2019高中外研版新教材必修一Unit 2课文翻译Understanding ideas译文

Unit 2 Exploring English

Understanding ideas课文翻译

Have you ever asked yourself why people often have trouble learning English? I hadn’t, until one day my five-year-old son asked me whether there was ham in a hamburge. There isn’t. This made me realize that there’s no egg in eggplant either. Neither is there pine nor apple in pineapple. This got me thinking how English can be crazy language to learn.

你有没有问过自己为什么人们学英语时经常会遇到困难？我以前没有问过，直到有一天我五岁的儿子问我hamburge（汉堡包）里是否有ham（火腿）。没有。这使我意识到eggplant（茄子）里也没有egg。pineapple（菠萝）里也没有pine和apple。这让我思考为什么英语是一门让人学起来发狂的语言。

For example, in our free time we can sculpt a sculpture and paint a painting, but we take a photo. And when we are traveling we say that we are in the car or the taxi, but on the train or bus! While we’re doing all this traveling, we can get seasick at sea, airsick in the air and carsick in a car, but we don’t get homesick when we get back home. And speaking of home, why aren’t homework and housework the same thing?

例如，在空闲时间，我们可以雕一个雕塑，画一幅画，但是我们说拍一张照。当旅游时，我们说在小汽车或出租车里，但却说在火车上或公交车上！当我们旅行时，我们在船上可能会晕船，在飞机上会晕机，在车里会晕车，但是当我们回到家时，却不会homesick（想家）。提到家，为什么homework和housework意思不一样呢？

If “hard” is the opposite of “soft”, why are “hardly” and “softly” not an opposing pair? If harmless actions are the opposite of harmful actions, why are shameless and shameful behaviors the same?

如果hard是soft的反义词，为什么hardly和softly不是反义词呢？如果harmless actions和harmful actions相反，为什么shameless和shameful却意思相同呢？

When we look out of the window and see rain or snow, we can say “it’s raining” or “it’s snowing”. But when we see sunshine, we can’t say “it’s sunshing”.

当我们看窗外，看到雨或雪时，我们可以说“it’s raining”或 “it’s snowing”。但是当我们看到阳光时，我们不能说“it’s sunshining”。

Even the smallest words can be confusing. When you see the capitalized “WHO” in a medical report, do you read it as the “who” in “Who’s that?” What about “IT” and “US”?

甚至更短的单词也可能令人迷惑。当你在一份体检报告上看到大写的“WHO”时，你会像在“Who’s that?”这个句子里一样把它读作“who”吗？“IT”和“US”呢？

You also have to wonder at the unique madness of a language in which a house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out, and in in which an alarm is only heard once it goes off!

你也可能会对一门语言独特的反常现象感到疑惑，就像当一座房子burn down（烧毁）时，也可以说它burn up，当你fill in（填）表格时，也可以用fill out，而一个闹钟只有它go off（用于机器时表示停止运转）时，你才能听到它发出的声音。

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race. That is why when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And that is why when I wind up my watch, it starts, but when I wind up this passage, it ends.

英语是人发明的，而不是电脑，它反映了人类的创造性。那就是为什么当星星out时，它们是可以看得见的，但是当灯out时，灯则是看不见的。那也是为什么当我wind up我的手表时，它开始运转，但当我wind up本段时，本段则结束了。