摘要：like：虚拟的堕落

在非正式语境下，like也用作连词，含义与as if接近，如

【例句1】She acts like she owns the place. (她表现得好像她拥有这个地方。)[牛津高级学者辞典]

注意句中的she owns……, 不是she owned……。

《柯林斯高级学者辞典》也说like可用作连词来表达that something appears to be the case when it is not，并有如下例句，

【例句2】His arms look like they might snap under the weight of his gloves. （他的手臂看起来可能会在手套的重压下折断。 ）[柯林斯高级学者辞典]

【例句3】On the train up to Waterloo, I felt like I was going on an adventure. (在开往滑铁卢的火车上，我感觉自己好像在冒险。 ) [柯林斯高级学者辞典]

按该词典理解，连词like所接从句“反事实”。按常理，“反事实”应该用虚拟语气，但【例句1，2，3】的从句动词均为陈述式。

《朗文当代英语词典》和《剑桥高级学者辞典》中的例句也类似，如

【例句4】She acts like she's stupid! (她表现得像个傻瓜！)[剑桥高级学者辞典]

【例句5】He looked at me like I was mad. (他看着我，好像我疯了。)[朗文当代英语词典]

【例句6】You look like you've just got out of bed!（你看起来好像刚起床！）[剑桥高级学者辞典]

【例句7】This meat smells like it's gone bad.(这肉闻起来好像坏了。)[朗文当代英语词典]

【例句8】It looks like it's going to rain.（看起来要下雨了。） [朗文当代英语词典]

【例句9】It looks like I'm going to be in the office until late tonight.（看来我今晚要在办公室待到很晚。） [剑桥高级学者辞典]

【例句10】It sounds to me like you ought to change jobs. (在我看来，你应该换工作。)[剑桥高级学者辞典]

笔者猜测这是因为like用作as if含义的连词本来就是informal，甚至有人认为这样表达是错误的(如《柯林斯高级学者辞典》有Some people think that this use is not correct English，而《朗文当代英语词典》有Some people consider this use to be incorrect。)

虚拟语气是正式用语，而like是非正式，甚至incorrect, 故而就堕落到不那么讲究了。

不过，也许说话人内心真地认同like后面从句的表述。若如此，那便不是虚拟语气了。

来源：清雨不理王清风