“a whole+ n.”与“the whole+n.”有何区别

区别一：“a whole+n”表泛指或不确指，“the whole+n”表特指或确指。比较并体会：
    He ate a whole chicken! 他吃了整整一只鸡。
        He ate the whole chicken by himself. 他一个人吃了这整整一只鸡。
        They travelled for a whole year. 他们旅游了整整一年。
        They have been travelling for the whole year. 他们这整整一年都在旅游。
        I waited a whole week for him to answer. 我等他的回音等了整整一个星期。
     I waited the whole week for him to answer. 我那整整一个星期都在等他的回音。

区别二：由于不可数名词前不能使用不定冠词，所以也就不能使用a whole；但能这样用的名词并不多，常见的有time, truth, energy等。如：
        He works the whole time. 他总是在工作。
     Tell me the whole truth. 把实情一五一十都告诉我。
     Although technically speaking you may not have lied, you certainly haven't told us the whole truth. 尽管严格来说你没算撒谎，但肯定你并没把实情都告诉我们。

区别三：有些名词在表示特定意思时其前必须要用定冠词，此时也只能用the whole，不用a whole，否则意思就变了。如：
     Soon the whole school knew about her win. 不久，全校师生都知道她获胜了。
      Soon the whole town was talking about it. 不久镇上的人就都谈论起这件事了。