VOA慢速英语2019 纽约人喜欢语法方面的小帮助

（单词翻译）

New Yorkers Enjoy a Little Help with Grammar

The New York City train system has a new unofficial stop – for people who love grammar…or even just have questions about it.

纽约市地铁出现了一个非官方的新站点——专为热爱语法或者只是对语法有疑问的人而设。

English language expert Ellen Jovin has put together an unusual “classroom.” There is a foldable table, books, a smile and a deep knowledge of grammar. She calls it Grammar Table. Jovin sits at the table in the subway and on city streets.

英语语言专家埃伦·乔文（Ellen Jovin）设计了一间与众不同的“教室”。乔文拥有的只有一张可折叠的桌子、几本书、一个微笑和深厚的语法知识。她称之为“语法桌”。乔文坐在位于地铁和城市街道的桌子一侧静候“学生”。

She smiles and waits for people to come by with grammar questions. Usually, she catches the interest of a lot of people.

她微笑着，等着人们过来咨询语法问题。通常，她会引起很多人的兴趣。

“Hello! Welcome to Grammar Table!”

“你好！欢迎来到语法桌！”

“Grammar Table! I love it. I love it! It’s hot.”

“语法桌！我喜欢！太酷了。”

More than one billion people in the world speak English. Another two billion are in the process of learning it – or trying to.

全球有超过10亿人说英语。另外还有20亿人正在学习、或是试着学习英语。

But English grammar rules frighten many – even native English speakers. Jovin’s mission is to help people who find themselves afraid of or confused by the world of English.

英语语法让许多人一头雾水，甚至有些母语人士也搞不清楚。乔文的任务就是帮助那些害怕或者困惑的人们找到自己的学习之路。

Jovin is a linguist¹. She has worked to spread her love for the English language for a long time. She has taught grammar to business professionals and writing at universities. She is also a published writer.

乔文是一名语言学家。长期以来，她一直致力于传播自己对英语的热爱。她在大学里教授商务人士语法和写作。她也是一位出版过作品的作家。

Jovin also owns a business communication training company with her husband. Online and traditional classes are her life. But she decided² to make things interesting and take her knowledge to the streets and subways of New York.

乔文和丈夫还共同经营着一家商业传播发展公司。线上和线下授课成为她生活的全部。但她决定为这些课程增添一些趣味，于是选择在纽约地铁和大街小巷传授知识。

"I put the sign up and it took 30 seconds for someone to come up and ask me a question: How many words do I think Donald Trump³ knows?”

“我刚把告示牌贴上去，30秒后就有人过来询问，你觉得唐纳德·特朗普知道多少个单词。”

Though that is more of a political question, Jovin believes understanding language structure rules will help people around the world understand each other better.

虽然这是一个政治问题而非语法问题，但乔文认为，理解语言结构的规则将有助于人们在国际层面上相互理解。

On one recent day, a man came up to Jovin’s Grammar Table with a question about nouns.

近日，一名男子来到乔文的语法桌前，提了一个关于名词的问题。

"But I have read that it’s a collective noun. Is that what you’re calling it?”

该男子说：“我读到过这是一个集合名词，你是这么说的吗？”

“Yeah. So, it’s a special case. We can make special cases, right? Or do you want everything to be consistent⁴?"

乔文说：“是的。这是一个特例。我们可以将它视作特殊情况，对吧？或者你希望一切都保持一致？”

The Grammar Table appeals to all kinds of people for whom English is filled with mysteries: students and older people, engineers and house cleaners, actors and even other language experts.

语法桌吸引了各行各业对英语充满好奇的人，学生和退休人员，工程师和管家，演员和其他语言学家。

Some of the most popular questions, Jovin says, are about commas.

乔文指出，其中最受欢迎的问题是关于逗号的。

"For example, if I say, ‘He ordered salad, spaghetti and soda,’ right before the ‘and,’ you can put a comma if you want in English. And it’s called the Oxford⁵ comma or sometimes the serial⁶ comma."

乔文说：“比方说，如果我说‘他点了沙拉、意大利面和苏打水’，你可以在‘和’字的前面加一个逗号，这个逗号也被称作牛津逗号，有时也被称为连续逗号。”

New York subway riders have accepted Jovin with warmth and interest. Musicians, policemen and even English teachers often stop by for a friendly chat.

纽约的地铁乘客热情并饶有兴趣地接受了这位新来的女孩。音乐家、警察，甚至英语老师都经常过来友好地聊天。

Walter Skrepnick is a teacher of English literature. He recently shared his thoughts about Grammar Table.

沃尔特·斯克里普尼克（Walter Skrepnick）是英国文学教师。他最近分享了自己对“语法桌”的看法。

"Things like that – that deal with language, that deal with culture – it’s refreshing⁷ from some of the other things that go on."

他说：“这种把语言和文化联系起来的方式，让我觉得与众不同，耳目一新。”

But not all questions are about English – or even in English. Jovin can speak and understand several languages: Spanish, Italian, Portuguese⁸, German, French, Chinese, Korean and Japanese. And she is trying to learn a few others, too.

人们来这里并不都是用英语咨询，也不都是询问英语相关的问题。乔文可以流利地用西班牙语、意大利语、葡萄牙语、德语、法语、中文、韩语和日语交流，并且她还在学习更多的语言。

Words in This Story

grammar – n. the set of rules that explain how words are used in a language

subway – n. a system of underground trains in a city

mission – n. ?a task that you consider to be a very important duty?

confused – adj. unable to understand or think clearly

linguist – n. a person who studies the way languages work

consistent – adj. continuing to happen or develop in the same way

comma – n. a punctuation⁹ mark that is used to separate words or groups of words in a sentence

chat – n. a light and friendly conversation

literature – n. ?written works (such as poems, plays, and novels) that are considered to be very good and to have lasting¹⁰ importance?

refreshing – adj. pleasantly new, different or interesting