18个关于英语的冷知识

 1. The most common letter in English is "e".

　　1、英语里最常见的字母是“e”。

　　2. The most common consonant¹ in English is "r", followed by "t".

　　2、英语里最常见的辅音字母是“r”，接着是“t”。

　　3. Only two English words in current use end in "-gry". They are "angry" and "hungry".

　　3、当代英语只有“angry”和“hungry”两个单词是以“gry”结尾的。

　　4. The word "bookkeeper" (along with its associate "bookkeeping") is the only unhyphenated English word with three consecutive² double letters. Other such words, like "sweet-toothed", require a hyphen to be readily readable.

　　4、“bookkeeper”这个单词(还有与之相关的“bookkeeping”)是唯一一个不带连字符、有三对连续重复字母的单词。还有一个类似的单词是“sweet-toothed”，但它需要用连字符连接以确保能读出来。

　　5. The word "triskaidekaphobia" means "extreme fear of the number 13". This superstition³ is related to "paraskevidekatriaphobia", which means "fear of Friday the 13th".

　　5、有个词叫“triskaidekaphobia”，意思是“对数字13的极度恐惧”。这种迷信也和“paraskevidekatriaphobia”这个词有关，意思是“害怕13号正好是礼拜五的那天”。

　　6. More English words begin with the letter "s" than with any other letter.

　　6、以“s”打头的单词比其他任何字母打头的单词都要多。

　　7. A preposition is always followed by a noun (ie noun, proper noun, pronoun, noun group, gerund).

　　7、介词后面永远要跟一个名词(或专有名词、代词、名词词组、动名词)。

　　8. The word "uncopyrightable" is the longest English word in normal use that contains no letter more than once.

　　8、“uncopyrightable”是英文里最长的无重复字母的常见单词。

　　9.A sentence that contains all 26 letters of the alphabet is called a "pangram".

　　9、一个包含所有26个字母的句子叫做“pangram”。

　　10. The following sentence contains all 26 letters of the alphabet: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." This sentence is often used to test typewriters or keyboards.

　　10、下面这个句子就包含所有26个字母“The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”(敏捷的棕色狐狸跳过了懒狗)，这个句子也常被用来测试打字机或键盘。

　　11. The word "alphabet" comes from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha, bēta.

　　11、“alphabet”这个单词来源于前两个希腊字母：α和β。

　　12. In English, the @ symbol is usually called "the at sign" or "the at symbol".

　　12、英语中，@符号通常叫做“at标志”、或“at符号”。

　　13. The shortest complete sentence in English is the following. "I am."

　　13、英语里最短的完整句子是“I am”。

　　14. The word "Checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah Mat" meaning "the king is helpless".

　　14、象棋里“将军”这个词来源于波斯语“Shah Mat”，意思是“国王束手无策”。

　　15. The longest English word without a true vowel⁴ is "rhythm".

　　15、英语里最长的没有元音字母的单词是“rhythm”。

　　16. The only planet not named after a god is our own, Earth.

　　16、唯一一个不以神的名字命名的行星是我们地球。

　　17.We can find 10 words in the 7-letter word "therein" without rearranging any of its letters: the, there, he, in, rein⁵, her, here, ere, therein, herein.

　　17、从“therein”这个由七个字母组成的单词里，能不换字母顺序而找出十个单词：the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.

　　18.The "QWERTY keyboard" gains its name from the fact that its first 6 letter keys are Q, W, E, R, T and Y. On early typewriters the keys were arranged in such a way as to minimize the clashing of the mechanical rods that carried the letters.

　　18.“QWERTY”键盘是以这种键盘的头六个字母命名的。人们还在用打字机的时候，这么安排字母顺序是为了减小印有字母的机械杆撞到一起的情况。

1 consonant   

n.辅音；adj.[音]符合的

参考例句：

• The quality of this suit isn't quite consonant with its price.这套衣服的质量和价钱不相称。
• These are common consonant clusters at the beginning of words.这些单词的开头有相同辅音组合。

2 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

3 superstition   

n.迷信，迷信行为

参考例句：

• It's a common superstition that black cats are unlucky.认为黑猫不吉祥是一种很普遍的迷信。
• Superstition results from ignorance.迷信产生于无知。

4 vowel   

n.元音；元音字母

参考例句：

• A long vowel is a long sound as in the word"shoe ".长元音即如“shoe” 一词中的长音。
• The vowel in words like 'my' and 'thigh' is not very difficult.单词my和thigh中的元音并不难发。

5 rein   

n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治

参考例句：

• The horse answered to the slightest pull on the rein.只要缰绳轻轻一拉,马就作出反应。
• He never drew rein for a moment till he reached the river.他一刻不停地一直跑到河边。