The English language is not easy－外教的困惑

The English language is not easy. But there are days when we hear some great "mistakes". Several words that are often spoken incorrectly are snacks/snakes, smell/smile. The children ate the snakes in the canteen. Ooops. You mean the children ate snacks in the canteen?

当我们每天听到那些“伟大”的错误，就知道英语的确是不简单。比如一些单词常常被错误的发音：snacks/snakes, smell/smile等——孩子们在小卖铺里吃“蛇”。哈哈，多可怕啊！其实你的意思是孩子们在小卖铺里吃“快餐”吗？

The lady had a smell on her face. You mean the lady had a smile on her face?

还有，这位举止文雅的女士脸上“有气味”，而你的意思是想说这位女士在向我“微笑”。

There are many of course - too many to recount. But today I heard a new one. I had been reading a piece about Valentine's Day and how the girls were looking for someone tall, dark and handsome. There were a series of questions, and some came back with the answer - which was not the answer to the question I asked, but they wrote in their test paper "tall, duck and handsome." Well, it sounds like it doesn't it.

当然还有许许多多的例子——应该说不计其数。但今天我又听见一个新的句子。我正在批改一个有关在情人节女孩们怎样找到一个高高的、皮肤黝黑的英俊小伙的句子。可是在这一系列问题里，她们回答的并不是我所问的问题，她们在试卷上写的是：怎样找到一只高高的、清秀的鸭子。嗨，这根本就不是那么回事啊。

I have been doing assessments on spoken English. It is hard for some of the students, and getting them to say a few sentences about simple things is not always easy.

关于学生们的口语我已经给出了评价，但对于有些学生我真的不知道该怎么评价好，因为让他们对着很简单的事物随便说上两句都显得那么高不可攀。

Can you tell me a little about your mother? Usually the answer is "She is very beautiful and is a kindly lady. She loves me very much and I love her very much." In fact it is surprising that most students, male or female will recite such stories. Everyone is "beautiful" "handsome" "honest" and "kindly".

给我说说你妈妈的好吗？他们的答案通常都是“她是一个非常美丽和善良的女人，她很爱我，我也很她”。令人惊讶的是几乎所有学生，无论男女都会背出这样的句子。对每个人的描述都是“美丽的”、“英俊的”、“诚实的”和“善良的”。

Now it is not about limited vocabulary, but this is what these students will say about their families. One does wonder sometimes if this is genuine - and I feel it is, but I do wonder if they are telling this story to the foreign teachers as they would not want us to know anything but good about their parents and their lives.

事实上这不是词汇量有限的问题，这就是他们表述家人的方式。这不免让人怀疑这不是他们的真心话——我就这么认为。可是我更疑惑的是，难道他们这样对一个外教说的原因是——不想让我们知道除了他们的父母及生活很好以外的其他任何事？

Curiously asking about grandparents is somewhat different. Many of them when asked if they have a grandparent will answer "yes", but when you ask a question about the grandparent, you might find that they are dead. And they know nothing about their lives.

出于好奇，我改问他们的爷爷奶奶或外公外婆（这不同于问他们的父母）。他们中的很多人在面对问他们是否有（外）祖父母的问题时，回答只一个字——“有”，但当你随便想问一个有关他的祖辈的问题时，你得到的答案往往是“他们都死了”。似乎他们对祖辈的事情都一无所知。

Or you might hear about a grandparent that no one wants to talk to because no one likes him. Sometimes I feel like I am intruding on family "secrets" and backpedal quickly…

偶尔你会听说他们不喜欢他们的（外）祖父母，也不想和他们说话。有时我真的感到我更像一个总想打探别人家庭“秘密”并随时准备背信弃义的家伙……