VOA慢速英语--Have You Ever 'Wondered?'

 

This week we answer a request from Thant Zin Aung.

Question:

He writes: “Hi Teacher, Let me know how to use "wonder" as question form. Thanks in advance.” – Thant Zin Aung

Answer:

Dear Thant Zin Aung,

Thanks for writing to us. Your request is somewhat¹ difficult to answer because it involves a kind of question unlike any other.

For one thing, in English, written questions almost always end in the same way. They end with a question mark, a kind of punctuation² that shows the reader you are requesting information.

For example, one could ask, “What did you eat for dinner?”

The question comes through with not just the punctuation. When asking a question, English speakers usually try to end what they are saying with a rising tone³ in their voice.

Here is an example: “Are you leaving?”

But when one uses wonder in the form of a question, you are asking a completely different kind of question.

First, the way you form the question is different. To wonder means to ask oneself something. So the identity⁴ of the person wondering usually comes at the beginning of the sentence.

For example, say you have not spoken to your friend Tina in many years. One day you might ask yourself: “I wonder where Tina is.” This means you are asking yourself to imagine what has happened to your friend since you last spoke⁵.

If you are writing this down as a question, you would not use a question mark. And in speaking, you would not raise the tone of your voice.

You will sometimes hear or read about other people wondering to themselves. In those cases, you will see them identified at the start of the question, as in 'He wonders why this happened' or 'They wondered who did it.’

The word that comes immediately after the person doing the wondering explains the kind of information they want to know. For example, the word ‘who’ means the question is usually about another person. The word ‘when’ relates to time. ‘Where’ relates to a place or location. ‘What’ relates to specific details of an event, and ‘why’ relates to the reason or reasons something happened.

Sometimes the term to wonder means to have interest in knowing or learning⁶ something. If your co-workers have a surprise planned for your birthday and you really want more details you might say, ‘I wonder where you are taking me.’

Asking others ‘Have you ever wondered about the future?' means you want to know if they have ever asked themselves that question.

And that’s Ask a Teacher.

I’m Pete Musto.

Words in This Story

punctuation – n. the marks, such as periods and commas, in a piece of writing that make its meaning clear and that separate it into sentences and clauses⁷

tone – n. the highness or lowness of a spoken syllable⁸

specific – adj. precise or exact

1 somewhat   

pron.一些，某物；adv.多少，几分

参考例句：

• The cake we made was somewhat of a failure.我们做的蛋糕不大成功。
• The two office buildings are somewhat alike in appearance.这两座办公楼在外形上有点相似。

2 punctuation   

n.标点符号，标点法

参考例句：

• My son's punctuation is terrible.我儿子的标点符号很糟糕。
• A piece of writing without any punctuation is difficult to understand.一篇没有任何标点符号的文章是很难懂的。

3 tone   

n.语气，音调，气度，色调；vt.（up）增强

参考例句：

• There was a tone of mockery in his voice.他说话的语气含有嘲笑的意味。
• Holmes used an informal,chatty tone in his essays.霍姆斯在文章中语气轻松随便。

4 identity   

n.身份，本体，特征；同一(性)，一致

参考例句：

• He never revealed his identity.他从未暴露过自己的身份。
• He showed his identity card and went in.他把工作证亮了一下就进去了。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

7 clauses   

从句( clause的名词复数 )； （法律文件等的）条款

参考例句：

• Relative pronouns and adverbs introduce attributive clauses. 关系代词和关系副词引导定语从句。
• Please underline the noun clauses in the passage. 请用线画出短文中的名词性从句。

8 syllable   

n.音节；vt.分音节

参考例句：

• You put too much emphasis on the last syllable.你把最后一个音节读得太重。
• The stress on the last syllable is light.最后一个音节是轻音节。