外研必修五Module1 课文及翻译

Module 1British and American English Words,Words,WordsBritish and American English are different in many ways英式英语和美式英语在很多方面是不同的。

The first and most obvious way is in the vocabulary.首先，最为明显的方面是在词汇方面。

There are hundreds of different words which are not used on the other side of the Atlantic, or which are used with a different meaning.有成百上千的不同的词在大西洋彼岸是不被使用的或以不同的意思被使用。

Some of these words are well-known – Americans drive automobiles down freeways and fill up with gas; the British drive cars along motorways and fill up with petrol.有一些词是非常有名的，美国人在高速公路上驾驶时给车（automobile 汽车）加油加的是gas；而英国人通常来给车加油用的是petrol（汽油）。

As a tourist, you will need to used the underground in London or the subway in New York, or maybe you will prefer to get around the town by taxi (British) or cab (American).做为一个游客，你在伦敦将会使用underground來指地铁或在纽约使用subway，或许你将会更愿意选择用出租车taxi（英国）或cab（美国）来游览城市。

British and American Chips or French fries?But other words and expressions are not so well known.但是其他词语和表达方式没有这麽广泛的被人所知。

Americans use a flashlight, while for the British, it’s a torch.美国人把手电筒成为flashlight然而在英国，它被称做torch（火炬，火把；喷灯，吹管；光芒）。

The British queue up; Americans stand in line.在英国英语当中，排队要用queue up 而在美国要用stand in line 。

Sometimes the same word ahs a slightly different meaning, which can be confusing.有的时候同一个单词在意义上有轻微差别，这和种差别有事会使人疑惑不解。

Chips, for example, are pieces of hot fried potato in Britain; in the States chips are very thin and are sold in packets.例如：Chips 在英国中指的是油炸的或热炸的薯条；在美国，Chips 是非常薄的并且是放在袋里出售的。

The British call these crisps. The chips the British know and love are French fries on the other side of the Atlantic.英国人称它为Crisps英国人所熟悉并喜欢的这中薯条在大西洋彼岸却被称之为French fries 。

Have or have got ？There are a few differences in grammar, too.在语法方面英式英语和美式英语也有一些不同。

The British say Have you got…? while Americans prefer Do you have…?英国人通常说“have you got ...?”而美国人更愿意使用“Do you have ...?”An American might say My friend just arrived, but a British person would say My friend has just arrived.一个美国人通常会说“My friend has just arrived .”但是一个英国人通常会说“My friend has just arrived.”Prepositions, too, can be different: compare on the team, on the weekend (American) with in the team, at the weekend (British).介词的用法也有一定不同：我们可以比较一下，在美式英语中用on the team ,on the weekend 在英式英语中用in the team ,at the weekend 。

The British use prepositions where Americans sometimes omit them (I’ll see you Monday; write me soon!)英国人用介词的地方美国人有时会省略掉（I’ll see you Monday ;Write me soon!）。

Colour or color?The other two areas in which the two varieties differ are spelling and pronunciation.此外，在两中英语中另外两个领域的区别是拼写和发音。

American spelling seems simpler: center, color and program instead of centre, colour and programme.美国人拼写看起来似乎简单些：center, color和programme。

Many factors have influenced American pronunciation since the first settlers arrived four hundred years ago.自从四百多年以前第一批移民到来有很多的因素影响着美式发音。

The accent, which is most similar to British English, can be heard on the East Coast of the US.这个与英式英语非常相似的口音能够在美国东海岸被听到。

When the Irish writer George Bernard Shaw made the famous remark that the British and the Americans are two nations divided by a common language, he was obviously thinking about the differences.当爱尔兰的作家乔治.萧伯纳将这个“英国和美国是被一个语言分开两个民族”这句名言时，他显然想到了他们之间的差别。

But are they really so important? After all, there is probably as much variation of pronunciation within the two countries as between them.但是这些区别真的很重要吗？毕竟两个国家境内口音的差别可能和两个两国之间的口音差别可能一样多。

A Londoner has more difficulty understanding a Scotsman from Glasgow than understanding a New Yorker.伦敦人要听懂来自格拉斯哥的苏格兰人说话要比纽约人更难。

Turn on the TVSome experts believe that the two varieties are moving closer together.很多专家都相信这两种语音正在变得更接近。

For more than a century communications across the Atlantic have developed steadily.一个多世纪以来大西洋的这两种交流在稳定的发展。

Since the 1980s, with satellite TV and the Internet, it has been possible to listen to British and American English at the flick of a switch.自从20世纪80年代以来随着卫星电视和因特网的使用，便利的听到英式英语和美式英语成为一种可能。

This non-stop communication, the experts think, has made it easier for British people and Americans to understand each other.这种不间断的交流使得英美两国人彼此间理解对方已经变得很容易了。

But it has also led to lots of American words and structures passing into British English, so that some people now believe that British English will disappear.但是这也致使了很多英语单词和结构进入到英国英语以致于现在有一些人认为英式英语将会消失。

However, if you turn on CNN, the American TV network, you find newsreaders and weather forecasters all speaking with different accents – American, British, Australian, and even Spanish.然而，如果你打开美国电视网络的节目CNN的时候，你会发现新闻播报员也好、天气预报员也好他们都发着不同的口音，美国的、英国的、澳大利亚的甚至是西班牙的。