# 人生又何嘗不是如此呢？



## calcraft

[人生又何嘗不是如此呢？]
I'm confused about the three characters 又何嘗, and what role they play in this sentence.  I think the translation is "why is life not like this?", but perhaps that is not the best rendition.  Thanks for any help I can get with this !


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## hx1997

There must be something said before saying this, and this sentence is drawing a parallel between 人生 and something previously mentioned. 又 emphasizes the parallel, and 何尝 means "when, if ever" or "never". So the sentence is saying, "When, if ever, is life not like this?", or "(Something previously mentioned), and it is always the same with life".


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## calcraft

Thank you so much for this clear reply.  You are so right; it was in connexion with a little filmclip of a snail, doggedly inching along some surface, and I should have said that in my description.


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## liudayang

这句话的另一个意思是：人生也是如此。在汉语里面有时候你不需要去拆分每一个字，换个说法会更清楚，所以你要掌握这些同义词，或者变换的句子。


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## Skatinginbc

A: A snail carries a heavy burden on its back.
B: Isn't that the way life goes? (人生又何嘗不是如此 Isn't life always so?  Such is life, isn't it?)


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## retrogradedwithwind

Very interesting. I have never analyzed this common word 何尝.

何：什么时候，when
尝：曾，曾经，ever，in the past
何尝：when ever

人生何尝不是如此呢？
→when did life ever not like this?

But now the word is usually treated as a whole. We hardly understand it as what I analyzed above. It's just  used to "negate".
何尝不是＝是
何尝是＝不是

——————
又 is used to express a strong tone.
你没来。（normal, or just state facts）
你又没来。（strong）


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## Skatinginbc

贊同 Retro 的說法。
讓我補充一下：
何嘗不是＝(1) 陳述句：正是；(2) 反問句：不一直都是
何嘗是＝(1) 陳述句：絕非, (2) 反問句：哪會是

人生何嘗不是如此？ = 人生不一直都是如此？ 人生正是如此!!


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## SuperXW

retrogradedwithwind said:


> ——————
> 又 is used to express a strong tone.
> 你没来。（normal, or just state facts）
> 你又没来。（strong）


I think 又 is essentially to stress a parallal.
If there isn't any event happened before, I can hardly think of any scenario that 又 can be used purely for stressing the tone.


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## Skatinginbc

A: 神經病!
B: 你罵我做啥？
A: 我又沒罵你.
I don't see a "parallel" (類比、相似) in the above example.  I see a "relevance" (關聯)--- 「罵」。 I think it would be better to treat「又」 as a cohesive device that highlights a relevance to the previous discourse.  類比 is merely a subtype of 關聯.


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## SuperXW

Skatinginbc said:


> A: 神經病!
> B: 你罵我做啥？
> A: 我又沒罵你.
> I don't see a "parallel" (類比、相似) in the above example.  I see a "relevance" (關聯)--- 「罵」。 I think it would be better to treat「又」 as a cohesive device that highlights a relevance to the previous discourse.  類比 is merely a subtype of 關聯.


That makes sense.
However, how about 人生又何嘗不是如此? I can only think of 類比 for this one. Can there be a scenario like 我又沒罵你?


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## Skatinginbc

「人生又何嘗不是如此」的「又」也是強調一個「關聯」。  什麼關聯？ 他們之間的類比關係 (何嘗不是如此 = 正是如此 ==> 已經限定了是個相似對等的關係)!!

其他關聯：
A: 你對我是日日思、夜夜思。
B: 我又何嘗想過你？

A: 只要這樣，就可平步青雲。
B: 人生又何嘗如此簡單？(何嘗如此 = 不是如此 ==> 不相似).


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## SuperXW

确实是，“如此”限定了类比关系，“又”强调一种关联。偶尔表示认同一下。


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## Skatinginbc

(1) 相輔連結：「大又甜」的「又」(also, as well).
A: 蝸牛背著沉重的負擔. (A snail carries a heavy burden on its back)
B: 人生*又*(=也)何嘗不是如此呢？ (Isn't that the way life goes *as well*?)

(2) 相牴連結：「記了又忘」的「又」(but, then again).
A: 你白天想我，晚上想我...(You missed me in the day.  You missed me in the night.)
B: 我*又*哪有想過你？ (*Then again*, when did I ever miss you?)


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