VOA慢速英语2019 纽约人喜欢语法方面的小帮助
时间:2019-02-13 作者:英语课 分类:2019年VOA慢速英语(一)月
New Yorkers Enjoy a Little Help with Grammar
The New York City train system has a new unofficial stop – for people who love grammar…or even just have questions about it.
纽约市地铁出现了一个非官方的新站点——专为热爱语法或者只是对语法有疑问的人而设。
English language expert Ellen Jovin has put together an unusual “classroom.” There is a foldable table, books, a smile and a deep knowledge of grammar. She calls it Grammar Table. Jovin sits at the table in the subway and on city streets.
英语语言专家埃伦·乔文(Ellen Jovin)设计了一间与众不同的“教室”。乔文拥有的只有一张可折叠的桌子、几本书、一个微笑和深厚的语法知识。她称之为“语法桌”。乔文坐在位于地铁和城市街道的桌子一侧静候“学生”。
She smiles and waits for people to come by with grammar questions. Usually, she catches the interest of a lot of people.
她微笑着,等着人们过来咨询语法问题。通常,她会引起很多人的兴趣。
“Hello! Welcome to Grammar Table!”
“你好!欢迎来到语法桌!”
“Grammar Table! I love it. I love it! It’s hot.”
“语法桌!我喜欢!太酷了。”
More than one billion people in the world speak English. Another two billion are in the process of learning it – or trying to.
全球有超过10亿人说英语。另外还有20亿人正在学习、或是试着学习英语。
But English grammar rules frighten many – even native English speakers. Jovin’s mission is to help people who find themselves afraid of or confused by the world of English.
英语语法让许多人一头雾水,甚至有些母语人士也搞不清楚。乔文的任务就是帮助那些害怕或者困惑的人们找到自己的学习之路。
Jovin is a linguist 1. She has worked to spread her love for the English language for a long time. She has taught grammar to business professionals and writing at universities. She is also a published writer.
乔文是一名语言学家。长期以来,她一直致力于传播自己对英语的热爱。她在大学里教授商务人士语法和写作。她也是一位出版过作品的作家。
Jovin also owns a business communication training company with her husband. Online and traditional classes are her life. But she decided 2 to make things interesting and take her knowledge to the streets and subways of New York.
乔文和丈夫还共同经营着一家商业传播发展公司。线上和线下授课成为她生活的全部。但她决定为这些课程增添一些趣味,于是选择在纽约地铁和大街小巷传授知识。
"I put the sign up and it took 30 seconds for someone to come up and ask me a question: How many words do I think Donald Trump 3 knows?”
“我刚把告示牌贴上去,30秒后就有人过来询问,你觉得唐纳德·特朗普知道多少个单词。”
Though that is more of a political question, Jovin believes understanding language structure rules will help people around the world understand each other better.
虽然这是一个政治问题而非语法问题,但乔文认为,理解语言结构的规则将有助于人们在国际层面上相互理解。
On one recent day, a man came up to Jovin’s Grammar Table with a question about nouns.
近日,一名男子来到乔文的语法桌前,提了一个关于名词的问题。
"But I have read that it’s a collective noun. Is that what you’re calling it?”
该男子说:“我读到过这是一个集合名词,你是这么说的吗?”
“Yeah. So, it’s a special case. We can make special cases, right? Or do you want everything to be consistent 4?"
乔文说:“是的。这是一个特例。我们可以将它视作特殊情况,对吧?或者你希望一切都保持一致?”
The Grammar Table appeals to all kinds of people for whom English is filled with mysteries: students and older people, engineers and house cleaners, actors and even other language experts.
语法桌吸引了各行各业对英语充满好奇的人,学生和退休人员,工程师和管家,演员和其他语言学家。
Some of the most popular questions, Jovin says, are about commas.
乔文指出,其中最受欢迎的问题是关于逗号的。
"For example, if I say, ‘He ordered salad, spaghetti and soda,’ right before the ‘and,’ you can put a comma if you want in English. And it’s called the Oxford 5 comma or sometimes the serial 6 comma."
乔文说:“比方说,如果我说‘他点了沙拉、意大利面和苏打水’,你可以在‘和’字的前面加一个逗号,这个逗号也被称作牛津逗号,有时也被称为连续逗号。”
New York subway riders have accepted Jovin with warmth and interest. Musicians, policemen and even English teachers often stop by for a friendly chat.
纽约的地铁乘客热情并饶有兴趣地接受了这位新来的女孩。音乐家、警察,甚至英语老师都经常过来友好地聊天。
Walter Skrepnick is a teacher of English literature. He recently shared his thoughts about Grammar Table.
沃尔特·斯克里普尼克(Walter Skrepnick)是英国文学教师。他最近分享了自己对“语法桌”的看法。
"Things like that – that deal with language, that deal with culture – it’s refreshing 7 from some of the other things that go on."
他说:“这种把语言和文化联系起来的方式,让我觉得与众不同,耳目一新。”
But not all questions are about English – or even in English. Jovin can speak and understand several languages: Spanish, Italian, Portuguese 8, German, French, Chinese, Korean and Japanese. And she is trying to learn a few others, too.
人们来这里并不都是用英语咨询,也不都是询问英语相关的问题。乔文可以流利地用西班牙语、意大利语、葡萄牙语、德语、法语、中文、韩语和日语交流,并且她还在学习更多的语言。
Words in This Story
grammar – n. the set of rules that explain how words are used in a language
subway – n. a system of underground trains in a city
mission – n. ?a task that you consider to be a very important duty?
confused – adj. unable to understand or think clearly
linguist – n. a person who studies the way languages work
consistent – adj. continuing to happen or develop in the same way
comma – n. a punctuation 9 mark that is used to separate words or groups of words in a sentence
chat – n. a light and friendly conversation
literature – n. ?written works (such as poems, plays, and novels) that are considered to be very good and to have lasting 10 importance?
refreshing – adj. pleasantly new, different or interesting
- I used to be a linguist till I become a writer.过去我是个语言学家,后来成了作家。
- Professor Cui has a high reputation as a linguist.崔教授作为语言学家名声很高。
- This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
- There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
- He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
- The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手,作为他的王牌。
- He has been a consistent friend to the Chinese people.他是中国人民始终如一的朋友。
- His action is always consistent with his words.他始终言行一致。
- At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
- This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。
- A new serial is starting on television tonight.今晚电视开播一部新的电视连续剧。
- Can you account for the serial failures in our experiment?你能解释我们实验屡屡失败的原因吗?
- I find it'so refreshing to work with young people in this department.我发现和这一部门的青年一起工作令人精神振奋。
- The water was cold and wonderfully refreshing.水很涼,特别解乏提神。
- They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
- Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。
- My son's punctuation is terrible.我儿子的标点符号很糟糕。
- A piece of writing without any punctuation is difficult to understand.一篇没有任何标点符号的文章是很难懂的。