在英文的表達中，有些只要一個字就能抵過兩三個字或甚至一長串敘述。這種字主要是副詞，其它如動詞等也有，但明顯較少。以下將介紹5個可以讓我們的英文表述更加精簡且漂亮的字，4個是副詞，1個是動詞。不用說，類似用法的副詞還得加上我們在「單字與閱讀（一）」詳細介紹過的otherwise。
1. hopefully：這個字可以翻譯成為「如果運氣好的話」。在英文的表達中假如不用hopefully，就得這麼說：if the hope succeeds；it is to be hoped that…；if it's lucky enough。
•Hopefully, I will finish my paper this weekend.
•Hopefully, we will be there by this time tomorrow.
2. arguably：強調我們所提出的主張或論點有充分理由做為支持（there are good reasons why something might be true）。
•He is arguably the greatest playwright of our country. （說他是我國最偉大的劇作家是有充分道理的）
•He is arguably the best driver of his generation.
•Arguably, war is inevitable. （我們）有理由說戰爭（永遠）無法避免。
3. seemingly：意思是某人、事、物表面看起來是這樣，但事實可能是，也可能不是，且不是的機率明顯較高。例如要表示John表面看起來誠實，但其實並不誠實，如果不用seemingly，就得說成：
•On the face of it, John is honest. However, he is not.
或
•John is honest in appearance but dishonest in reality.
用seemingly之後，句子就可簡化為：
•John is seemingly honest.
儘管這麼說暗示John也許誠實，但這個可能已經明顯降低，何況不把話說滿或許更好。seemingly最常用來修飾形容詞，也可以修飾動詞或副詞。
•Star Wars is a seemingly simple story of good versus evil.
•The new minister was faced with a seemingly impossible task.
•Alice was standing in the street, seemingly oblivious to the rain.
•To Jason, life was a seemingly endless journey.
•Some seemingly good luck brings us nothing but trouble.
•The employer seemingly agreed with the employees' request for a raise of salaries.
•He worked seemingly hard.
4. vice versa：當有並陳的兩種說法，且後一種和前一種正好相反時，第二種說法之前就可以用拉丁字vice versa（反之亦然）。由於有兩種說法並陳，且被省略的顯然也是句子，所以vice versa之前需要有逗點和對等連接詞，連接詞通常是and，也有可能是or或but。
•Last year, the sun almost scorched the fields when farmers desired rain, and vice versa. （vice versa代表的是當農夫們需要好天氣時反而狂下雨）
•People who love dogs often dislike cats and vice versa. （vice versa代表的是愛貓人通常不愛狗）
•You clean the house and I cook, or vice versa. （或者是你煮飯，我打掃房子）
•We thought that Tom would kill John, but vice versa. （但結果是John把Tom給殺了）
5. backfire：意思是某件事情的結果和原來期待的正好相反（to have an effect opposite to the one intended）。如果句子的上下文夠清楚，相關的因果也不一定要說明。
•His plan to get rich backfired, and he lost all his money. （he lost all his money可以不提）
•Jack's wish to marry Ann backfired. （Jack可能不只沒有娶到Ann，甚至連朋友也做不成呢！）
•The company's policy backfired when a number of employees threatened to quit. （公司原來的政策顯然是要拉攏員工，卻不幸適得其反）
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