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人们在学英语的同时也在改变英语(上)

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在10亿讲英语的人中,只有不到一半的人生活在这些核心英语国家。

人们在学英语的同时也在改变英语(上)

双语精读

A language for the world

属于世界的语言

By learning English, people around the globe are changing it, too.

世界各地的人们在学习英语的同时也在改变英语。

What country does French belong to? The answer seems obvious: France, as it says on the label. But there are roughly four times as many speakers of French outside France as there are within it.

法语属于哪个国家?答案很明显:法国,顾名思义就是“法国的语言”。但法国以外讲法语的人数大约是法国人数的四倍。

Who does Portuguese belong to? You might now hesitate to blurt out "Portugal", remembering that Brazil's population is about 20 times bigger than Portugal's.

葡萄牙语属于谁?你现在可能会犹豫一下,而不是脱口而出“葡萄牙”,因为你想起来巴西的人口大约是葡萄牙人口的20倍。

Maybe Portuguese belongs jointly to them both. But then 70m people live in African countries in which Portuguese is an official language. Perhaps it belongs to them, too.

也许葡萄牙语属于这两个国家。但还有7000万人生活在以葡萄牙语为官方语言的非洲国家。或许葡萄牙语也属于他们。

The English can be under no illusion that the language of the same nam e is exclusively theirs. The small matters of the other nations in the British Isles, and of the superpower across the Atlantic, make clear that it is joint property.

英格兰人绝不会幻想英语为他们所独有。不列颠群岛上的其他几个民族和大西洋彼岸的超级大国之间的瓜葛都清楚地表明,英语是共同财产。

But these countries-along with Canada, Australia and other Anglophone peoples-must at some point come to terms with the fact that, even collectively, their language no longer belongs to them.

但这些国家--以及加拿大、澳大利亚和其他讲英语的民族--必须迟早接受这样一个事实,即就算他们作为整体,英语也不再属于他们。

Of the estimated billion people who speak English, less than half live in those core English-speaking countries. Every day, the proportion of English-speakers born outside the traditional Anglosphere grows.

据估计,在10亿讲英语的人中,只有不到一半的人生活在这些核心英语国家。出生于传统英语文化圈之外的说英语的人的比例每天都在增加。

Perhaps 40% of people in the European Union speak English, or about 180m-vastly more than the combined population of Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

欧盟可能有40%的人说英语,相当于1.8亿人,远远超过英国、加拿大、澳大利亚和新西兰人口的总和。

In India, calculations range from 60m to 200m. Most such estimates make it the second-biggest Anglophone country in the world.

在印度,这一数字为6000万至2亿。大多数这样的估计结果使印度成为世界第二大说英语的国家。

English-speakers pride themselves on the spread of the language, and often attribute that to an open, liberal-minded attitude whereby it has happily soaked up words from around the world.

说英语的人为英语的传播感到自豪,并经常将其归因于一种开放、自由的态度,凭借这种态度,英语欣然吸收了来自世界各地的词汇。

In the coming century, though, English will do more than borrow words. In these non-Anglophone countries, it is becoming not just a useful second language, but a native one.

然而,在接下来的一个世纪里,英语将不仅仅是借来词汇。在这些非英语国家,英语不仅会成为一种有用的第二语言,而且会成为一种母语。

Already it is easy to find children in northern Europe who speak as though they come from Kansas, the product of childhoods immersed in subtitled films and television in English, along with music, gaming and YouTube.

现在已经很容易找到说起话来像来自美国堪萨斯州的北欧小孩了,这是小孩从小沉浸在有字幕的英语影视,以及音乐、游戏和YouTube视频的结果。

词汇预习

  • roughly [高考]

    美[ˈrʌfli] | 英[ˈrʌfli]

    adv. 粗略地;大约;粗暴地;粗糙地;粗鲁地

  • property [高考]

    美[ˈprɑːpərti] | 英[ˈprɒpəti]

    n. 财产;所有物;地产,房地产;性质;道具

  • core [高考]

    美[kɔːr] | 英[kɔː(r)]

    n. 核心, 精髓, (水果的)果心, (物体的)中心部分 adj. 最重要的, 主要的, 基本的, 核心(信念、价值、原则等) v. 去掉(水果)的果心, 去(水果)的核儿

  • joint [高考]

    美[dʒɔɪnt] | 英[dʒɔɪnt]

    adj. 联合的;共同的;连带的;合资的 n. 关节;接头;接合处;接缝;夜总会 v. 贴合;连接

  • proportion [高考]

