簡單的英語文章

　　隨著中國經濟的發展和與國際社會聯絡日益緊密,中國人對於英語的重視也與日俱增,對於英語學習的狂熱程度愈發高漲。下面是小編帶來的，歡迎閱讀!

　　愚人節來了：過分惡作劇如何防止

　　今天是西方的愚人節***April Fools’ Day***——一年中少有的一個心驚膽戰的節日。在這一天，您可以充分發揮想象力，讓有序而枯燥的生活在您手中瞬時翻轉，胡作非為在“愚人節”完全有充分的理由。但是與之同時，不只是有笑聲，還有各種窘迫與惱怒，甚至有人會受到傷害。還有人會很當真……英國Metro報就報道過這樣一則新聞：

　　A few years ago someone pranked on April Fools’ Day by saying they had murdered their husband with a shotgun.

　　幾年前，有人在愚人節開玩笑說，開槍射殺了自己的丈夫。

　　Police were called and the woman found herself with dozens of officers surrounding her home in Tennessee.

　　於是警察被叫來了，這個田納西州的女子發現自己的家被團團包圍住……

　　Do NOT play this prank this April Fools’ Day.

　　別在愚人節開這種玩笑!

　　那麼，如何才能避免惡作劇做的太過分呢?英語君給你們整理了一些Tips：How to Avoid Cruel Pranks?要開玩笑，先戴上安全帽!

　　1.Put yourself in your victim's shoes. Be honest. Would you feel hurt if someone pulled a prank like that on you? If so, this is a big warning flag telling you that his/her reaction may not be so different.

　　站在被捉弄人的角度進行換位思考。捫心自問，如果同樣的惡作劇發生在自己身上會不會受到傷害?如果是，這便是一個標誌來提醒你他/她的反應可能會有同樣的反應。

　　2.Make sure that the prank won't physically hurt the person. It's not funny when someone gets injured. Enough said.

　　確保惡作劇不會給人帶來身體傷害。無須多言，當有人受傷了，那就一點也不有趣了。

　　3.Choose the right victim. We all know that there are some people who get hurt more easily than others. Choose someone who can take a joke, someone who would well know that the whole thing's meant all in good fun.

　　謹慎選擇好要捉弄的人。眾所周知，有些人比其他人更容易受到傷害。選擇那些知道惡作劇是純屬娛樂並可以開得起玩笑的人。

　　4.Make sure it's intended all in good fun. Why are you pranking the person anyway? If it's to humiliate someone or to get revenge on somebody who's wronged you, you might want to rethink the whole thing. Remember, an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

　　確保這一切都會很快樂。不管怎樣，你為什麼要做惡作劇呢?如果是為了羞辱別人或報復得罪你的人,你可能需要重新考慮整個事情。記住：以眼還眼使全世界的人都瞎了。

　　文中的“an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. ”這句話是印度“非暴力不合作之父”甘地的一句名言。其中“an eye for an eye”的意思是“以牙還牙”“以眼還眼”“睚眥必報”的意思。

　　5.Choose the right time and place. Pranks are fun to play, but realise when the time is inappropriate. If your victim is at a fancy party or trying to make a good first impression on someone, it's not the time. You also don't want to prank him/her when he/she's clearly not in the mood to play games. If you do something like that, chances are the person won't take it as a joke no matter what you say.

　　選擇合適的時間和地點，惡作劇是很有趣，但要知道到時間是否合適。如果被捉弄的人在一個聚會或想要給眾人留下好印象的時候便不合適。如果對方顯然沒有心情跟你玩，你也不想再對他/她做惡作劇。如果你在這種情況下做惡作劇，不管你怎麼說，別人很有可能不會把它當作一個笑話。

　　6.Understand when enough is enough. Sure it's funny when you finally do see that priceless look on the person's face, but keep the joking in moderation. If everybody's laughing at him/her all day long over it, that's taking it too far. You're laughing with the person, not at them.

　　適可而止。當然，當你最終看到別人窘迫的表情會很有趣，但是要適度開玩笑。如果一整天每個人都嘲笑他/她,那就太過分了。畢竟，你應該是與眾人一起歡笑，而不是在嘲笑別人。

　　英文中數字11為啥不叫ONETEEN?

　　English number words are pretty logical after a point. From twenty-one to ninety-nine, the same principle applies: the tens place followed by the units place. But the teens are different.

　　英文數字從某個數開始就相當符合邏輯。從21到29，運用的都是相同的理論:幾十在前，後面跟著個位數字。但十幾卻並非如此。

　　Eleven and twelve come from the Old English words endleofan and twelf, which can be traced back further to a time when they were ain+lif and twa+lif.

　　11和12來自古英語endleofan和twelf，可以追溯到倆數字還寫作ain+lif和 twa+lif的時候。

　　So then the question is, why don't we have threelif, fourlif, fiflif, sixlif and so on? The answer has to do with the development of number systems over history.

　　於是，問題來了，我們為何沒沒有threelif, fourlif, fiflif和sixlif 呢?答案和歷史上數字體系的發展有關。

　　A long, long time ago, when the number words were first being formed, most people didn't have much reason to distinguish numbers above ten. In fact, some languages of primitive cultures only have number words for one, two, and many. So the basic number words up to ten formed first, then they were extended a bit with the –lif ending.

　　很久很久以前數字剛剛形成的時候，多數人並沒有太多能耐去辨識十以上的數字。事實上，有些原始文化的語言裡表示數字的詞只有一、二和許多。於是乎，先有了到十的基本數字，然後稍稍拓展，以–lif 結尾。

　　Many number systems are based on 12 because it's divisible by the most numbers, and because you can count to 12 on one hand by using your thumb to count three knuckles on each of the other fingers. If 11 and 12 are being used more frequently, the forms for them will stick, even when another system starts to develop.

　　許多數字體系都是基於12的，因為12可以被多數數字約分，還因為你可以一隻手僅靠大拇指，數每個指頭的指節，就能數到12。要是11和12如今運用更廣泛的話，其形式便會固定下來，即便有其它體系慢慢發展起來。

　　You can extend that idea to other number words. We have more irregularities of pronunciation in the tens ***twenty, thirty, fifty instead of twoty, threety, fivety*** because we've been making everyday use of those numbers for longer than we have for two hundred, three hundred, and five hundred***. 。Thousand is an old word, but its original sense was "a great multitude," a non-numerically-specific, but very useful idea. The words we needed earliest, and used the most frequently are usually the most irregular.

　　這樣思想可以類推到其它數字。幾十的數字發音不規律***twenty, thirty, fifty 而不是twoty, threety, fivety***。一千是個古老的詞，最初的意思是“量很大”，具體數值不詳，但這一概念很有用。有些詞彙我們很早就有需要、使用頻率最高，也恰是最不規則的。

　　So the short answer is, we created words for 11 and 12 a long time ago by calling them "one left after ten" and "two left after ten." They were more useful to us than the higher numbers, so we said them more and they became a habit that we couldn't shake.

　　所以，簡單說來，人們很久以前創造出“十餘一”和“十餘二”這樣的用語來表示11和12。比起更大的數字，11和12更為有用，所以我們說的也多，因為這已成為習慣難以改變。