口语技巧:日期年份等数字的英语表达

 　　英语听力的拦路虎其中有一最大障碍，就是亿、十亿这样的大数字，还有分数等等，集中功课英语中数字的读法。

　　Dates 日期

　　In English, we can say dates either with the day before the month, or the month before the day:

　　你可以先说日期也可以先说月份：

　　The first of January / January the first.

　　Remember to use ordinal numbers for dates in English.

　　记得在说日期时要使用序数词。

　　(The first, the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth, the twenty-second, the thirty-first etc.)

　　Years 年份

　　For years up until 2000, separate the four numbers into two pairs of two:

　　在2000年之前的年份，你可以把四个数字分成两部分来说：

　　1965 = nineteen sixty-five

　　1871 = eighteen seventy-one

　　1999 = nineteen ninety-nine

　　For this decade, you need to say "two thousand and ..." when speaking British English:

　　2000年之后的年份，（英式英语中）你要说"two thousand and ..."：

　　2001 = two thousand and one

　　2009 = two thousand and nine

　　Large numbers 大数目

　　Divide the number into units of hundreds and thousands:

　　将数字分成百位和千位：

　　400,000 = four hundred thousand (no s plural)

　　If the number includes a smaller number, use "and" in British English:

　　（英式英语中）如果数字不是整数，你需要加上"and"：

　　450,000 = four hundred and fifty thousand

　　400,360 = four hundred thousand and three hundred and sixty

　　Fractions, ratios and percentages 分数，比例，百分比

　　1/2 = one half

　　1/3 = one third

　　1/4 = one quarter

　　1/5 = one fifth

　　1/6 = one sixth etc

　　3/5 = three fifths

　　1.5% = one point five percent

　　0.3% = nought¹ / zero point three percent

　　2:1 = two to one

　　Saying 0 如何说数字0？

　　Depending on the context², we can pronounce zero in different ways:

　　根据语境的不同，我们有很多种说法来表达数字0：

　　2-0 (football) = Two nil³

　　30 – 0 (tennis) = Thirty love

　　604 7721 (phone number) = six oh four…

　　0.4 (a number) = nought point four / zero point four

　　0℃ (temperature) = zero degrees

　　Talking about calculations in English 如何用英语表示算术

　　+ (plus)

　　2 + 1 = 3 (two plus one equals three)

　　- (minus / take away)

　　5 – 3 = 2 (five minus three equals two / five take away three equals two)

　　x (multiplied by / times)

　　2 x 3 = 6 (two multiplied by three equals six / two times three equals six)

　　/ (divided by)

　　6 / 3 = 2 (six divided by three equals two)

1 nought   

n.／adj.无，零

参考例句：

• We must bring their schemes to nought.我们必须使他们的阴谋彻底破产。
• One minus one leaves nought.一减一等于零。

2 context   

n.背景，环境，上下文，语境

参考例句：

• You can always tell the meaning of a word from its context.你常可以从上下文中猜出词义来。
• This sentence does not seem to connect with the context.这个句子似乎与上下文脱节。

3 nil   

n.无，全无，零

参考例句：

• My knowledge of the subject is practically nil.我在这方面的知识几乎等于零。
• Their legal rights are virtually nil.他们实际上毫无法律权利。