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■儘管天氣惡劣，香港市民仍為爭取高質素教育遊行示威。 資料圖片
Lina CHU
Despite和In spite of的意思相同，用來表示儘管一些情形出現了，但是沒有影響。例如：
Despite money problems, the team is playing well in league games.
儘管財政有問題，這支球隊在聯賽的表現很好。
In spite of the bad weather, a lot of people joined the demonstration.
儘管天氣惡劣，仍有很多人參加遊行示威。
字義與Although相若
從上面的例子可見，雖然有一些不利情況，如財政問題、天氣欠佳，但依然不影響主句所描述的事情進行。其實，despite和in spite of的意義與另一個英文字although（雖然）差不多，但although是連接詞，後面要加上句子（有主語動詞），而despite和in spite of則是介詞，後面接的是名詞。如果上面兩句改用although，就要寫成：
Although there are money problems, the team is playing well in league games.
Although the weather was bad, a lot of people joined the demonstration.
可配名詞或動名詞
Despite和in spite of後面除了可以加上名詞之外，還可以用動名詞（gerund），即動詞加上-ing代替。
Despite being the captain, he did not make much contribution to the team.
雖然身為隊長，他對球隊的貢獻不大。
In spite of his having been warned, he insisted on investing all his money on stocks.
儘管曾被警告，他仍然堅持投資金錢於股票上。
如果用不上或不想用名詞或動名詞，也許可以用比較累贅的方法，使用despite/in spite of the fact that...再加上句子。例如：
Despite of the fact that he was injured, he scored two goals in the match.
儘管他受了傷，他在賽事中射入兩球。
In spite of the fact that they have been divorced, they remain in good terms.
雖然他們已經離婚，但是關係仍然良好。
加oneself成特別片語
值得一提的是，despite oneself和in spite of oneself亦是一個很特別的片語，說某人做了些自己原本不想或不是蓄意要做的事情。例如：
He signed the letter, despite himself.
他原本不想的，但他簽署了那封信。
She cried during the interview, in spite of herself.
她不能自制，在會面中哭起來。
這是很簡潔的表達方式。用字不多，但精要。■linachu88@netvigator.com
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