名人教英文：获不同家庭收养
they were each adopted by two different families
她们各自获两个不同家庭收养
peggy: did you hear that amazing story on the radio this morning about the two chinese baby girls?
佩琪﹕今早收音机报道了两个中国女婴的故事，真令人难以置信，你有没有听到？
dinah: no, i had to go out early, so i missed it.
黛娜﹕没有，我一早就得外出，没有听到。
peggy: well, they were each adopted by two different families from different parts of the country. the families came to know each other through the adoption society.
佩琪﹕嗯，那两个女婴，各自获我国两个不同地方两个不同家庭收养。而这两个家庭，经由儿童收养社互相认识。
dinah: so what's amazing about that?
黛娜﹕这有什么奇怪？
peggy: well, they discovered that they had each got their baby from exactly the same part of china, but at different times.
佩琪﹕两个家庭发觉，他们的孩子在中国同一地方领养，只是领养时间不同。
dinah: were they sisters or something?
黛娜﹕她们是姊妹还是什么？
peggy: the little girls were twins and - can you believe this? - each family had given their baby the same name - cora.
佩琪﹕她们是双胞胎。不但如此，两个家庭还给女婴取了同一个名字，叫科拉，你说是不是难以置信？
they were each adopted by two different families这一句，假如以they each开始，其后应用was adopted还是were adopted？
答案是were。each用于复数主词（subject）之后，动词就应用复数形式，例如﹕the students each have to（或the students have each to）answer ten questions（每个学生都要回答十条问题）。
但是，each用在主词之前，则动词应用单数形式，例如﹕each student（或each of the students）has to answer ten question。
至于「each+单数名词」之后，代名词正式应该也是单数形式，但假如说的是「每一个人」，而众人之中有男有女，则代名词往往会用复数形式，例如﹕each student tried their best（每个学生都尽了力）。正式写法会较为累赘﹕each student tried his or her best。
each是「每一个」，不限于两者；both则只可说「两者」。不过，二字有时通用，例如﹕they were both / each given an apple（两人都获得一个苹果）。当然，both可能引起误会的时候，最好就改用each。例如both (of) their cars have been stolen这一句，是说「他们两人各有一辆汽车，都被偷去」，还是「他们两人共同拥有两辆汽车，都被偷去」？假如是第一个意思，可改写为they each have a car, which has been stolen；假如是第二个意思，则可改写成they have two cars, which have both been stolen。