british english.docx

british english.docx

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britishenglish

美国人对英国人的英语，和英国人对美国人的英语都存在偏见，而且是十分深的偏见。

这是两种文化的表现，两种思维方式的表现。

从个人角度看，最难让中国人接受的英语应该是澳大利亚口音，当然不算印度和巴基斯坦口音。

BritishEnglish,AmericanEnglish,thesamelanguage?

ItwassaidbySirGeorgeBernardShawthat"EnglandandAmericaaretwocountriesseparatedbythesamelanguage."MyfirstpersonalexperienceofthiswaswhenIworkedasacamp露营counselorfortwomonthsin2000inSummerCamprun运行管理bytheBoyScouts童子军ofAmerica,aspartofaninternationalleaderexchangescheme.BeforeIwent,alltheparticipantsintheschemeweregivenashortlistofwordsthatareincommonuseintheUKwhichAmericanswouldeitherbeconfusedbyorwouldevenoffendthem.Imemorizedthewordsandthought"I'llcope处理".

WhenIfinallyarrivedintheStatesthreemonthslater,IrealizedthatperhapsalifetimeofwatchingAmericantelevisionwasnotadequatepreparationforappreciating察觉andcopingwiththedifferencesbetweenAmericanandBritishspeech.InthefirsthourofarrivingatthecampIwasexposedtoHighSchoolAmericanEnglish,BlackAmericanEnglishandAmericanEnglishspokenbyJoe[美口]典型的美国Public,alleverydifferenttoeachother.Needlesstosay,Ididcopeintheend.TheAmericansImetwereverywelcomingandhelpful,andIfoundtheywerepatientwithmewhenImadeasocialfaux<法>adj.假的pas舞蹈whenIusedaninappropriatewordorphrase.

UponmyreturnIbegantowonderwhetheranyonehaddocumented用文件[证件]证明thedifferencesbetweenAmericanandBritishEnglish.Ifoundseveralbooksonthesubjectbutoftenthesewerewritteninadry乏味的andacademic学术的way.IfeltthatIcoulddobetterandusemysenseofhumorandpersonalexperiencestohelppeoplefrombothsidesofAtlantictocommunicatemoreeffectivelywhentheymeet.

Myresearchintothesubjectledmetoseveralconclusions.

Firstly,AmericanEnglishandBritishEnglisharecoveringthanksto多亏了increasedtransatlantic横跨大西洋的travelandthemedia.Themovementofslang俚语wordsismostlyeastwards,thoughafewwordsfromtheUKhavebeenadoptedbytheIvyleaguefraternities团体（美国东北部哈佛、哥伦比亚等八个名牌大学的）常春藤联合会.Thisconvergent集中的trendisarecentonedatingfrom从何时期开始theemergenceofHollywoodasthepredominant占主导地位的filmmakingcenterintheworldandalsofromtheSecondWorldWarwhenlargenumbersofAmericanGIs美国兵werestationed驻扎intheUK.Thistrendwasconsolidated加固bytheadventoftelevision.Beforethen,itwasthoughtthatAmericanEnglishandBritishEnglishwoulddivergeasthetwolanguagesevolved发展.In1789,Noah诺[挪]亚（男子名）Webster美国词典编辑家,inwhosenameAmericandictionariesarestillpublishedtothisday,statedthat:

"Numerouslocalcauses,suchasanewcountry,newassociationsofpeople,newcombinationsofideasintheartsandsomeintercourse交流withtribes部落whollyunknowninEuropewillintroducenewwordsintotheAmericantongue."Hewasright,buthisnextstatementhassincebeenprovedtobeincorrect.“Thesecauses起因willproduce招致inthecourseoftimealanguageinNorthAmericaasdifferentfromthemodernDutch荷兰语,Danish丹麦语andSwedish瑞典语arefromtheGermanorfromoneanother."

WebsterhadunderratedtheamountofsocialintercoursebetweenEnglandandherformercolony殖民地.EvenbeforeWebsterhadstartedtocompile编译hisdictionary,wordsandexpressionsfromtheAmericahadalreadyinfiltrated渗透theBritishlanguage,forexample"canoe独木舟"and"hatchet短柄小斧".VeryfewpeopleinBritainrealizehowmanyofthewordstheyuseareofAmericanorigin.Oftenthisimportation进口ofAmericanwordshasencounteredalinguistic语言上的snobbery势利行为bytheBritish,whichwasamanifestation显示oftheculturalsnobberythatbedeviled使苦恼Anglo英国人-Americanrelationshipsforalongtime.Thisisnot,thankfully,thecasenow.

