個人的に好きな英語の構文としてはno more thanがある。というかそもそも比較というテーマが好きなのだが、その中でもno more thanはやはり最高に面白い。さて、no more thanといえばいつもどんな時も自動的に「～でないように・・・ない」と訳す人が多いが、それはこの構文が表しうる意味を「クジラ」一本しかないように教えるからなのか、あるいは、「マイナス×プラス」で教えるからなのか、それはよく分からないが、それだと正しく意味を取れないケースがかなりある。その中でも個人的にかなり好きなタイプを入試問題で出題された長文から三つほど例を挙げておきたい。
（１） A study focusing on the first 90 seconds of the medical visit found that the patient’s response to the physician’s opening question was completed in only 23% of the visits studied. In 69% of the visits, the physician interrupted the patient’s opening statement, after an average of only 15 seconds, to follow up on a stated problem. In only one of these visits was the patient given the opportunity to return to, and complete, the opening statement. For those 30% of patients who were allowed to continue, none of their statements took more than 2.5 minutes. Moreover, analysis of the concerns raised by patients throughout the visit showed that the first named concern was no more clinically significant than concerns that were expressed later. However, later concerns tended to be raised in a haphazard manner and they received inconsistent attention from the physician. A replication of this study some 15 years later found little had changed in physicians’ attention to their patients’ agenda; patients’ initial statements of concern were completed in only 28% of interviews, and their opening statements were redirected after an average of 23 seconds. （杏林大）
（２）Evidence that eating chocolate does not cause acne comes from two studies: one by the Pennsylvania School of Medicine, the other by the U.S. Naval Academy. Their research showed some interesting results. They found that there was no difference in the skin condition between the study participants who did, or did not, eat chocolate. There is also no proof that chocolate is the cause of tooth decay. In fact, it is believed that the cocoa butter in chocolate forms a coating over the teeth that may help to protect them. The sugar in chocolate can cause cavities, but no more than sugar in any other food or drink. （近畿大）
（３）Knowing all this, the average visitor to the Louvre might be forgiven for experiencing a sense of disappointment upon first laying eyes on the most famous painting in the world. To start with, it is surprisingly small. And being enclosed in that strong box, and usually surrounded by mobs of picture-taking tourists, it is frustratingly difficult to see. So when you do finally get up close, you’re really expecting something special ― what the art critic Kenneth Clark called “the supreme example of perfection,” which causes viewers to “forget all our doubts in admiration of perfect mastery.” Well, as they say, I’m no art critic. But when, on my first visit to the Louvre several years ago, I finally got my chance to appreciate perfect mastery, I couldn’t help wondering about the three other da Vinci paintings I had just walked by in the previous chamber, and to which nobody seemed to be paying the slightest attention. As far as I could tell, the Mona Lisa looked like an amazing accomplishment of artistic talent, but no more so than those other three. In fact, if I hadn’t already known which painting was the famous one, I doubt that I could have picked it out of a lineup. For that matter, if you had put it in with any number of the other great works of art on display at the Louvre, I’m quite positive it wouldn’t have jumped out at me as the obvious contender for most-famous-painting award.（鳥取大）
さて、それぞれの下線に含まれるno more thanが正確に意味が取れるか。なお、長くなりすぎるのを避けるために部分的に取り出しているが、（３）のknowing all thisのthisの内容は、ざっくりいうと、「モナリザが超有名で人気！」という感じ。
個人的に比較が好きなのは、比較対象に込められた意味を正確に判断しないと文全体の意味が取れない、という点による。例えば、no more thanに限らずとも、次のような文を読むとそれが分かるはずだ。
（４）The real question is where you want to stand: alongside the large majority of the world’s climate scientists who say that human generated climate change is a significant threat, or with the handful of those denying climate change itself, who are as well qualified to talk about science as Europeans are to talk about Australian Rules football.（慶應 商）
文字通りには「同じくらい十分に資格がある」となりそうだけれど、後半のヨーロッパ人が～のくだりを読めば、これが「資格がない」ものの分かりやすい例として挙げられていると判断がつくので、それを汲んで、前半戦も「科学について語る資格がない」と判断しなくてはいけない。no more thanの「クジラ」の解釈が出てくるのも、こうした「（常識的）判断」が基になっているのだから、いつもいつも「～でないように・・・ない」になるとは限らない。次の例も同じだろう。
（５）New discoveries may conceivably lead to dramatic, even “revolutionary” shifts in the Darwinian theory, but the hope that it will be “refuted” by some shattering breakthrough is about as sensible as the hope that we will return to a geocentric vision and discard Copernicus.（京都大）
受験産業というのはとかく「型にはめる」のが好きなようで、こういう「型にはまらない」話（（１）～（３）のようなやつ）をすると「受験生が混乱するようなことを言うな」といわれるきらいがある。まあ、一理あるのかもしれないけれど、そういうことを言う人に限って「本質」とか「真実」とかいう言葉を使うので何とも滑稽だ。よく思うのは、知らないものは知らないと正直に言う謙虚さが欲しい。まあもちろん自戒も込めて。よく分からないのに、「自分は一段階上から俯瞰してますけれど」みたいな態度を取る人が僕は本当に苦手なので、この業界は合わないかもしれない。カリスマって本当にすごい。尊敬してしまう。英語ではどちらかといえばカリズマかな。カリズマというと、どうしても頭の中では借妻と仮妻に変換されてしまい、なんか妖艶な雰囲気があって、個人的には結構好き。
まあそんなことはさておき、比較はやはり面白いなと思う。やっぱり何と言っても一番最初に比較って面白いなと思ったのは大学生の時だったか、Ken is as old as Yuki, and they are both young.という文があり得るということを知った時だった。比較で使われる一部の形容詞があくまで「尺度」にしかなっていない、というのを「明示的に」知ったときの感動は本当に大きかった。
でも、大学生の時に最も尊敬し慕っていた吉冨先生という先生と話していた時に先生がおっしゃっていた、「英語の先生って割と文法好きな人が多くて、自分が好きだから文法の面白い話を学生もみんな面白いと感じる、って思っちゃうところがたぶんあって（ちょっとうろ覚え）」という点は常に気を付けなくてはいけないなとは思う。
