2/3英国人不会说任何外语
文章来源:未知 文章作者:enread 发布时间:2011-11-26 05:26 字体: [ ]  进入论坛
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Two-thirds of Britons cannot say anything in a foreign language – with one fifth even unsure of what ‘bonjour’ means, a study claims.

一项研究称,三分之二的英国人不会说任何外语,五分之一的英国人甚至连bonjour是什么意思都不清楚。

The findings appear to confirm the cliche1(陈词滥调) about Britons being notoriously bad at making an effort to speak the lingo2(行话,术语) when abroad.

Overall, 64 percent of those polled admitted they did not know a single word in any language other than English.

And just one third – 34 percent – said they were willing to make an attempt at speaking a foreign language while on holiday.

One fifth (19 percent) did not know the meaning of the French word for hello, one of the most recognisable foreign greetings in the world.

And 63 percent had no idea what the Dutch word ‘goedemorgen(早上好) ' meant, despite the obvious similarities to our own ‘good morning’.

Young Britons were found to be worst at making the effort, with nearly half – 47 percent – of those aged3 16 to 24 admitting they have never spoken the foreign language they learned at school.

But 45 percent of the over-55s said they liked to try to speak the local language when abroad, the poll of 2,000 adults by travel website Hotels.com found.

It is compulsory4 for all pupils to study a foreign language up to the age of 14 and French, German and Spanish are all on the national curriculum(课程) .

Yet only one in ten of those polled considered themselves able to speak one of them.

Of these, a quarter could ask only ‘everyday questions’, 21 percent said they were limited to ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’, and one in 50 claimed they could understand everything said to them in another language, but were unable to reply.

Reasons for not trying to speak a local language included not being bothered, fear of making a mistake or expecting hosts to be able to speak English.



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1 cliche jbpy6     
n./a.陈词滥调(的);老生常谈(的);陈腐的
参考例句:
  • You should always try to avoid the use of cliche. 你应该尽量避免使用陈词滥调。
  • The old cliche is certainly true:the bigger car do mean bigger profits.有句老话倒的确说得不假:车大利大。
2 lingo S0exp     
n.语言不知所云,外国话,隐语
参考例句:
  • If you live abroad it helps to know the local lingo.住在国外,学一点当地的语言自有好处。
  • Don't use all that technical lingo try and explain in plain English.别尽用那种专门术语,用普通的词语解释吧。
3 aged 6zWzdI     
adj.年老的,陈年的
参考例句:
  • He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了,也老点了。
  • He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老,然而记忆力还好。
4 compulsory 5pVzu     
n.强制的,必修的;规定的,义务的
参考例句:
  • Is English a compulsory subject?英语是必修课吗?
  • Compulsory schooling ends at sixteen.义务教育至16岁为止。
TAG标签: English language foreign
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