CS-第5章—用英文对非英语听众演讲.docVIP

Chapter Five Addressed to those for whom English is a foreign language Errors of particular kinds occur in scripts and talks prepared by those whose first language is not English．The errors make the difference between foreign‘engelish’and idiomatic English．Errors of idiom distract a reader，and errors of pronunciation distract a listener．You want the reader to be attracted，not distracted．This chapter is intended tohelpyou． Words Certain errors often occur in translation．Sometimes this is because an English word(control，eventual，sensible)resembles a foreign word that has another meaning．Other troublesome words are discussed below． abolishment is not a word．Write abolition． acknowledge．One may acknowledge receiving a gift，but one does not acknowledge a person for help；one thanks him． adoption is probably not what you mean；try adaptation． also commonly occurs in a wrong place；the best place is usually before the main verb．The same is true for already．The editor may delete the words because they are not always needed in the English translation． both．‘Both wires were not hot’Ieaves it uncertain whether one of them was hot．Write‘neither wire was hot, if both were cold． control，the verb，does not mean count，examine，inspect or observe，at least not in scientific English．Control means govern，maintain or limit a variable such as a rate of flow or a temperature．Measure, check or monitor may be what the writer means．Control，the noun，is well understood and needs no explanation． could and able occur too ofton．‘We could measure’or‘were able to measure’tells only of the abifity to measure．If you actually measured，say so:‘we measured’is definite．In‘the friction could be too great’perhaps the writer meant‘．．．may have been’． demonstrate is often written where another word would be better．The word has various meanings，the most usual being physically to display or show something happening．‘Nob reports that le