除了clothes,还有这些词是永远的复数!

除了clothes，还有这些词是永远的复数！

英语与汉语分属两个不同的语言体系，这种区别虽然给英语学习增添了一些难度，却也为它带来了不少乐趣。

今天英大为大家整理了一些只能用作复数的单词，背后的故事也惊喜多多，一起来学习吧。Trousers裤子Looking back, to around the 16th century, there was once a singular trouser – or, rather, a singular trouse; the –er form was always plural and may have been modelled on ‘drawers’. You might expect trouse to have originally designated a single leg, in much the manner of sleeve, but this is not the case. A trouse was not a world away from modern day trousers. But at the same time, trouses was used in its plural form for the same object.

回首过去，在大约16世纪，人们也曾使用过它的单数形式trouser，那时候也写作trouse。以-er结尾的名词通常都用复数形式，这可能是受到drawer（抽屉）的影响。你可能会以为裤子一开始只有一条裤腿，就像sleeve（袖子）一样，但事实却不是这样。以前的trouse和我们今天的裤子其实也没有什么大不同，都是“紧包臀部和腿部的服装，一直延伸到袜子处”。复数形式的trousers其实也是指的同一事物。

还有一些表示衣物的词语，它们也经常以复数形式出现，如

pants、shorts（短裤）、leggings（紧身裤）、jeans、flares （喇叭裤）、tights（连裤袜/紧身裤）、overalls（工装裤）、dungarees（背带裤）等。Scissors

剪刀The word scissors dates back to the 15th century, and in its first-known uses appeared either as singular or plural. The latter quickly overtook the former in popularity, and today you are only likely to encounter the singular scissor as a verb or used attributively to form a compound noun such as scissor kick.

Scissor这个单词可以追溯到15世纪，一开始它的单复数形式都被人们拿来使用。但后者很快赢得更多的人气，并取代了前者。今天，只有在scissor作为动词或者作为修饰词来构成复合名词时，如scissor kick（飞踢）, 才使用单数形式。许多其他表示双刃工具的名词也使用复数形式，如pliers（钳子），forceps（医用镊子），shears（修剪花木的大剪刀），tweezers（镊子），tongs（烧瓶钳）。Glasses

眼镜Obviously the singular noun glass exists, but when referring to eyewear, you will only hear about glasses; even the fashion world doesn’t seem yet to have started recommending that people wear a chic glass. The same is true of binoculars, spectacles, and goggles.

很显然，glass作为单数名词确实存在，但涉及到眼镜时，

你只会听到人们说glasses。甚至连时尚界人士在推荐眼镜

时都不会用a chic（别致的）glass。同样情况的单词还有binoculars（双筒望远镜）、spectacles（眼镜）、和goggles （护目镜）。Clothes

衣服Looking more broadly in the world of attire, we speak of clothes, but never of a single clothe (a word which exists only as a verb). Cloth exists as a singular noun, but meaning ‘woven or felted fabric, made from wool, cotton,

or a similar fibre’, rather than ‘a garment’.

放眼服装界，我们通常都说clothes，而不是它的单数形式clothe(该词只在做动词时用单数)。Cloth作为单数名词，意为“编织或缩绒而成的织物，有羊毛、棉花或类似的纤维制成”，而不是“一件衣服”。

This was not always the case. In the late 14th century,

cloth could be used to refer to a single garment, robe, or coat; this use is found in Piers Plowma n, Wycliffe’s translation of the Psalms, and the works of Chaucer.

但情况并非总是如此。在14世纪末期，cloth意为一件衣服、长袍或大衣。这种用法可以在《农夫皮尔斯》、威克利夫的

译作《诗篇》以及乔叟的作品中看到。Thanks

谢谢Although the verb thank is common, especially in the exclamation thank you, you wouldn’t give somebody a