Grammar and Optimism 语法和乐观

Grammar and Optimism

语法和乐观

【原文听力】

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　　By John Russell

　　02 November 2023

　　How do we talk about events or actions that make us happy or hopeful about the present and future? In other words, how do we talk about optimism?

　　In today's Everyday Grammar, we will explore a point of connection between grammar and hopeful ideas about the future. You will learn how to understand the difference between closely related words – and how to use them in sentences.

　　Let's start with some important terms.

　　History and relationships

　　Today's lesson begins with a noun: optimism. It is a feeling or belief that good things will happen in the future.

　　The online Etymology Dictionary traces the roots of the word "optimism" to 1759. The word first appeared in translations from the French writer Voltaire.

　　We also have a closely related noun that appeared in English at about the same time: optimist.

　　An optimist is a person with a hopeful way of looking at things.

　　The two nouns differ by only one letter. Optimism ends in an –m and suggests a general feeling or belief. Optimist ends with a –t and means a person with a hopeful world view.

　　From optimist, we can add an –ic ending to get an adjective. Optimistic describes a person who is hopeful about the future or expects good things to happen.

　　From optimistic, we can add an –ally ending to get an adverb: optimistically. This word describes or modifies verbs.

　　So, we have a family of words. We have two nouns: optimism and optimist. From the noun optimist, we can add more letters to get the adjective, optimistic, and the adverb, optimistically.

　　Usage

　　Now, how do we use these words in everyday discussions?

　　It is important to remember that some words are commonly used together. You might think of these as high-frequency structures, or word groups you see or hear a lot in speech and writing. What are some of these high-frequency structures?

　　Let's start with optimism.

　　Google's Ngram Viewer tells us that the most commonly used word before "optimism" is the short word "of."

　　For example, we might say the following:

　　At that time, people in the streets were happy; the economy was strong. A feeling of optimism was in the air.

　　What about the noun "optimist"?

　　Once again, Google's Ngram Viewer tells us that another short word is commonly used before the noun "optimist." In this case, the short word is "an."

　　So, you are likely to hear or read something like this:

　　I am an optimist.

　　Or

　　She is an optimist.

　　What about the adjective "optimistic?" Once again, Google's Ngram Viewer tells us that the short word "an" is the most commonly used word before "optimistic."

　　So, you are likely to hear or read something like the following:

　　He gave an optimistic answer.

　　Finally, we have the adverb "optimistically." What is the most commonly used word before it? In this case, we have the verb "said." You are likely to hear or read something like this:

　　The traffic doesn't look too bad, she said optimistically.

　　Quiz

　　Now let's take some time to work with these ideas.

　　Fill in the blank with the correct word – either noun, adjective, or adverb.

　　She spoke ____________ about the country's economic outlook.

　　The correct word is the adverb optimistically. The sentence is "She spoke optimistically about the country's economic outlook."

　　We know that the adverb is needed because it is modifying or describing the verb "spoke." How did she speak? She spoke optimistically.

　　Now let's consider another example. Fill in the blank.

　　Tom is always so hopeful. He's an _________ at heart.

　　The correct answer is the noun optimist. The full statement is "Tom is always so hopeful. He's an optimist at heart."

　　We know that the answer is optimist because the words coming before optimist suggest a noun phrase. When we see the short word "an," that tells us that a noun or noun phrase is coming.

　　Closing thoughts

　　In today's report, we explored a few closely related words. We also learned about commonly used structures.

　　There are, of course, other ways to talk about hopeful views or ideas about the future. But that will have to be the subject of another lesson.

　　I'm John Russell.

　　John Russell wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English.

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　　作者:约翰·拉塞尔

　　2023年11月2日

　　我们如何谈论让我们对现在和未来感到快乐或充满希望的事件或行为？换句话说，我们如何谈论乐观?

　　在今天的日常语法，我们将探索语法和对未来充满希望的想法之间的连接点。你将学会如何理解关系密切的单词之间的区别，以及如何在句子中使用它们。

　　让我们从一些重要的术语开始。

　　历史和关系

　　今天的课从一个名词开始:乐观。它是一种感觉或信念，认为未来会有好事发生。

　　在线词源词典跟踪“乐观主义”这个词的根源要追溯到1759年。这个词最早出现在翻译来自法国作家伏尔泰。

　　我们还有一个几乎同时出现在英语中的密切相关的名词:乐观主义者。

　　乐观主义者是以充满希望的方式看待事物的人。

　　这两个名词只有一个字母不同。乐观主义以-m结尾，表示一种普遍的感觉或信念。乐观主义者以a–t结尾，意思是对世界充满希望的人。

　　从乐观主义者，我们可以添加一个–IC结尾得到一个形容词。乐观的描述一个人对未来充满希望或期待好事发生。

　　从乐观的，我们可以添加一个盟友结束得到一个副词:乐观地。这个词描述或修饰动词。

　　所以，我们有一个单词家族。我们有两个名词:乐观主义者和乐观主义者。从名词乐观主义者，我们可以添加更多的字母得到形容词，乐观，和副词，乐观。

　　使用

　　现在，我们如何在日常讨论中使用这些词呢？

　　重要的是要记住，有些词是经常一起使用的。你可能认为这些是高频结构，或者你在演讲和写作中经常看到或听到的词组。这些高频结构是什么？

　　让我们从乐观开始。

　　谷歌的Ngram Viewer告诉我们，在“乐观”之前最常用的词是简短的“of”

　　例如，我们可以这样说:

　　那时，街上的人们都很高兴；经济很强劲。空气中弥漫着乐观的情绪。

　　“乐观主义者”这个名词呢？

　　谷歌的Ngram Viewer再次告诉我们，在名词“乐观主义者”之前还有一个常用的短词。在这种情况下，简短的单词是“an”

　　所以，你很可能会听到或读到这样的话:

　　我是一个乐观主义者。

　　或者

　　她是个乐观主义者。

　　“乐观”这个形容词呢？谷歌的Ngram查看器再次告诉我们，在“乐观”之前，最常用的词是“an”

　　因此，你很可能会听到或读到如下内容:

　　他给出了乐观的答案。

　　最后，我们有副词“乐观地”它之前最常用的词是什么？在这种情况下，我们有动词“说。”你可能会听到或读到这样的话:

　　她乐观地说:交通看起来不太糟。

　　恶作剧

　　现在让我们花些时间来研究这些想法。

　　用正确的单词填空——名词、形容词或副词。

　　她谈到了国家的经济前景。

　　正确的词是副词乐观。这句话是“她乐观地谈到了国家的经济前景。”

　　我们知道需要副词，因为它修饰或描述动词“说话”她怎么说话的？她乐观地说。

　　现在让我们考虑另一个例子。填空。

　　汤姆总是充满希望。他本质上是个_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _。

　　正确答案是名词乐观主义者。完整的陈述是“汤姆总是充满希望。他本质上是个乐观主义者。”

　　我们知道答案是乐观主义者，因为乐观主义者前面的单词表示一个名词短语。当我们看到一个短词“an”时，它告诉我们一个名词或名词短语要来了。

　　结束语

　　在今天的报道中，我们探究了几个密切相关的词汇。我们还学习了常用的结构。

　　当然，还有其他方式来谈论对未来充满希望的观点或想法。但这将是另一节课的主题。

　　我是约翰·拉塞尔。

　　约翰·拉塞尔为美国之音英语学习写了这一课。

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　　这个故事中的词语

　　optimism – n.对未来会有好事发生的感觉或信念

　　trace –v. 沿着某事的道路前进

　　translate – v. 将单词从一种语言转换成另一种语言