英语和美语2
本文仅就上面提到的词语、读音及拼写等几个方面简要地介绍英语和美语之间的差异，以帮助读者熟练地掌握运用。
一、词语方面 这主要指英语和美语在表示相同的事物时，选用不同的词语，或相同的词语在英语和美语中具有不同的内涵，也指相同的词语在用法上的不同。
在 H. L. Mencken所著的The American Language (New York. Alfred-A-Knopf, 1982)一书中有一段生动的描写，现引述如下：An Englishman, walking into his house, does not enter upon the first floor as we do, but upon the ground floor. When he speaks of the first floor, he means what we call the second floor, and so on up to the roof, which is covered, not with tin or shingles, but with tiles or leads. He does not ask for mail but for letters. There are mail trains in his country, but in general he reserves the word mail for letters going to or from foreign countries, and he knows nothing of the compounds so numerous in American, e.g., mail car, -man, -box, and -carrier. He uses post instead. The man who brings his post or letters is always a postman, never a mailman. His outgoing letters are posted, not mailed, at a letterbox, not at a mailbox. If they are urgent they are sent, not by special delivery, but by express post. Goods ordered by post on which the dealer pays the cost of transportation are said to arrive, not postpaid or prepaid, but post-free or carriage-paid... The English still get in or out of a train, not on or off it. They say a train is up to time, not on time, and they know nothing, according to Horwill, of way stations, flag stops, grade crossings, flyers, long and short hauls, trunk lines and tie-ups.
引文中的he, they指的是英国人，his country指的是英国。we指的是美国人。, 百拇医药
一、词语方面 这主要指英语和美语在表示相同的事物时，选用不同的词语，或相同的词语在英语和美语中具有不同的内涵，也指相同的词语在用法上的不同。
在 H. L. Mencken所著的The American Language (New York. Alfred-A-Knopf, 1982)一书中有一段生动的描写，现引述如下：An Englishman, walking into his house, does not enter upon the first floor as we do, but upon the ground floor. When he speaks of the first floor, he means what we call the second floor, and so on up to the roof, which is covered, not with tin or shingles, but with tiles or leads. He does not ask for mail but for letters. There are mail trains in his country, but in general he reserves the word mail for letters going to or from foreign countries, and he knows nothing of the compounds so numerous in American, e.g., mail car, -man, -box, and -carrier. He uses post instead. The man who brings his post or letters is always a postman, never a mailman. His outgoing letters are posted, not mailed, at a letterbox, not at a mailbox. If they are urgent they are sent, not by special delivery, but by express post. Goods ordered by post on which the dealer pays the cost of transportation are said to arrive, not postpaid or prepaid, but post-free or carriage-paid... The English still get in or out of a train, not on or off it. They say a train is up to time, not on time, and they know nothing, according to Horwill, of way stations, flag stops, grade crossings, flyers, long and short hauls, trunk lines and tie-ups.
引文中的he, they指的是英国人，his country指的是英国。we指的是美国人。, 百拇医药