第二课:世界各地的英语
WARMING UP
NANCY:Oh, there you are. Now then, did you have a good flight?
南希:噢,你在这儿。你旅行愉快吗?
JOE:Sure, we flew all the way direct from Seattle to London.
乔:还可以,我们从西雅图一直飞到了伦敦。
NANCY: You must be very tired. Did you sleep at all on the plane?
南希:你一定很劳累。你在飞机上睡觉了吗?
JOE:No, not really. I’m very tired. Could I use your bathroom?
乔:没有,的确没睡。我很累。好了,我可以用你的浴室吗?
NANCY:Why, of course. You don’t need to ask, just make yourself at home.
南希:当然可以。你不用问。请随便。
Let me give you a clean towel.
我给你一条干净的毛巾。
JOE:A clean towel?
乔:一条干净的毛巾?
NANCY:Yes. Here you are. The bathroom is upstairs. It’s the second door on the left.
南希:是的,给你。浴室在楼上,左边第二个门。
JOE:Thanks Nancy. If you’ll excuse me now.
乔:谢谢你,南希。打扰了。
(after a while)
(过了一会儿)
NANCY:Have you found it?
南希:你找到了吗?
JOE: Well, eh yes, I mean no. I mean, I found the bathroom, but I didn’t find what I was looking for!
乔:噢,是的,没有。我的意思是我找到了浴室,但没找到我想找的地方!
SPEAKING
EMILY:Karen, can you tell me how to pronounce“kilometre”?
埃米莉:卡伦,请你告诉我怎样读“kilometre”这个词好吗?
KAREN:Sure. British people say / ˈkiləˌmi:tə /and Americans say / kɪˈlɑmɪtɚ /.
卡伦:当然可以。英国人读/ ˈkiləˌmi:tə /,美国人读/ kɪˈlɑmɪtɚ /。
TEACHER:Karen and Emily, is there anything that isn’t clear to you?
老师:卡伦,埃米莉,你们还有什么不清楚的吗?
KAREN:Emily asked me a question, but I already answered her.
卡伦:埃米莉问了我一个问题,可我已经回答了她。
TEACHER:What was her question?
老师:她的问题是什么?
KAREN:She asked me how to pronounce “kilometre”.
卡伦:她问我怎么读“kilometre”这个词。
MS SMITH: Harry, take these two pizzas to Mr.Thompson on Broad Street, Number 12.
史密斯夫人:哈里,把这个比萨饼送给托马逊先生,他在百老汇大街12号。
HARRY:Can you spell that name, please?
哈里:你会拼写那个名字吗?
MS SMITH:T-h-o-m-p-s-o-n. On Broad Street, Number 12.
史密斯夫人:T-h-o-m-p-s-o-n。在百老汇大街12号。
HARRY:Can you repeat the address, please?
哈里:你把地址再重复一下好吗?
MS SMITH:Broad Street, Number 12.
史密斯夫人:百老汇大街12号。
HARRY:Got it.
哈里:明白。
MS SMITH:Take Dave’s motorbike. Here are the keys. And hurry up!
史密斯夫人:骑上戴夫的摩托车,钥匙在这里。赶快点!
HARRY:Anything else?
哈里:还有别的事吗?
MS SMITH:Don’t forget to buy me some ketchup on your way back.
史密斯夫人:在回来的路上别忘了给我买点番茄酱。
READING
ENGLISH AROUND THE WORLD
世界各地的英语
English is a language spoken all around the world.
英语是世界各地都讲的一种语言。
There are morethan 42 countries where the majority of the people speak English.
不止42个国家的人讲英语。
Most native speakers of English are found in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, Australia, South Africa,
Ireland and New Zealand.
在英国、美国、加拿大、澳大利亚、南非、爱尔兰、新西兰,大多数人以英语为母语。
In total, for more than 375 million people English is their mother tongue.
总共有三亿七千万多人的母语是英语。
An equal number of people learn English as a second language.
还有同样多的人把英语作为第二种语言。
These people will perhaps speak the language of their own country at home with their family, but the language of the government,
schools, newspapers and TV is English.
这些人在家有可能和他们的家人讲本国语,但是官方、学校、报纸、电视都用英语。
Thissituation is found in countries such as India, Pakistan, Nigeria and the Philippines.
