bare·ly
adverb/ˈbeəli/
/ˈberli/
- in a way that is just possible but only with difficulty
仅仅；刚刚；勉强可能 - He could barely read and write.
他几乎无法读写。 - The music was barely audible.
音乐声勉强能听见。 - She was barely able to stand.
她勉强能站立。 - We barely had time to catch the train.
我们差点儿没赶上火车。
- He could barely read and write.
- in a way that almost does not happen or exist
几乎不；几乎没有 - She barely acknowledged his presence.
她只略微向他打了个招呼。 - There was barely any smell.
几乎没有什么气味。
- She barely acknowledged his presence.
- just; certainly not more than (a particular amount, age, time, etc.)
刚好；不超过（某个数量、年龄、时间等） - Barely 50% of the population voted.
仅有 50% 的人口投票。 - He was barely 20 years old and already running his own company.
他只有 20 岁，却已经营起自己的公司了。 - They arrived barely a minute later.
过了不到一分钟他们就到了。
- Barely 50% of the population voted.
- only a very short time before
刚才；刚刚 - I had barely started speaking when he interrupted me.
我刚刚开始讲话，他便打断了我。
Grammar Point hardly / scarcely / barely / no soonerhardly / scarcely / barely / no sooner- Hardly, scarcely and barely can all be used to say that something is only just true or possible. They are used with words like any and anyone, with adjectives and verbs, and are often placed between can, could, have, be, etc. and the main part of the verb:
- They have sold scarcely any copies of the book.
这书他们几乎没卖出几本。 - I barely recognized her.
我几乎认不出她了。 - His words were barely audible.
他的话勉强听得见。 - I can hardly believe it.
我几乎不敢相信。 - I hardly can believe it.
- They have sold scarcely any copies of the book.
- Hardly, scarcely and barely are negative words and should not be used with not or other negatives:
- I can’t hardly believe it.
- You can also use hardly, scarcely and barely to say that one thing happens immediately after another:
- We had hardly/scarcely/barely sat down at the table, when the doorbell rang.
我们刚在桌边坐下，门铃就响了。
- Hardly/Scarcely had we sat down at the table, when the doorbell rang.
我们刚在桌边坐下，门铃就响了。
- I scarcely had time to ring the bell before the door opened.
我刚一按门铃，门就开了。
- No sooner had we sat down at the table than the doorbell rang.
我们刚在桌边坐下，门铃就响了。
- We had hardly/scarcely/barely sat down at the table, when the doorbell rang.
- Hardly and scarcely can be used to mean ‘almost never’, but barely is not used in this way:
- She hardly (ever) sees her parents these days.
这些日子她难得见到她父母。 - She barely sees her parents these days.
- She hardly (ever) sees her parents these days.
- I had barely started speaking when he interrupted me.