    美[prəˈpɔːrʃn] | 英[prəˈpɔːʃn]

    n. 部分;比例;均衡;(复)规模 vt. 使成比例;使均衡;分摊

  • within [高考]

    美[wɪˈðɪn] | 英[wɪˈðɪn]

    prep. 在(某段时间、距离或范围)内;在…里面 adv. 在…里面 n. 内部

  • range [高考]

    美[reɪndʒ] | 英[reɪndʒ]

    n.范围; 射程; 类别; (山脉,房屋等的)排列 vi.搜索; 变化; 延伸; 漫游 vt.排列; (按一定位置或顺序)排序; 把…分类; 徘徊 adj.牧场的,放牧区的

  • obvious [高考]

    美[ˈɑːbviəs] | 英[ˈɒbviəs]

    adj.明显的;显著的;平淡无奇的;自明

  • hesitate [高考]

    美[ˈhezɪteɪt] | 英[ˈhezɪteɪt]

    vi. 犹豫;不情愿;口吃

  • as though [高考]

    美[æz ðoʊ] | 英[æz ðəʊ]

    conj. 仿佛;好像

  • attribute [高考]

    美[əˈtrɪbjuːt] | 英[əˈtrɪbjuːt]

    vt. 把 ... 归于 n. 属性;标志;象征;特征

  • liberal [四级]

    美[ˈlɪbərəl] | 英[ˈlɪbərəl]

    adj. 慷慨的;大方的;开明的;自由主义的 n. 自由主义者;开明的人

  • exclusively [四级]

    美[ɪkˈskluːsɪvli] | 英[ɪkˈskluːsɪvli]

    adv. 专门地;排他地;独占地;仅仅;只

  • superpower [四级]

    美[ˈsupərpaʊə(r)] | 英[ˈsu:pəpaʊə(r)]

    n. 超级大国;超能力

  • English-speaking [四级]

    美[ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ ˈspikɪŋ] | 英[ˈɪŋglɪʃ ˈspi:kɪŋ]

    adj. 说英语的

  • vastly [四级]

    美[ˈvæstli] | 英[ˈvɑ:stli]

    adv. 极大地;广大地;巨大地

  • illusion [四级]

    美[ɪˈluːʒn] | 英[ɪˈluːʒn]

    n. 错觉;幻觉;错误的信仰(或观念)

  • happily [四级]

    美[ˈhæpɪli] | 英[ˈhæpɪli]

    adv. 幸福地;快乐地;幸好;恰当地

  • jointly [四级]

    美[ˈdʒɔɪntlɪ] | 英[dʒɔɪntlɪ]

    adv. 共同地;连带地

  • come to [四级]

    美[kʌm tu] | 英[kʌm tu]

    v. 总计;苏醒;到达;突然想起

  • live in [四级]

    美[liv ɪn] | 英[liv in]

    v. 住进

  • make it [四级]

    美[mek ɪt] | 英[meik it]

    成功 达到预定目标,性交易,幸存

  • along with [四级]

    美[əˈlɔːŋ wɪð] | 英[əˈlɒŋ wɪð]

    与...在一起;在...以外;沿着;随着;(除…之外)又…,加之

  • whereby [六级]

    美[werˈbaɪ] | 英[weəˈbaɪ]

    adv. 凭借

  • range from [六级]

    美[rendʒ frʌm] | 英[reindʒ frɔm]

    v. 从 ... 到 ... 变动;从 ... 到 ... 范围;延伸;绵亘

  • come to terms with [六级]

    美 | 英

    达成协议, 妥协

  • learning [专八]

    美[ˈlɜːrnɪŋ] | 英[ˈlɜːnɪŋ]

    n. 学问;学识;学习

  • blurt [专八]

    美[blɜrt] | 英[blɜ:t]

    vt. 冲口说出;突然说出

  • non [考研]

    美[nɒn] | 英[nɒn]

    adv. [拉]非;不是

  • less than [雅思]

    美[les ðən] | 英[les ðən]

    不到; 少于

  • terms [雅思]

    美[tɜːrmz] | 英[tɜːmz]

    n. 条件;条款;关系;措辞

重点讲解

A language for the world

属于世界的语言

X times as + adj. as sth  是某物的X倍

【例】three times as long as sth 某物的三倍长

【拓展】

1.X times the + n. of sth 是某物的X倍

【例】The speakers of French outside France are four times the number of those within it.

法国以外讲法语的人数大约是法国人数的四倍。

2.X times more + adj. than sth  是某物的X倍

【例】There are four times more speakers of French outside France than there are within it.

法国以外讲法语的人数大约是法国人数的四倍。

By learning English, people around the globe are changing it, too.

