「その上{うえ}には熱帯魚{ねったいぎょ}の水槽{すいそう}と何{なに}かのトロフィーがふたつのっている。」
This is a quote from "The wind-up bird and Tuesday's Women." How many fish tanks are there? How many trophies?
Japanese Language Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for students, teachers, and linguists wanting to discuss the finer points of the Japanese language. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this communityThat would be one fish tank and two trophies, all of which are placed on top of something (その上). At least, that is how nearly every native speaker would read that sentence.
If it were the word 「ふたつ」 that was confusing you, it would not be used to count two totally unrelated items such as a fish tank and a trophy when there is one of each.
It is not like you are seeing a green apple and a red apple in front of you, in which case many of us would describe the situation by saying 「リンゴがふたつ(ある)」.