内容简介
一位听众来信询问 “people”、“humans”、“men” 和 “individuals” 这些词在表达 “人们” 时有哪些不同。虽然这些词都可以表达 “人们”,但它们所适用的语境却有所不同,其中有些单词的单复数形式还可能用来表达不同的含义。听节目,主持人 Phil 和步理教你如何准确使用这些名词。
文字稿
(关于台词的备注: 请注意这不是广播节目的逐字稿件。本文稿可能没有体现录制、编辑过程中对节目做出的改变。)
Buli
大家好,欢迎收听 BBC 英语教学的 “你问我答” 节目。 I'm Buli.
Phil
And I'm Phil. We have a question from one of our listeners.
Question
Hi, please explain the difference of 'people', 'the people', 'persons', 'humans', 'men' and 'individuals'. Thanks.
Buli
这位听众提到了许多和 “人” 这个概念有关的名词,并且想知道它们之间如何区分。
Phil
This is an interesting question, because there are a couple of words that can work in unexpected ways here. But let's start with the expected ones, like how we use 'people' and 'person'.
Buli
在英语中,我们通常使用 “a person” 来表示 “一个人”,而使用 “people(人们)” 作为 “person” 的复数形式使用。当我们想指代 “一群都是男性的人” 时,我们才可以用 “man” 的复数形式 “men”。来听一组例句。
Examples
There are five people in this picture. The person on the right is actually me when I was younger. One of the men on the left is my father.
(这张照片里有五个人。右边的是年轻的我。左边人当中有一位是我的父亲。)
The class was cancelled because there were not enough people. Only one person was there.
(因为人数不够,所以课取消了。只有一个人去听课了。)
Phil
If we are talking in general, we can use 'people' to mean humans.
Buli
是的,虽然 “human” 的意思是 “人,人类”,我们通常不使用 “humans” 来表示 “一群人”。“Humans” 这个词通常只用于表达 “人类” 这个物种,特别是当我们讨论人类作为物种的特点或者和其他物种之间的比较和关系时。来听两个例句。
Examples
People really love our products – we're selling so much!
(大家真的很喜欢我们的产品。我们产品的销量特别高!)
Humans usually stop getting taller when they are about 18 years old.
(人类的身高通常在18岁左右就停止增长了。)
Phil
That's simple enough, but what can confuse people is that we sometimes see 'persons' as a plural. Why does this happen? Well, it was more commonly used in the past, but now it's only really used in formal contexts.
Buli
没错。“Persons” 虽然也可以作为 “person” 的复数使用,但这种用法如今已经不常见了。我们除了依然会在一些年代比较早的英语材料中见到这种用法,还可能会在某些技术文件或法律用语中见到它。比如接下来的例子。
Examples
Do not attempt to carry more than seven persons in this car.
(不要尝试使用这辆汽车运载超过七人。)
The persons named below are responsible for carrying out this contract.
(下述人员负责执行本合同。)
Buli
通过上面的例句我们可以注意到,“persons” 这个词可以用于描述 “不特定的某些人”,这些人不属于某个特定的集体或具有密切的联系。现在当人们想要表达这种意思时,常常会使用名词 “individual(个人,个体)” 或者它的复数形式 “individuals”。来听两个例句。
Examples
In this team, we respect every individual's contribution.
(在这个团队中,我们尊重每一个人的贡献。)
We won't know what caused the accident until we speak to the individuals concerned.
(在我们和相关人员沟通之前,我们无法知道造成这次事故的原因。)
Phil
OK, getting back to words acting in unexpected ways – we often use 'the people' to talk about the general population of a country. In a similar way, we can use 'people' as a countable noun to talk about national groups. In these examples, the word 'people' is used as a collective noun.
Buli
是的。“People” 还可以作为集合名词使用,意思是 “某个国家或民族的人”。这时,“people” 是一个可数名词。来听两个例句。
Examples
The Amazon is home to many different peoples.
(亚马逊地区是许多不同民族的家园。)
Historians study different peoples from around the world through time.
(历史学家研究人类历史上各个时期世界各地的民族。)
Phil
So, most of the time we use 'person' and 'people', but 'persons' can be 'individuals', and sometimes we want to talk about different 'peoples' – but the meaning is different. And all of these words talk about 'humans', but we don't usually need to call them that.
Buli
That's a nice summary! 总的来说,英语中常用单数 “person(人)” 和 “people(人们)”
来指代 “人”,用 “persons” 或 “individuals” 来表达 “不特定的、没有特殊联系的某些人”。“People” 还可以作集合名词,意思是 “某个国家或民族的人”,这时它具有复数形
式 “peoples”。
Phil
We hope that we've answered your question. If you have a question that you'd like us to answer, you can email us too at questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk
Buli
你也可以通过微博向我们提问。我们的微博账号是 “BBC英语教学”。Bye!
Phil
Bye!