After the winter holidays, some of us may feel the need to exercise and get healthy. We may have been eating richer foods than usual at meals shared with friends and families. During the winter months, gyms and sellers of exercise equipment often have an increase in business.
寒假过后，我们中的一些人可能会觉得需要锻炼身体并保持健康。在与朋友和家人分享的饭菜中，我们可能吃的食物比平时更丰富。在冬季，健身房和健身器材销售商的生意往往会有所增加。
One of our readers asked about expressions like, “the more you eat, the bigger your stomach gets.” This expression is a good example of a time when we use the definite article, “the,” with comparative adjectives. In this case, the comparative adjectives are “bigger” and “more.” Today’s lesson will center on this kind of structure.
我们的一位读者询问了诸如“吃得越多，胃就越大”之类的表达方式。这个表达方式是我们使用定冠词“the”和形容词比较级的一个很好的例子。在这种情况下，形容词的比较级是“更大”和“更多”。今天的课程将围绕这种结构进行。
Let us review first how we usually use comparatives. They are adjectives -- words that give more information about, or describe, a noun. Here is an example:
让我们先回顾一下我们通常如何使用比较级。它们是形容词——提供有关名词的更多信息或描述名词的单词。这是一个例子：
Marco’s New Year’s party this year was bigger than last year.
马可今年的新年晚会比去年规模更大。
In this sentence, “bigger” is an adjective describing the noun “party.”
在这句话中，“bigger”是一个形容词，描述名词“party”。
Relationships
人际关系
The main thing to understand about using comparatives is that you are talking about the relationship of one thing to other things. When we have two expressions using “the” + “comparative” we are showing a relationship where one thing changes in relation to the other.
使用比较要理解的主要一点是，你正在谈论一件事与另一件事的关系。当我们有两个使用“the”+“comparative”的表达时，我们展示了一种关系，其中一件事相对于另一件事发生了变化。
Let us look at another example. Our friend Marco says he spent too much money on his huge party. He says that is because:
让我们看另一个例子。我们的朋友马可说他在大型聚会上花了太多钱。他说那是因为：
The bigger the party, the more food and drinks you must buy.
聚会规模越大，您必须购买的食物和饮料就越多。
As you may remember, basic English sentences have a subject followed by a verb and sometimes an object. The subject and object are nouns. Generally, a verb comes before the object. For example:
您可能还记得，基本的英语句子有一个主语，后面跟着一个动词，有时还有一个宾语。主语和宾语都是名词。一般来说，动词位于宾语之前。例如：
You must buy more food and drinks.
你必须买更多的食物和饮料。
Something interesting happens to the usual word order in these sentences, however.
然而，这些句子中通常的词序发生了一些有趣的事情。
In our example, we heard the verb phrase after the object:
在我们的示例中，我们在宾语后面听到了动词短语：
…the more food and drinks you must buy.
...您必须购买的食物和饮料越多。
And we can sometimes leave out the verb with one of the subject nouns. Our earlier sentence could also be said this way:
有时我们可以省略带有主语名词之一的动词。我们前面的句子也可以这样说：
The bigger the party is , the more food and drinks you must buy.
聚会规模越大，您必须购买的食物和饮料就越多。
Now you can try making your own sentences with comparatives. Here are parts that you can combine to make the sentence type we have talked about. Remember you can choose to include one of the verbs if you like.
现在你可以尝试用比较级造自己的句子。您可以将以下部分组合起来形成我们讨论过的句子类型。请记住，如果您愿意，可以选择包含其中一个动词。
1. You get closer to the book.
1.你离书更近了。
The text becomes clearer.
文字变得更加清晰。
Write down your sentence. And here are two more parts:
写下你的句子。这里还有两个部分：
2. The sun rises higher.
2. 太阳升得更高了。
You feel warmer.
你感觉更温暖了。
Got it? Now, listen to the sentences and check yours:
知道了？现在，听句子并检查你的句子：
Sentence 1: The closer you get to the book, the clearer the text.
第1句：你越接近这本书，文字就越清晰。
Sentence 2: The higher the sun, the warmer you feel.
句子2：太阳越高，你感觉越温暖。