high與highly的用法區別與辨析

1. high 的用法

high 用作副詞，通常表示具體的高。如：

He that climbs high falls heavily. 爬得高，跌得重。

An eagle circled high overhead. 一只鷹在高空盤旋。

A red balloon is floating high up in the sky.  一個紅色氣球飄浮在高空中。

He didn't jump high enough to win a prize 他跳得不夠高，沒能得獎。

The plane flew high above the clouds. 飛機在云層上飛行。

He climbed high up the mountain. 他爬到山上高處。

注：有時用于比喻義。如：

We paid high for the house. 我們付出很高的價錢買下了這幢房子。

He never got very high in the company. 他在公司里所擔任的職務從來就不是很高的。

注意以下用于比喻義的常見固定搭配：

live high 過富裕生活

aim high 目標高   

stand high in sb’s favour 為某人所賞識

2. highly 的用法

highly 主要表示很高的程度，除修飾動詞(如 speak, praise, think of等)外，還通常用于修飾分詞或形容詞(尤其是那些由動詞派生而來的形容詞, 有時相當于 very 或 much)。如：

Its highly amusing. 它有趣極了。

He is a highly ambitious person. 他是很有野心的人。

The Chinese were then a highly civilized people. 中國人那時已有高度的文明。

Wolves are highly social animals whose success depends upon cooperation. 狼是高度群體化的動物，它們的成功依賴于合作。

She speaks very highly of your work. 她對你的工作十分贊賞。

They spoke very highly of him. 他們對他的評價很高。

highly 表示程度相當于 very 時，通常只與某些特定的形容詞連用，如可以說 very reliable 和 highly reliable，但是只能說 very old，而不能說 highly old。通常可受 highly 修飾的形容詞有ambitious, amusing, dangerous, desirable, effective, efficient, intelligent, poisonous, popular, probable, regrettable, scientific, significant, social, successful, suitable, suspicious, unlikely等；通常可受highly修飾的分詞有 civilized, developed, educated, excited, gifted, organized, paid, pleased, polluted, praised, regarded, respected, skilled, talented, trained, valued 等。