今天跟大家介绍的表达是两个很常见的单词“double”和“take”结合起来的“double take”。我们都知道“double”有“成双的，两倍的，双份的”意思，“take”做动词可以表示“拿走”，那么“double take”是什么意思呢？
double take 愣了一会儿恍然大悟
Fred did a double take, then recognized Britney.
Fred愣了一会儿后才恍然大悟地认出了Britney。
它可以表示过了一会儿恍然大悟，但是更常见的用法是“do a double take”，表示因为有些异样而多看了一眼。
do a double take
（因认出某人或物，或感觉有异样而）再仔细看一眼，再认真看一下
I did a double take – I couldn’t believe it was her.
我又仔细看了一眼——我简直无法相信真的是她。
Everyone did a double take at his shiny new sports car as he drove by.
当他开车经过时，每个人都对他那辆锃亮的新跑车多看了一眼。
There are twice as many houses in this area as there used to be.
He ate three times as many bananas as Mary.
This lion is four times bigger than that one.
This work is ten times better than the last piece you did.
3.倍数+the size/length/weight/width/height…+of+表示比较对象的名词
This river is six times the depth of that one.
The length of the road is four times what it was three years ago.
倍数的翻译也是我们经常遇到的难点问题，尤其是“increase to”和“increase by”，该怎么理解呢？首先有一个公式：
increase N times = increase by N times = increase to N times
上述表达都可以表示“增加N倍”。但是需要注意的是翻译成中文的时候“
increase to N times
”要翻译成“
增加N-1倍
”或者“
增加到N倍
”。
The output of cotton
increased to
five times in the years 1973-1979.
1979年棉花产量比1973年
增加了4倍
/1979年棉花产量是1973年的5倍。
The production of steel has
increased to
three times since 1980．
钢的产量1980年以来已
增加了2倍
/现在的钢产量是1980年的3倍。
在这类句型中“increase”常被“rise、grow、go/step up、multiply”等词所替代。
同理，如果想要表示减少，可以用“decrease/reduce/shorten”。“decrease N times/decrease to N times”都可以表示为“减少到1/N”。
The cotton output has decreased by 50％．
“double”除了有“双倍的”意思，还可以表示“一模一样的人；极相像的人”。
Hey, Tony, I met someone at a party last week who was your double.
嘿，托尼，上周我在一次聚会上遇到一个长得和你一模一样的人。
We realized we had taken the wrong road and had to double back.
Terry will have to double up with Bill in the front bedroom.
Damon doubled up, winning two Oscars that night.
double (up) as sth 也可用作，还能当作
The kitchen table doubles as my desk when I’m writing.
double (sb) up/over （通常指由于痛苦或大笑而）弯腰，前仰后合
Most of the crowd doubled up with laughter at every joke.
