
The children were so excited they could hardly speak.
孩子们兴奋得几乎连话都说不出来了。
I can hardly believe it.
这简直让我难以置信。
Hardly anyone (=almost no one) writes to me these days.
如今几乎没有人给我写信了。
Dad ate hardly anything (=almost nothing).
爸爸几乎没吃什么东西。
There was hardly any (=very little) traffic.
路上车少人稀。
She lives in Spain, so we hardly ever (=almost never) see her.
她住在西班牙,所以我们几乎见不到她。
hardly a day/week/month etc goes by without/when (=used to say that something happens almost every day, week etc) 几乎每天/每周/每月等都…
Hardly a month goes by without another factory closing down.
几乎每个月都会有一家工厂倒闭。
2NOTused to mean ‘not’, when you are suggesting that the person you are speaking to will agree with you 很难说是…,一点也不…
It’s hardly surprising that she won’t answer his calls after the way he’s treated her.
他这样对她,她不接他的电话也不奇怪。
You can hardly blame Tom for not waiting.
你不能责怪汤姆没有等你。
My boss could hardly be described as handsome.
我的老板一点也算不上英俊。
hardly the time/place/person etc (=a very unsuitable time, place, person etc) 绝不是恰当的时间/地点/人选等
This is hardly the place to discuss the matter.
这里不是讨论这件事的地方。
3JUST/A MOMENT AGOused to say that something has only just happened 刚刚
The building work has hardly begun.
施工才刚刚开始。
had hardly ... when/before
She had hardly sat down when the phone rang.
她刚坐下电话就响了。
5grammar 语法:hardly, scarcely
Scarcely is more formal and literary than hardly. These adverbs come before the verb, unless the verb is a sim ple tense of ‘be’, or after the first auxiliary.scarcely比hardly更为正式,更具有文学色彩。这两个副词要用于动词之前(动词be的一般式除外),或第一个助动词之后
He was so ill he could hardly speak (NOT 不说 he hardly could speak).
他病得很重,几乎不能言语 。
Do not use hardly or scarcely with a negative word.hardly或scarcely不和表示否定的词连用
I can hardly believe (NOT 不说 can’t hardly believe) he said that.
我很难相信他那么说过。
There’s hardly any milk left (NOT 不说 There’s hardly no milk left).
几乎没剩下多少牛奶。
When talking about one event being followed closely by another, we usually use hardly or scarcely after ‘had’. 表示一件事紧跟另一件事,一般用had hardly或had scarcely
I had hardly got in the house when the phone rang.
我刚进屋电话就响了。
In literary writing, it is possible to put hardly or scarcely first, followed by ‘had’ and the subject. 在文学作品中,可以将hardly或scarcely置于句首,后接had和主语
Hardly had I got in the house when the phone rang.
我刚进屋电话就响了。
Do not use hardly as the adverb of hard. The adverb of hard is hard. 不要把hardly当作hard的副词形式来用。hard的副词形式就是hard
Students have to study very hard (NOT 不说 very hardly).
学生必须努力学习。
I tried hard to remember.
我努力记住。
nGrammar
Word order
Hardly usually comes before a main verb:
He hardly said a word.
Hardly comes after the first auxiliary verb:
I can hardly believe you said that.
我很难相信他那么说过。
We could hardly have known what was going to happen next.
✗Don’t say: I hardly can believe you said that.
Hardly usually comes after the verb ‘be’ when it is used in simple tenses such as ‘is’ or ‘was’:
This was hardly surprising.
In writing, you can use hardly at the beginning of a sentence before an auxiliary to say that one thing happens very soon after another thing:
Hardly had the rain stopped, when the sun came out.
Negatives
You say hardly any:
There’s hardly any milk.
✗Don’t say: There’s hardly no milk.
USAGE: Hard, hardly
Hardly is not the adverb of hard. The adverb of hard is hard: 不要把hardly当作hard的副词形式来用。hard的副词形式就是hard
nI work hard.
✗Don’t say: I work hardly.
Examples from the Corpus
hardly• They only won 1-0 - hardly a great victory!• First off, he decided to attack dueling, which was hardly a threat any longer.• He's hardly a world chesschampion - you should be able to beat him.• That may be an arrestingstatement, but it is hardly an exaggerateddescription of what they did.• All these similarities could hardly be due to chance.• The day had hardly begun, and he felt exhausted already.• You hardly ever hear of hip-hop guys naming themselves after computer hardware.• With two of the office down with chicken-pox, she hardly had time to think these days, let alonerelax.• I hardly know the people I'm working with.• But I hardly like to tell you about the disaster that befell Angela within the next few minutes.• He found he could hardly open his eyes.• At least the socket in the tip of her left forefingerhardly showed.• Women were hardlyspared that day, either.• It's hardlysurprising he's upset, considering the way you've treated him!• This is hardly the ideal time to buy a house.
had hardly ... when/before• If you ever walked into it, you could hardly breathe when you went beyond the door.• Poor Susan, she went West with her husband and it was hardly three months before he was killed.• The hung from the rafters and hardly stirred when I walked beneath.• The overalltone is warm and woody - hardly surprising when you consider the sheermass of wood involved!• They hardly notice when I walk up with the General who has chosen my horse already and his name is Dancing Dan.• They are a small group, hardly viable when the story begins.• They can hardly be surprised when others make use of this representation rather than the narrower and more qualified one.• However, I had hardly got started before I got the first complaint.