世界各地的人们在学习英语的同时也在改变英语。

X times as + adj. as sth  是某物的X倍

【例】three times as long as sth 某物的三倍长

【拓展】

1.X times the + n. of sth 是某物的X倍

【例】The speakers of French outside France are four times the number of those within it.

法国以外讲法语的人数大约是法国人数的四倍。

2.X times more + adj. than sth  是某物的X倍

【例】There are four times more speakers of French outside France than there are within it.

法国以外讲法语的人数大约是法国人数的四倍。

What country does French belong to? The answer seems obvious: France, as it says on the label. But there are roughly four times as many speakers of French outside France as there are within it.

法语属于哪个国家?答案很明显:法国,顾名思义就是“法国的语言”。但法国以外讲法语的人数大约是法国人数的四倍。

X times as + adj. as sth  是某物的X倍

【例】three times as long as sth 某物的三倍长

【拓展】

1.X times the + n. of sth 是某物的X倍

【例】The speakers of French outside France are four times the number of those within it.

法国以外讲法语的人数大约是法国人数的四倍。

2.X times more + adj. than sth  是某物的X倍

【例】There are four times more speakers of French outside France than there are within it.

法国以外讲法语的人数大约是法国人数的四倍。

Who does Portuguese belong to? You might now hesitate to blurt out “Portugal”, remembering that Brazil’s population is about 20 times bigger than Portugal’s.

葡萄牙语属于谁?你现在可能会犹豫一下,而不是脱口而出“葡萄牙”,因为你想起来巴西的人口大约是葡萄牙人口的20倍。

blurt out  脱口而出;不假思索地突然说

【例】She blurted it out before I could stop her. 

我还没来得及制止,她已脱口把事情说了出来。

【近义词】slip sth out  无意中说出;说漏了嘴

【例】I'm sorry I said that. It just slipped out. 

抱歉,我说了这样的话。这不过是无意中说出口的。

jointly  adv. 共同地;联合地

【例】They are working jointly on a new project.

他们正在共同合作开展一个新项目。

【拓展】joint/join  adj./v. 共同的;联合的/加入;连接

【例】The new project is a joint effort.

这个新项目是合作的成果。

join hands with them on this project

在这个项目上和他们合作

Maybe Portuguese belongs jointly to them both. But then 70m people live in African countries in which Portuguese is an official language. Perhaps it belongs to them, too.

也许葡萄牙语属于这两个国家。但还有7000万人生活在以葡萄牙语为官方语言的非洲国家。或许葡萄牙语也属于他们。

blurt out  脱口而出;不假思索地突然说

【例】She blurted it out before I could stop her. 

我还没来得及制止,她已脱口把事情说了出来。

【近义词】slip sth out  无意中说出;说漏了嘴

【例】I'm sorry I said that. It just slipped out. 

抱歉,我说了这样的话。这不过是无意中说出口的。

jointly  adv. 共同地;联合地

【例】They are working jointly on a new project.

他们正在共同合作开展一个新项目。

【拓展】joint/join  adj./v. 共同的;联合的/加入;连接

【例】The new project is a joint effort.

这个新项目是合作的成果。

join hands with them on this project

在这个项目上和他们合作

The English can be under no illusion that the language of the same nam e is exclusively theirs. The small matters of the other nations in the British Isles, and of the superpower across the Atlantic, make clear that it is joint property.

英格兰人绝不会幻想英语为他们所独有。不列颠群岛上的其他几个民族和大西洋彼岸的超级大国之间的瓜葛都清楚地表明,英语是共同财产。

matter  n. 事情;问题

【例】a private matter 私事

on all matters great and small 在一切大小事情上

【拓展】

1.a matter of  几个;少数

【例】The game was over in a matter of minutes. 

游戏几分钟就结束了。

2.the small matter  (反讽)小问题(其实是大问题)

【例】He wants to buy a new car, but first there's the small matter of getting enough money to pay for it.

他想买辆新车,但首先就有一个“小问题”:要凑够钱来买。

But these countries—along with Canada, Australia and other Anglophone peoples—must at some point come to terms with the fact that, even collectively, their language no longer belongs to them.

但这些国家--以及加拿大、澳大利亚和其他讲英语的民族--必须迟早接受这样一个事实,即就算他们作为整体,英语也不再属于他们。

come to terms with  妥协;接受(令人不快的事物);适应(困难的处境)

【例】After a period of struggle, he finally came to terms with his disability.

经过一段时间的挣扎,他终于接受了自己的残疾。

【近义词】accept/reconcile oneself to 妥协;接受

Of the estimated billion people who speak English, less than half live in those core English-speaking countries. Every day, the proportion of English-speakers born outside the traditional Anglosphere grows.

