美式英语和英式英语哪个比较常用（英式英语和美式英语是旧世界与现实世界的分别）

OK kids, listen up. There are two distinct versions of English: Real World and Old World.

好的，孩子们，我告诉你们：英语可以分为现实世界的英语和旧世界的英语，这是两种区别很大的英语。

The former is what’s spoken in Canada, the United States, the civilized parts of Australia and every international air traffic control tower on the planet. It can be heard onThe Simpsons, CNN and all of 34 Alice Cooper’s albums.

前者在加拿大、美国、澳大利亚部分地区和世界上的每一个国际航空交通管制塔上使用。我们可以在动画片《辛普森一家人》、美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）以及爱丽丝·库珀乐队（Alice Cooper）的34张专辑中听到。

The latter is the pretentious parlance that passes for conversational English in Britain and the vestiges of its once mighty empire – backwater outposts like Turks and Caicos, St. Helena, Anguilla … and New Zealand.

后者自带一种自命不凡的腔调，流传于英国及其曾经强大帝国的遗迹——比如特克斯和凯科斯群岛、圣海伦娜、安圭拉等地，以及新西兰。

Far be it from me to categorically state one version is right and the other is wrong, but let’s not pull any punches here. If you’re a Chinese kid struggling to navigate the subtle nuances on the path to learning the lingo, which of the following is easier to decipher?

就我而言，没有哪一个版本绝对正确，或者哪一个是错误的，但我们没必要在这里费劲。如果你是一个正在学习这种语言并且挣扎于其中细微差别的中国孩子，那么你觉得下面哪种更容易学习呢？

这样一段话：“上周末，我的车在公寓楼前的一条双向街道上耗尽了汽油。我后备箱里有一罐备用的汽油，所以我打开引擎盖，倒了一些进去。汽车还是发动不起来，所以我把它推到人行道上，并且打电话叫了一辆拖车。在等待拖车期间，我去药店给我的宝贝女儿买了奶嘴。”

现实世界英语： “On the weekend, my car ran out of gas on a two-way street in front of an apartment building. There was a spare can of gas in the trunk, so I popped the hood and poured a little down the carburetor. The car wouldn’t start, so I pushed it to the sidewalk and called a tow truck on my cell. While I waited for it to arrive, I went to a drugstore and bought a pacifier for my baby daughter.”

旧世界英语：“At the weekend, my car ran out of petrol along the dual carriageway outside a block of flats. There was some auxiliary petrol stored in the boot, so I unhinged the bonnet and poured some into the engine-works. The motor still would not fire, so I pushed the vehicle to the pavement and rang up a breakdown van on my mobile. Whilst I waited for its arrival, I popped in to the chemist to purchase a dummy for my little girl.”

Be honest: Which version is easier to understand? Which version doesn’t sound like it came from a guy wearing a “waistcoat” and brandishing a “brolly”?

坦诚地说：哪个版本更易懂？哪个版本听起来不像是一个穿着“西装背心”挥舞着“雨伞”的人说出的话？

You would at least think professional media people tasked with conveying information to an increasingly Real World-savvy audience would recognize the futility of antiquated utterances, but that’s not the case. We regularly witness Old World sports journalists effusing about “precious performances” (impressive wins) in “famous fixtures” (big games). Players are “in-form” (successful), especially if they compete for a “much fancied” (favored) team.

你可能会觉得，专业媒体人在向观众传递信息时，会认为英式英语是无用的，但事实并非如此。我们经常目睹一些体育记者口出华丽辞藻，比如在“重大体育赛事”（用“famous fixtures”，而不是“big games”）中，队伍获得了“宝贵的胜利”（用“precious performances”，而不是“impressive wins”）。选手们“比赛状态极佳”（用“in-form”，而不是successful)），特别是在与“倍受青睐的”（用 “much fancied”，而不是“favored”）团队竞争时。

And don’t get me started on verb agreement. “England are playing well” and “Arsenal are searching for answers” is just plain wrong.

别让我提什么主谓一致。什么“England are playing well”（英格兰队表现良好）、“Arsenal are searching for answers”（阿森纳队正在寻找突破口），这些用法显然是错误的。

TV news is even more frustrating. I recently watched a well-meaning Chinese reporter refer to a “queue” (long line) of “articulated lorries” (tractor-trailer trucks) outside a “housing estate” (land development) in Shanghai. She obviously didn’t write the copy.

电视新闻更令人沮丧。我最近看到一个“善意”的中国记者把“上海某住宅区外的一长队拖车”表达成 “a long line of tractor-trailer trucks outside a land development in Shanghai”，而这个句子本该是这样的： “a queue of articulated lorries outside a housing estate in Shanghai”。 她显然没能写出正确的版本。

For what it’s worth, my advice to the millions of Chinese kids trying to learn English is that the truest path to linguistic liberation is only a click away: Watch more ofThe Simpsons.

不管怎么说，我对中国数以百万想学英语的孩子们的建议是，真正解放这门语言的路径就是——看动画片《辛普森一家人》吧。

本文仅代表作者观点，不代表本公众号立场。

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