下面，我們先看一個(gè)英語幽默故事：

A man was troubled by mice. They ran about all over his house at night. In the daytime, they just stayed under the floor.

The man thought, “What I need is a cat, a good cat that can catch mice.” He knew of a man who had cats for sale. So he went to see him. “Do you have a cat that is good for the mice?” he asked the man. “Well, yes. I do happen to have a cat that is good to the mice,” replied the man. “I’ll take it,” said the first man.

He paid for the cat and took it home. A week later, the cat didn’t catch any mice, but it played with them like old friends. So the man went back again with the cat under his arm. They had a quarrel because they both took the meaning of “good” as they needed.

上面的故事十分有趣。買貓人是想買一個(gè)good for mice的貓，然而，那個(gè)賣貓人有一個(gè)good to mice的貓，最后結(jié)果必然是一場(chǎng)quarrel。

下面，我們分析一下故事中的兩個(gè)關(guān)鍵句子：

“Do you have a cat that is good for the mice?”“你這兒有沒有善于捉鼠的貓？”

“I do happen to have a cat that is good to the mice.” “碰巧我還真有一只對(duì)老鼠不錯(cuò)的貓。”

good表示“適合，有效，勝任”意思時(shí)，用be good for；good表示“仁慈，善良”意思時(shí)，用be good to。只有表示“對(duì)......有益處”時(shí)，兩者可以互換。試比較：

1.老太太對(duì)那些男孩子和藹可親。

The old lady is good to the boys.（正確）

The old lady is good for the boys.（錯(cuò)誤）

2.這藥對(duì)該疾病有效果。

The medicine is good to the disease.（錯(cuò)誤）

The medicine is good for the disease.（正確）

3.這條金鏈剛好與吉姆的手表相匹配。

The gold chain was just good to Jim's watch.（錯(cuò)誤）

The gold chain was just good for Jim's watch.（正確）

4.約翰不適合這項(xiàng)工作。

John is not good to the job.（錯(cuò)誤）

John is not good for the job.（正確）

5.體育運(yùn)動(dòng)有益健康。

Athletic sports are good to your health. （正確）

Athletic sports are good for your health. （正確）

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