口語提醒:講英語連詞濫用惹人煩(圖)
學(xué)英語的時(shí)候大家可能都被建議模仿老外常掛嘴邊的語氣詞諸如well,actually,you know之類,但注意,這些詞用多了,你的句子就會(huì)變得凌亂而沒有條理,讓聽者生厭,就像中文中那個(gè)被濫用無數(shù)遍的萬能連詞“然后”。這里作者痛批了like這個(gè)詞在口語中的濫用,大家要引以為戒哦。
講英語避免連詞濫用
When Caroline Kennedy managed to say “you know” more than 200 times in an interview with the New York Daily News, and on 130 occasions while talking to The New York Times during her uninspired attempt to become a hereditary senator, she proved, among other things, that she was (a) middle-aged and (b) middle class. If she had been a generation younger and a bit more déclassé, she would have been saying “like。” When asked if the Bush tax cuts should be repealed, she responded: “Well, you know, that’s something, obviously, that, you know, in principle and in the campaign, you know, I think that, um, the tax cuts, you know, were expiring and needed to be repealed。”
當(dāng)卡羅琳·肯尼迪毫無創(chuàng)見地試圖延續(xù)肯尼迪家族的傳統(tǒng)當(dāng)選參議員時(shí),她在紐約日報(bào)的采訪中說了超過200遍的“你知道”,在與紐約時(shí)報(bào)記者談話中也使用了130次這句“你知道”。通過其他事情,她證明自己是一個(gè)中產(chǎn)階級(jí)的中年婦女。如果她是年輕一代中家世不那么高貴一個(gè)人,她會(huì)使用“like”這個(gè)詞。當(dāng)被問道是否該取消布什總統(tǒng)的減稅方案,她回答道:“嗯,你知道,顯然,這是一件,你知道,有關(guān)原則和競選的事件,你知道,我覺得,嗯,減稅么,你知道,期限到了,必須終止。”
This is an example of “filler” words being used as props, to try to shore up a lame sentence. People who can’t get along without “um” or “er” or “basically” (or, in England, “actually”) or “et cetera et cetera” are of two types: the chronically modest and inarticulate, and the mildly authoritarian who want to make themselves uninterruptible。
這個(gè)例子展示了“填充語”是怎么被用來支撐軟弱無力的句子。那些不加上“嗯”“呃”或“基本上”(在英國,“事實(shí)上”)“等等等等”就沒辦法講話的人可以分成兩種:不善言辭并口齒不清;不希望被人打斷的輕度自我主義者。
Many parents and teachers have become irritated to the point of distraction at the way the weed-style growth of “like” has spread through the idiom of the young. And it’s true that in some cases the term has become simultaneously a crutch and a tic, driving out the rest of the vocabulary。
許多父母和老師已經(jīng)對年輕人口中如荒草蔓延般的“like”煩不勝煩,根本聽不下去了。有的時(shí)候這個(gè)詞已經(jīng)同時(shí)成為言語支柱和口頭禪,讓其他詞匯毫無立足之地。
It was then a part of the Californianization of American youth-speak. In an analysis Penelope Eckert and Norma Mendoza-Denton phrase matters this way: “One of the innovative developments in the white English of Californians is the use of the discourse-marker ‘I’m like’ or ‘she’s like’ to introduce quoted speech, as in ‘I’m like, where have you been?’ This quotative is particularly useful because it does not require the quote to be of actual speech (as ‘she said’ would, for instance). A shrug, a sigh, or any of a number of expressive sounds as well as speech can follow it。”
這個(gè)詞曾是加州化的美國年輕人用語之一。Penelope Eckert和Norma Mendoza-Denton分析說:“加州白人的英語有一個(gè)創(chuàng)新性的發(fā)展,就是使用話語標(biāo)記'I'm like'或者'She's like'來帶出引語,就像‘我就問,你去哪了?’這個(gè)引語標(biāo)記很有用,因?yàn)樗灰笃浜蟮囊Z是直接引語(“她說”后面就要接直接引語)。聳肩、嘆氣或者其他任何具有表達(dá)意味的聲音都可以作為引語跟隨其后。
It can be used as a pause or a colon: very handy for spinning out a mere anecdote into a playlet that’s full of parody and speculation. And also of hyperbole, as in “She’s been out with, like, a million guys。”
這個(gè)詞可以作為停頓或冒號(hào):將一件小事渲染成充斥著滑稽模仿和揣測的`短劇時(shí),這個(gè)詞用起來很方便。也可用于夸張語氣,比如說“她差不多跟一百萬個(gè)男生約會(huì)過。”
The little cringe and hesitation and approximation of “like” are a help to young people who are struggling to negotiate the shoals and rapids of ethnic identity, the street, and general correctness. To report that “he was like, Yeah, whatever” is to struggle to say “He said” while minimizing the risk of commitment。
like這個(gè)詞所代表的保留態(tài)度、猶豫和模棱兩可能幫助年輕人處理棘手的種族身份意識(shí)、社交生活和言語得體問題。說 “他啊,怎么說呢,呃……”就等于是在想盡方法闡釋“他說過……”,同時(shí)減低話說出去就收不回的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。
The actual grammatical battle was probably lost as far back as 1954, when Winston announced that its latest smoke “tasted good, like a cigarette should。” Complaints from sticklers that this should have been “as a cigarette should”were met by a second ad in which a gray-bunned schoolmarm type was taunted by cheery consumers asking, “What do you want, good grammar or good taste?” Usage of “like” has now almost completely replaced “as” 。
1954年的時(shí)候這場語法之爭就差不多塵埃落定了,那時(shí)溫斯頓香煙發(fā)布了最新的廣告“好煙當(dāng)如是”,看重細(xì)節(jié)的觀眾們抱怨說其中的“like”應(yīng)該改成“as”,然而溫斯頓的第二支廣告很快對此作出回應(yīng),其中一個(gè)歡呼的人群嘲笑梳著灰白發(fā)髻的女教師,并問“你是要完美的語法還是完美的味道?”現(xiàn)在,like已經(jīng)差不多完全取代了as。
How could one preserve what’s useful about “like” without allowing it to reduce everyday vocabulary? The restoration of the word “as,” which isn’t that hard a word to master, along with “such as,” would also be a help in varying the national lingo. A speech idiosyncrasy, in the same way as an air quote, is really justifiable only if it’s employed very sparingly and if the user consciously intends to be using it. Just to try to set an example,I have managed to write all the above without using the word once, except in inverted commas. Why not try it? You might, like, like it。
我們怎么才能在保持like真正有用之處的情況下防止它侵略其他詞匯的領(lǐng)地呢?恢復(fù)使用as這個(gè)不難學(xué)的詞,以及 such as,也許能使我們的用語更多樣化。言語怪癖和航空報(bào)價(jià)一樣,只有在偶爾使用并且使用者有意識(shí)去使用的時(shí)候才說得過去。為給大家樹立榜樣,我在寫這篇文章的時(shí)候沒有一處用到like,除了引號(hào)內(nèi)的內(nèi)容。為什么不試試呢?你也許,怎么說呢,喜歡這樣。
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