时间:2019-02-19 作者:英语课 分类:听播客学英语


英语课

   What is the difference between apples and sugar?


  What is the difference between light-bulbs and electricity?
  What is the difference between trees and rain?
  What do you think? Do you give up? Shall I tell you?
  The difference between apples and sugar is simply this. You can count apples – one apple, two apples, three apples etc. You cannot count sugar. You can weigh sugar, you can measure sugar, but you cannot count sugar. And it is the same with lightbulbs and electricity, and trees and rain. You can count lightbulbs and trees; you cannot count electricity or rain.
  Does this matter, you may be asking? Why is he telling us these things?
  Well, dear listeners, often we want to say “how many?” or “how much?” of something there is. And when we do this we need to remember that there are some words which we can use only with things we can count, and other words which we can use only with things we cannot count. Here are some examples.
  We can count cars – one car, two cars etc. We can say:
  there are only a few cars on the road today
  there are many cars on the road today
  there are several cars parked outside my house
  there are fewer cars than there were yesterday
  “Few”, “many”, “several” and “fewer” are words that we can use with things we can count, like cars. But we cannot use them with things that we cannot count.
  ... but we cannot count water
  Photo by rogilde/flickr
  Or, imagine that you are painting your house. We cannot count paint. We can weigh paint, and we can measure paint, but we cannot count paint. We can say:
  I need a little paint for the kitchen (or a little bit of paint for the kitchen).
  so I do not need to buy much paint.
  but I need a large amount of paint for living room.
  I need less paint for the bathroom than for the bedroom.
  “A little”, “much”, “a large amount of” and “less” are words that we can use with things that we cannot count like paint, but not with things that we can count.
  How do you know what things we can count and what things we cannot count? Well, generally, if a noun 1 is a plural 2 noun (if it has an “-s” on the end), then it is the name of something we can count, like apples or cars. And if the noun is singular 3 (no “-s” on the end) then it is the name of something that we cannot count, like electricity or rain. If you find it easier, think “plural or singular” instead of “countable or not countable”. And remember that there are also lots of words and expressions that you can use both with things you can count and with things that you cannot count (“lots of..” is one of them).
  There is a grammar note on the podcast website with a PDF file which you can download. And there is also a quiz, so that you can test whether you have understood the podcast.
  Finally, here is a problem for you to think about. In many supermarkets in England, they have a check-out which is specially 4 for people who only want to buy a few things. This is so that they do not have to wait a long time behind people who are buying a whole month’s groceries for a family of 12 people. There is a sign to show which is the check-out for people who are buying only a few things. In some supermarkets, the sign says “10 items or less”. But in one supermarket, it says “10 items or fewer”. Which one is right? Answer next time.

n.名词
  • What kind of noun is this?这是哪类名词?
  • This word is a collective noun.这个词是个集体名词。
n.复数;复数形式;adj.复数的
  • Most plural nouns in English end in's '.英语的复数名词多以s结尾。
  • Here you should use plural pronoun.这里你应该用复数代词。
adj.个人的,单数的,独一的,唯一的,非凡的;n.单数
  • The young man has a singular ear for music.这个年轻人对音乐有非凡的欣赏力。
  • The noun is in the singular.这个名词是单数形式。
adv.特定地;特殊地;明确地
  • They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
  • The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。
学英语单词
accessions
acute suppurative pulpitis
adjustable ratio autotransformer
affinities
after-sound
air cargo agent
antiplasmins
autopipettes
be competent for
beach rampart
carya illinoinses
chernomyrdins
chilling point
colour-coded cable
computer-based messaging system
coreless
couchsurfing
cross check system
dade
desomorphine
DIAND
Eucalyptus citriodora
excitonic molecule
facultative chemoautotroph
faron
first-baseman
fleet streets
forest margin
galactopoiesis
Garara
genus ochotonas
Guatemala
hand held perimeter
heliographic coordinates
heshe
hydraulic ram pump
hysterauxesis
impregnated yarn
inductomeric
isothermal flow in pipe
La Ciénaga
Laval University
load vector
maclay
marble aggregate
massanutten
mast tackle
metaphysico-
mop ups
moschus moschiferuss
nandy
Neolitsea aurata var. glauca
Norwegian Patent
not in my backyard
noyon
orthographer
oval closure
phosglycin
planning program
poroplastic
previsive
pseudocercospora diversispora
radial head subluxation
rapid-curing material
ravina
rechurned
representative modul
rhodplumsite
rhone-style
roseworm
salt-fog resistance
Sidi Abdalah
sincerest
skin tone
SMAST
SMD-TMP
speere
spore prints
stage-capacity curve
Stew.
stragetic innovation
sync leader
syndrome of adverse rising of stomach qi
syndrome of deficiency of kidney qi
syrups
temperature indicating paint
tempestous
thalictiin
thinness number
thrust augmentation control
titanum
toluic anhydride
tow-hook
transistor power supply
transmisson test bay
Tsagan-Nur
unusuall
war-time medicine
wayside identification apparatus
white sale
windiness
window thermometer