關於aspire的用法 aspire+to v-ing?

正如你說，aspire有兩個用法，

1. aspire + to sth
2. aspire + to do sth

還有兩個用法:
3. aspire + to be + sth
4. aspire + to be + adjective

She aspired to a scientific career.
He aspired to be their next leader.

以上這兩個例子取自 “Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary”.

顯然地 a scientific career = sth

sth是 noun, sth 亦可以用 noun phrase 代替.

Format: aspire to + noun phrase 是 perfectly acceptable.

問題出在怎樣使用being 做 noun phrase

Being is a present participle of “be”. Being” can be used in four ways:

(i) In a continuous tense as the present participle of the verb “be”.
(ii) In present participial phrases.
(iii) As a gerund.
(iv) As a noun.

“being a modernized fairy tale” 是 noun phrase

It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale. 這句子是對 (being是 gerund)
It aspires to be a modernized fairy tale. 這句子是對
這兩句子用意一樣

找了3 Excerpts, 在裡面有 “aspire to being”, 作參考 :

(1) For example, they are careful about the definition of concepts; they try to be precise and reliable in their methods of collecting information; they are committed to being honest in their treatment of the people whom they study; they encourage sensitivity to the whole spectrum of meanings expressed by human beings; and they aspire to being rigorous in testing theoretical ideas.
- from Collins Cobuild English Dictionary

(2) Palestinians don't aspire to being a beggar nation.
- from an article by Salam Fayyad of Daily Star

(3) A YouGov poll has found that almost 10% of Britons aspire to being an author, followed by sports personality, pilot, astronaut and event organiser on the list of most coveted jobs.
-from an article “Writing tops poll of ideal jobs” by Michelle Pauli of Guardian

Hope this can help.

Henry: you know English well right? Yahoo Knowledge named that you are good at English. I'm wondering why you are going to ask this question.

"inspire to" is a phrasal verb. I have no wonder why it shouldn't follow a noun. Using the present participle of "being" does absolutely fit to the sentence that you've highlighted.

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e個用法必定對.


分別在於:
1. It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heartaches and nightmares are left out.(gerund)
2. It aspires to be a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heartaches and nightmares are left out.

Both of these are the same in meaning. But the gerund functions as a noun.

As you choose to aspire to different things, you may find that one form works better than another. : )

2010-12-06 22:33:07 補充：
我再查字典, 除左可以用以上解得通, 其實係有得aspire + to v-ing ... 你用咩字典,會唔會佢少左咋?