据估计,在10亿讲英语的人中,只有不到一半的人生活在这些核心英语国家。出生于传统英语文化圈之外的说英语的人的比例每天都在增加。

come to terms with  妥协;接受(令人不快的事物);适应(困难的处境)

【例】After a period of struggle, he finally came to terms with his disability.

经过一段时间的挣扎,他终于接受了自己的残疾。

【近义词】accept/reconcile oneself to 妥协;接受

Perhaps 40% of people in the European Union speak English, or about 180m—vastly more than the combined population of Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

欧盟可能有40%的人说英语,相当于1.8亿人,远远超过英国、加拿大、澳大利亚和新西兰人口的总和。

range from A to B/between A and B  在A至B之间

【例】The prices of the items in the store range from 5to5 to 50.

商店里商品的价格从5美元到50美元不等。

【近义词】vary from A to B 在A和B之间不等

pride oneself on sth  因某事而骄傲

【例】She had always prided herself on her appearance. 

她总是对自己的外貌感到得意。

【拓展】take pride in sth  因某事而骄傲

In India, calculations range from 60m to 200m. Most such estimates make it the second-biggest Anglophone country in the world.

在印度,这一数字为6000万至2亿。大多数这样的估计结果使印度成为世界第二大说英语的国家。

range from A to B/between A and B  在A至B之间

【例】The prices of the items in the store range from 5to5 to 50.

商店里商品的价格从5美元到50美元不等。

【近义词】vary from A to B 在A和B之间不等

pride oneself on sth  因某事而骄傲

【例】She had always prided herself on her appearance. 

她总是对自己的外貌感到得意。

【拓展】take pride in sth  因某事而骄傲

English-speakers pride themselves on the spread of the language, and often attribute that to an open, liberal-minded attitude whereby it has happily soaked up words from around the world.

说英语的人为英语的传播感到自豪,并经常将其归因于一种开放、自由的态度,凭借这种态度,英语欣然吸收了来自世界各地的词汇。

range from A to B/between A and B  在A至B之间

【例】The prices of the items in the store range from 5to5 to 50.

商店里商品的价格从5美元到50美元不等。

【近义词】vary from A to B 在A和B之间不等

pride oneself on sth  因某事而骄傲

【例】She had always prided herself on her appearance. 

她总是对自己的外貌感到得意。

【拓展】take pride in sth  因某事而骄傲

In the coming century, though, English will do more than borrow words. In these non-Anglophone countries, it is becoming not just a useful second language, but a native one.

然而,在接下来的一个世纪里,英语将不仅仅是借来词汇。在这些非英语国家,英语不仅会成为一种有用的第二语言,而且会成为一种母语。

be immersed in  沉浸于

【例】She was completely immersed in her studies and barely noticed the time passing.

她完全沉浸在学习中,几乎没有注意到时间的流逝。

【近义词】be absorbed in  沉浸

Already it is easy to find children in northern Europe who speak as though they come from Kansas, the product of childhoods immersed in subtitled films and television in English, along with music, gaming and YouTube.

现在已经很容易找到说起话来像来自美国堪萨斯州的北欧小孩了,这是小孩从小沉浸在有字幕的英语影视,以及音乐、游戏和YouTube视频的结果。

be immersed in  沉浸于

【例】She was completely immersed in her studies and barely noticed the time passing.

她完全沉浸在学习中,几乎没有注意到时间的流逝。

【近义词】be absorbed in  沉浸

课后练习

  • What does the question “who does Portuguese belong to” imply?

    A. The ownership of a language is determined by the history.

    B. The Portuguese language may not belong to its country of origin.

    C. The Portuguese language is less popular than other languages.

    D. It is unclear which of the countries speak the Portuguese language.

  • What can be learned about the English language?

    A. It has become a joint property due to its use in many countries.

    B. The authentic English is only spoken within the British Isles.

    C. It is becoming less popular outside of England.

    D. It is widely used because of the power of the UK and the US.

  • How do English speakers perceive the spread of the language?

    A. They are concerned about the erosion of their culture.

    B. They believe that core English speakers still outnumber other Anglophones.

    C. They are delighted and facilitated the influence of other languages on English.

    D. They become less inclined to learn languages other than English.

  • What does the example of children in northern Europe illustrate?

    A. The internet has brought more benefits than harm to children.

    B. The influence of American culture on European children is disturbing.

    C. The need for English language education in European schools is increasing.

    D. English may become a mother tongue for people in non-Anglophone countries.