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1、Pub Talk and the Kings English(酒吧闲谈与标准英语)Henry Fairlie 1. Conversation is the most sociable of all human activities. And itis anactivity only of humans. However intricate the way in which animalscommunicate with each other, they do not indulge in anythingthat deservesthe name of conversation.人类的一切活动
2、中，闲谈是最具交际性的，也是人类特有的。而动物之间的信息交流，无论其方式何等复杂，也是称不上交际的。2.The charm of conversation is that it does not really start from anywhere,and no one has any idea where it will go as it meanders or leaps and sparklesor just glows. The enemy of good conversation is the person who has“something to say.”Conversation
3、 is not for making a point. Argument mayoften be a part of it, but the purpose of the argument is not to convince.There is no winning in conversation. In fact, the best conversationalists arethose who are prepared to lose. Suddenly they see the moment for one of theirbest anecdotes, but in a flash t
4、he conversation has moved on and theopportunity is lost. They are ready to let it go.闲谈的引人入胜之处就在于它没有一个事先设定好的主题。它时而迂回前进，时而奔腾起伏，时而火花，时而热情洋溢，话题最终会扯到什么地方去谁也拿不准。感觉“有话四射想说”的人是一个“完美闲谈”的最大敌人。闲谈不是为了争论，尽管争论常常是闲聊的一部分，不过其目的并不是为了说服对方。闲谈之中是不存在什么输赢胜负的。事实上，真正的闲聊高手往往是随时准备让步的。他们也许会偶然间觉得该把自己最得意的奇闻轶事选出一件插进来讲一讲，但一转眼大家已谈
5、到别处去了，插话的机会随之丧失，它们也就听之任之了。3.Perhaps it is because of my upbringing in English pubs that I think barconversation has a charm of its own. Bar friends are not deeply involved ineach others lives. They are companions, not intimates. The fact that theirmarriages may be on the rock, or that their love aff
6、airs have broken or eventhat they got out of bed on the wrong side is simply not a concern. They arelike the musketeers of Dumas who, although they lived side by side with eachother, did not delve into each others lives or the recesses of their thoughtsand feelings.或许是从小混迹于英国小酒吧的缘故吧，我觉得酒馆里的闲聊是别有韵味的。
7、酒馆里的朋友们对彼此的生活毫不了解，他们只是临时的伙伴，相互之间并无深交。这些人之中，也许有人的婚姻面临破裂，有人恋爱受挫，有人碰到别的什么不顺心的事儿，但这些都无关紧要。他们就像大仲马笔下的三个火枪手一样，虽然朝夕相处，却从来不过问彼此的私事，也不去打探别人内心的秘密。4.It was on such an occasion the other evening, as the conversation moveddesultorily here and there, from the most commonplace to thoughts of Jupiter,without any fo
8、cus and with no need for one, that suddenly the alchemy ofconversation took place, and all at once there was a focus. I do not rememberwhat made one of our companions say itshe clearly had not come into the bar to say it, it was not something that was pressing on her mindbut herremark fell quite nat
9、urally into the talk.有一天晚上的情形正是如此。当时人们正在漫无边际地东拉西扯，从最普通的家常琐事聊得有关木星的科学趣闻。完全没有一个特定的主题。可突然间中心话题奇迹般地出现了，大伙的话题都集中到了一处。我不记得其中一个伙伴的那句话是什么情况下说出来的不过，显然她并没有特意地准备什么，那也算不上是什么非说不可的要紧话那只不过是随着大伙儿的话题十分自然地脱口而出的。5“Someone told me the other day that the phrase,the Kings English,was a term of criticism, that it means la
10、nguage which one should not properlyuse”“就在前几天，有人告诉我说标准英语这个词是带贬义色彩的批评用语，指的是人们应该尽量避免使用的英语。”6.The glow of the conversation burst into flames. There were affirmationsand protests and denials, and of course the promise, made inall suchconversation, that we would look it upon the morning. Thatwould settl
11、e it;but conversation does not need to be settled; itcould still go ignorantly on.此语一出，谈话氛围立即热烈起来。有人表示赞成，也有人怒斥，还有人则不以为然。最后，当然少不了像处理所有这种场合下的意见分歧一样，大家约好次日一早去查证一下。问题就这样解决了。不过，闲聊并不需要解决什么问题，大家仍旧可以糊里糊涂地继续闲扯下去。6. It was an Australian who had given her such a definition of“thekingsEnglish,”which produced so
12、me rather tart remarks about whatone couldexpect from the descendants of convicts. We had traveledin five minutes toAustralia. Of course, there would be resistance tothe Kings English in sucha society. There is always resistance in the lower classes to any attempt by anupper class to lay down rules
13、for“Englishas it should be spoken.” 告诉她“标准英语”应做这种解释的原来是个澳大利亚人。知道这个后，有些人便说起刻薄话来了，说什么囚犯的后代这样说倒也不足为奇。就这样，不到5分钟，大家便扯到了澳大利亚。在那个地方，“标准英语”自然是不受欢迎的。因为下层人民总是会抵制上流社会给“规范英语”制定的条条框框。7. Look at the language barrier between the Saxon churls and their Norman thconquerors. The conversation had swung from Australian
14、 convicts of the thcentury to the English peasants of the 12century.Who was right, who waswrong, did not matter.The conversation wason wings.想想撒克逊农民与征服他们的诺曼统治者之间的语言隔阂吧。于是闲聊的主题又从19世纪的澳大利亚囚犯转移到了12世纪的应该农民身上。谁对谁错，并没有关系。闲聊依旧热火朝天地进行着。8. Someone took one of the bestknown of examples, which is stillalwayswo
15、rth the reconsidering. When we talk of meaton our tableswe use Frenchwords; when we speak of the animals from which themeat comes we useAngloSaxon words. It is a pig in its sty; it is pork (porc) on the table. Theyare cattle in the fields, but we sit down to beef (boeuf).Chickens becomepoultry (poul
16、et), and a calf becomes veal(veau ). Even if our menus were notwritten in French out ofsnobbery, the English we used in them would still beNorman English. What all this tells us is of a deep class rift in the culture ofEnglish after the Norman Conquest.有人举了一个众所周知但仍值得深思的例子。在谈到饭桌上的肉食时我们用法语词，而谈到提供这些肉食的牲畜是则用盎格鲁-撒克逊词。
