ギリス新首相Boris Johnson氏は９月5日、欧州連合（EU）からの離脱（Brexit）について、次のように言いました。“I’d rather be dead in a ditch (than ask for Brexitdelay.)” 離脱が延期するくらいなら「溝でのたれ死んだ方がましだ」
Would ratherは「～よりはむしろ」の意味で、よくthanと一緒に使います。最もよく使われるのはwould rather+動詞原形 than+動詞原形.
例文1: I would rather stay home than travel abroad.　旅行に行くよりむしろ家にいたい。
例文２: People would borrow rather than own books.　自分で本を持つより、人々はむしろ借りる。
would rather … than …の代わりに、would prefer toもよく使います。would rather の否定形は: would rather not になります、注意してください。

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If you look at the 10 most common words in the English language, you will find two words that do not exist in Japanese: “a” and “the.” There is no way to translate them, so there is no way to understand them in Japanese. You have to learn to use them in English sentences. And what about the word “it”? Some teachers translate it as “そう,” but how often do Japanese speakers use the word “そう”? Not very often. How often is “it” used in English? All the time! It is one of the most common words in English. You can’t translate “it.” You have to learn how to use it.　(by Prof. Douglas Jarrell)
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