这种情况在很多国家都存在,如印度、巴基斯坦、尼日利亚和菲律宾。
However, the number of people who learn English as a foreign language is more than 750 million.
然而,把英语当作外语学习的人有七亿五千多万人。
Everywhere in the world children go to school to learn English.
世界各地的孩子上学学英语。
Most people learn English for five or six years at high school.
大多数人在中学学5到6年的英语。
In China students learn English at school as a foreign language,
在中国,学生把英语作为一种外语学习。
except for those in Hong Kong,where many people speak English as a first or a second language.
但香港的学生不同,在那儿有许多人把英语当作第一或第二语言。
In only fifty years, English has developed intothe language most widely spoken and used in the world.
仅仅50年中,英语已经发展成为世界上讲得最多,使用得最广泛的语言。
English is the working language of most international organisations, international trade and tourism.
英语是大多数国际组织、国际贸易、国际旅游的工作语言。
Businessmen and tourists often come to China without being able to speak Chinese.
商人和旅游者经常来中国,他们通常用不着会讲汉语。
Chinese businessmen, taxi drivers and students talk with them using English.
中国的商人、出租车司机和学生用英语和他们交谈。
English is also the language of global culture,such as popular music and the Internet.
英语像流行音乐,因特网一样,也是全球性文化。
You can listen to English songs on the radio or use English to communicate with people around the world through the Internet.
你可以通过无线电听英语歌曲也可以用英语和世界各地的人在因特网上交流。
With so many people communicating in English every day, it will become more and more important to have a good knowledge of
English.
每天有这么多人用英语交流,我们可以认识到掌握好英语越来越重要。
INTEGRATING SKILLS
Reading and writing
AMERICAN ENGLISH AND BRITISH ENGLISH
美国英语和英国英语
Many students want to know about the differences between American English and British English.
很多学生想了解美国英语和英国英语的区别。
How did these differences come about?
这些不同是怎样产生的?
There is no quick answer to this question.
就这一问题不能立即做出答复。
At first the language in Britain and Americawas the same.
起初英国英语和美国英语一样。
In 1776 America became an independent country. After that, thelanguage slowly began to change.
1776年美国独立。从那以后,这种语言慢慢地发生变化。
For a long time the language in Americastayed the same, while the language in England changed.
很长一段时间美国英语没有变化,而英国英语变了。
For example, 300years ago the English talked about“fall”. Today, most British people talk about“autumn”, but American still talk
about“fall”.
例如,300年前英国人说“fall”(秋季)。而今天大多数英国人说“autumn”(秋季),但是美国人仍然说“fall”(秋季)。
In the same way, Americans still use the expression “I guess”(meaning“I think”), just as the British did 300 years ago.
同样,正如英国人300年前那样,美国人仍然说“I guess”(意为“我想”,英国人说I think)。
At the same time, British English and American English started borrowing words from other languages, ending up with different
words.
与此同时,英国英语和美国英语都从其他语言中吸取一些词汇,结果出现了一些不同的词汇。
For example, the British took “typhoon” from Chinese,
例如,英国人从汉语中吸取了“typhoon”(台风)一词,
while the Americans took “tornado” from Spanish.
而美国人从西班牙语中吸取了“tornado”(龙卷风)一词。
In 1828 Noah Webster published the first American dictionary.
1828年,诺亚·韦伯斯特出版了第一本美语字典。
He wanted to make American English different from British English, so he changed the spelling of many words.
他想把美国英语和英国英语区分开,所以他改变了许多词的拼写。
That’s why the words colour, centre, and traveller are spelt color, center and traveler in American English.
那就是为什么“colour, centre, traveller”这些词在美国英语中拼写为“color, center, traveler”。
Except for these differences in spelling, written English is more or less the same in both British English and American English.
不过,英国英语和美国英语的书面语几乎是一样的。
The differences are greater in the spoken language.
英国英语和美国英语在口语中的差别更大。
For example, Americanssay dance /dæns/, and in southern England they say /da:ns/.
例如:美国人说dance/dæns/,而英国南部的人说/da:ns/。
In America, they pronounce not /nat/; in southern England they say /nɔt/.
在美国,人们说not/nat/,而在英国南部,人们说/nɔt/。
However, most of the time people from the two countries do not have any difficulty in understanding each other.
然而,大多数时候来自这两个国家的人毫不费力就能相互听懂。