文档介绍：is a Crazy Language英语是一种疯狂的语言
’s face it——English is a crazy language. 让我们接受现实吧——英语是一种疯狂的语言。
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;neither apple nor pine in (eggplant,字面意为鸡蛋植物)里并没有鸡蛋,汉堡包(hamburger,字面意为火腿火饼)里也没有火腿。同样,菠萝(pineapple,字面意为松树苹果)里既没有松树也没有苹果。
English muffins weren’t invented in England nor French fries in (English muffin,字面意为英式松饼)并不是英国人发明的,而炸薯条(French fries,字面意为法式油炸食品)也不是法国人的发明。
Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads,which aren’t sweet,are meat. “甜肉”(sweetmeat)指的是蜜饯,而“甜面包”(sweetbread)不是甜的,它指的是牛杂碎。
take English for granted. 我们理所当然地接受了英语的一切。
But if we explore its paradoxes,we find that quicksand can work slowly,boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a ,我们马上就会发现“快的沙子”(quicksand,流沙,也指陷阱,困境)往往走得很慢,“拳击的圆圈”(boxing rings,拳击场)是方的,“几内亚猪”(guinea pig,天竺鼠)既不是来自几内亚,也不是猪。
And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t don’t groce and hammers don’t ham? 还有,既然名词作家(writers)去掉词尾的rs就可以成为动词“写作(write)”,那为什么名词手指(fingers)、杂货店(grocers)、锤子(hammers)去掉rs就不能成为各自相对应的动词呢?
If the plural of tooth is teeth,why isn’t the plural of booth beeth ? 如果牙齿的复数是teeth,那为什么售货亭的复数不是beeth?
If you have one goose, two geese, why not one moose, two meese, or one index, two indices?一只鹅我们用goose,两只鹅用geese,那么,一只驼鹿用moose(单复数同形),两只驼鹿就应该是meese了?为什么一条索引是index,两条索引却成了indices?
’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend, or that you b through the annals of history but not a single annal? 如果你赔偿时只能赔偿复数不能赔偿单数,这足不是很莫名其妙?你可以梳理历史的复数编年史,为什么却不能复习某一个单个的编年史?
If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?如果你有一堆麻烦,那么在你把其他的都解决了只剩下一个的时候该怎么说呢?
teachers taught,why didn’t preachers praught? 如果教师教学是taught,那为什么传教士传教不是praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables,what does a humanitarian eat?如果素食主义者(vegetarian)吃蔬菜(vegetables),那人道主义者(humanitarian)吃什么?
I think all the English speakers should mitted to an asylum for