New English Book--新的学英语书

thornybastard (63)in #cn • 8 years ago (edited)

New English Book--新的学英语书

Steemians,

I've been away for a long time because I've been finishing up a couple of book projects. This one's for China: "A Quick and Dirty Guide to Speaking English Like a Native Speaker." My translator tells me "quick and dirty" should be "快餐式" in Chinese.

Anyway, the book will be for intermediate to advanced English learners in China who want to learn everyday English. It is in no way test preparation. It will have parallel English and Chinese text--one page English, one page Chinese, side by side. It'll also have original artwork to help illustrate the language. A publisher has seen our preview material and wants to meet to discuss more. Hopefully it goes all the way.

A special thanks to all you steemians, minnows, dolphins, whales, followers, readers, etc. The positive response you gave to my early work here on Steemit encouraged and inspired me to go forward seriously on this opus.

Here's a preview for Steemians. Chinese first, then English. Enjoy! And let me know what you think in the comments!

Late, later, latest

我常常从中国的朋友、学生或者同事收到以下的信息：

I’ll see you 20 minutes later.

在中国生活了14年，我是明白这句话所表述的意思的，而初来乍到的人则可能会产生误解。
在生意往来或者是学术会晤过程中，这种误会的产生很可能在一开始就造成关系的破裂。

让我们来看看这句话究竟代表什么意思。假如说你们约好会面的时间是10:00，然后你在9:40发了上面的信息。对于英语母语的人来说，他预期你会在10:20分到达，即40分钟之后。为什么？

因为“later”是比较级，在英语母语的人心中，它们必须和某项东西作比较。既然你并没有给出一个比较的时点，那么他们默认的时间点是10:00。比10:00晚20分钟就是10:20。

在他们心里，他们会想：“嗯，晚20分钟。比什么晚呢？”如果他们是头脑冷静的，他们会发回信息给你“是比几点晚？”但多数的人并不见得有这么冷静的头脑，他们只按假设行事。因此他们会假设这个比较的时点是10:00，并以此推断你的到达时间是10:20。

有40分钟的时间去消磨，他们或许会先去做一些其它东西然后40分钟后回来。而你或许在那里一直等他们的到来，心中未免觉得他们迟到不太礼貌；又或许你会发信息看看他们身在何方，而他们则还在10分钟路程之外的地方，这造成彼此之间时间的浪费。你“晚”的时间越多，他们所想的和你所想的时间跨度就越大。

那么，如何清晰地表达你的意思呢？我们可以采用以下几种方法：

Be there IN 20 minutes 20分钟后到
Be there 20 minutes FROM NOW 距离现在20分钟后到
See you in 20 minutes 20分钟后见面

这样问题又来了，如果你真的要比预定时间迟到，那你该怎么说？很简单：
I’ll be 20 minutes late.

用我们前面所说的例子，这表示10:00的约定时间我会在10:20到。late在这里作为一个简单的形容词用来描述你的情况。

A common text message I get from friends, students and coworkers in China is:

I’ll see you 20 minutes later.

After 14 years in China I know what this means. First or second time visitors do not. For a business or educational appointment, it can make or break the relationship before it even gets off the ground.

Let’s take a look at what this really means. Let’s say your appointment is scheduled for 10:00, and that you send this text message at 9:40. The native speaker waiting to see you will expect your arrival at 10:20, which is 40 minutes away. Why?

Because “later” is a comparative form, and in the mind of a native speaker, they must compare it to something. Since you have not given them a point of comparison, their default position is 10:00. Twenty minutes LATER than 10:00 is 10:20.

In their mind they are thinking “Hmmmm. 20 minutes later. Later than what?” If they have presence of mind, they will text you back “Later than what?” But most people don’t have such presence of mind. They operate on assumptions. So they assume the point of comparison is 10:00 o’clock, and conclude your arrival time is 10:20.

With 40 minutes to kill, they may go do something else and come back in 40 minutes. Meanwhile you might be there waiting for them and think they’re rude for being late. Or you might message them to find out where they are, and they’re still 10 minutes away, which wastes your and their time. The more minutes “later” you are, the bigger the spread between what they are thinking and what you are thinking.