Secondly,therearesomegeneralizations概括thatcanbemadeaboutAmericanandBritishEnglishwhichcanrevealthenatureofthetwonationsandtheirpeoples.Britishspeechtendstobelessgeneral,anddirectedmore,innuances细微差别ofmeaning,attendant伴随的murmurings低声说andpauses,carriesawealthofsharedassumptions假装andattitudes.Inotherwords,theBritisharepreoccupied全神贯注的withtheirsocialstatuswithinsocietyandspeakandactaccordinglytofitintothesocialclasstheyaspire追求to.Thisisparticularlyevidentwhentalkingtosomeonefrom"themiddleclass"whenhepointsoutthatheis"uppermiddleclass"ratherthan"middleclass"or"lowermiddleclass".JohnMajor梅杰（theformerUKPrimeMinister）mayhavesaidthatwearenowlivingina"classlesssociety"buttheclasssystemstillprevails盛行.AtthatmomentbothheandtheLeaderoftheOpposition反对派,TonyBlair,weretalkingaboutcapturingthe"middleEngland","middleclassvote"asthekeytowinningthenextgeneralelection.Americanspeechtendstobeinfluencedbytheover-heatedlanguageofmuchofthemedia,whichisdesignedtoattach加入animpressionofexcitingactivitytopassive被动的事情,ifsometimesinsignificant无关紧要的events.Yet,curiously,reallyviolentactivityandlife-changingeventsarehiddeninblindantiseptic冷静的tonesthatservetodisguise伪装thereality.Twoexamplescomereadily容易地tomind--theUSMilitarywiththeir"friendlyfire"and"collateral间接的damages"andthebusinessworldwiththeirdownsizing减少规模".Britishpeopletendtounderstatement谨慎的说法whereasAmericanstowardshyperbole夸张法.ABriton英国人mightrespondtoasuggestionwithawordsuchas"Terrific!

"onlyifheisexpressingrapturous兴高采烈的enthusiasm,whereasanAmericanmightusethewordmerelytosignify表示politeassent赞成.

Thirdly,TheAmericanlanguagehadlessregardthantheBritishforgrammatical语法上的form,andwillhappilybulldoze用推土机推平itswayacrossdistinctions区别ratherthansteer朝…前进apathbetweenthem.AmericanEnglishwillcasuallyuseoneformofawordforanother,forexampleturningnounsintoverbsorverbsandnounsintoadjectives形容词.（这样的语言差异也出现在中文和日文的区别中。

）

IdohopewhatIhavesaidwillbeofsomehelpforthepeopleonbothsidesoftheAtlanticwhentheymeetandcommunicate.

由于跨洋交往的增加和新闻媒体的作用，美式英语和英式英语正在相互靠拢。

俚语词汇的流向主要是向东的，尽管少数源自英国的词汇已被常青藤院校所接受。

这两种语言的会聚趋势刚刚才显露出来，它开始于好莱坞作为世界主要电影生产中心的倔起，以及大量美国士兵驻扎在英国的二战时期。

电视的出现使这种趋势得到了增强。

随着时间的推移，这些原因将使北美大陆上产生一种与今后的英国语言不同的语言，这二者间的差异将与现代荷兰语、丹麦语、瑞典语同德语之间或这几种语言相互间的差异一样大。

”就英式英语和美式英语而言，人们可以作出一些归纳，这些归纳能够揭示两国及两国人民的特质。

英国人倾向于用相对具体、意义细腻而直接的语言去针对人群中的某一个亚群体。

这已经成为了一种社会规范，人们说的话不多，因为每一个词，随着与其相伴的沉吟与停顿，都承载着丰富的共享假定与态度。

，美语没有英语那样注重语法形式。

美语会像推土机一样在语言的差异间从一边到另一边快乐地推出一条路，而不会在差异间独辟一条路径。

美式英语会很随意地把一种词性用成另一种词性，例如把名词用成动词，或把动词和名词用成形容词。

我真诚地希望，当大西洋两岸的人们在相遇和交流时，我以上所说的能对他们有所帮助