Abstract:
                                      In current literature, one of the well-accepted interpretations of 
Dou is the 
even-like interpretation which in essence is the higher-than-expectation (HTE) interpretation. However, there are two problems to be solved. Firstly, the 
even-like 
dou can be used in the context in which there is seemingly no HTE; secondly, 
dou can be used in concordance with 
shenzhi (a Chinese counterpart of 
even). If both of them have the same HTE, it will be redundant. Based on the analysis of the alternative semantics, the paper proposes that there are three types of HTE: focused HTE, relevant HTE and compound HTE. It is the ignorance of the different types of HTE that leads to the first problem. Additionally, the paper argues that the HTE triggered by 
dou is a kind of implicature while that triggered by 
shenzhi is a kind of presupposition, and that the focus structure of 
dou is different from that of 
shenzhi. Therefore, the concordance of 
dou and 
shenzhi results in a complicated semantic relationship.