TED演讲：不要固执于英语(1)

 　　I know what you're thinking.  我知道你们在想什么。

　　You think I've lost my way,  你们想我迷路了，

　　and somebody's going to come on the stage in a minute and guide me gently back to my seat. 有人马上会上台，把我领回到我的座位。

　　I get that all the time in Dubai. "Here on holiday are you, dear?" 在迪拜老是有人这样问我。“亲爱的，来度假啊？”

　　"Come to visit the children? How long are you staying?" “来看孩子们吗？呆多久啊？”

　　Well actually, I hope for a while longer yet.  事实上，我希望我还能多在这儿呆几年呢。

　　I have been living and teaching in the Gulf¹ for over 30 years. 我在海湾地区已经生活和教书有30多年了。

　　And in that time, I have seen a lot of changes.  在这期间，我目睹了很多变化。

　　Now that statistic² is quite shocking. 那些统计数据是令人非常吃惊的。

　　And I want to talk to you today about language loss and the globalization of English. 而我今天要跟你们讲的是关于语种的消失和英语的全球化。

　　I want to tell you about my friend who was teaching English to adults in Abu Dhabi. 我想告诉你们，我的一个朋友她在阿布扎比教成年人英语。

　　And one fine day, she decided³ to take them into the garden to teach them some nature vocabulary. 一天，她决定带他们去花园，去教他们一些大自然用语。

　　But it was she who ended up learning all the Arabic words for the local plants, 但是结果她反而学了所有当地植被的阿拉伯名称

　　as well as their uses -- medicinal uses, cosmetics⁴, cooking, herbal. 和它们的用途--药用的、化妆用的、食用的，草药。

　　How did those students get all that knowledge?  那些学生是怎样得到这些知识的呢？

　　Of course, from their grandparents and even their great-grandparents. 当然是从他们的祖父母那里，甚至是他们的曾祖父母那里。

　　It's not necessary to tell you how important it is to be able to communicate across generations. 本来我没有必要告诉你们能够跨代交流是多么重要。

　　But sadly, today, anguages are dying at an unprecedented⁵ rate. 但是，令人惋惜的是，今天很多语种正在以空前的速度消失着。

　　A language dies every 14 days.  每14天就有一种语言消失。

1 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

2 statistic   

n.统计量；adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• Official statistics show real wages declining by 24%.官方统计数字表明实际工资下降了24%。
• There are no reliable statistics for the number of deaths in the battle.关于阵亡人数没有可靠的统计数字。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 cosmetics   

n.化妆品

参考例句：

• We sell a wide range of cosmetics at a very reasonable price. 我们以公道的价格出售各种化妆品。
• Cosmetics do not always cover up the deficiencies of nature. 化妆品未能掩饰天生的缺陷。

5 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。