2017年11月22日BBC新闻
Hello, I’m Rob. Welcome to Six Minute English, where we discuss an interesting topic and a zillion items of vocabulary.
大家好，我是罗伯，欢迎来到六分钟英语。在这里我们会讨论一个有趣的话题以及无数的词汇。
Hi, I’m Catherine. Er… Rob. We aren’t going to discuss a zillion items of vocabulary. We’re going to discuss six Rob. We’ve got six minutes.
大家好，我是凯瑟琳。呃，罗伯。我们不会讨论无数的单词。我们只讨论六个，我们只有六分钟。
OK, I just wanted to introduce the word zillion, because that’s what we’re talking about today!
好的，我只是想要介绍一下zillion这个单词。因为那是我们今天将要谈的。
A zillion means a very big number.
A zillion指的是一个非常大的数字。
But when we talk about a zillion things, we don’t mean an exact number, just a very big one.
但是当我们说无数的事情的时候，我们并不是指一个准确的数字，只是一个非常大的数字而已。
Did you know, Rob, that numbers like zillion are called ’indefinite hyperbolic numerals?
罗伯，你可知道像类似无数这样的数字叫做无限夸张的数字？
Really?
真的吗？
Indefinite means vague or without clear limits. And numeral is another word for number. But can you tell me what ’hyperbolic’ means? Is it…a) endless, b) enormous or c) exaggerated?
Indefinite指的是模糊或者没有清晰的界限。Numeral是表达数字的另一个词汇，相当于number。但是你能告诉我hyperbolic指什么吗？是a)无限的 b)庞大的 c)夸张的？
Well, I’m going to say… endless. Now can you give us some example of an indefinite… hyperbolic numeral? Please, Catherine.
好吧，我觉得是“无限的”。现在你能给我举例某个无限夸张的数字例子吗？拜托了，凯瑟琳。
I tell you what? Why don’t we listen to an expert in the field to find out more?Stephen Chrisomalis is a Linguistic Anthropologist at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. And he knows a lot about numbers! See if you can spot a few hyperbolic numerals, Rob!
我要告诉你什么呢？我们还是听听这方面的专家说的，来找到更多这样的词。史蒂芬克里斯马里斯是密歇根州底特律韦恩州立大学的一名语言人类学家。对于数字他知道很多！罗伯，看一下你能不能认出一些夸张的数字！
OK.
好的。
The smallest indefinite hyperbolic numerals are words like umpteen and umpty and umptisteen and forty-leven. And these are big, indefinite.But we still have a sense that these are quite small, because of the morphemes -ty and –teen. Then above that you have the numerals like zillion and jillion and squillion. And those are clearly bigger than a million.Because most of us know what a million is. And we know that everything less than a million has, you know, some different form.
描述无限夸张的数字有umpteen，umpty还有umptisteen以及forty-leven，其实这些数是大且无限的。但是我们仍然感觉这些都表示比较小的数字，因为其中-ty和-teen的音素。在这些词之上还有像zillion，jillion和squillion这样的词，而且很显然要比million大。因为我们大多数人知道百万是多少。而且我们知道那些所有比百万少的数，都有不同的形式。
OK, I heard umpteen and umpty, which end in the morphemes -teen and –ty, like fifteen and fifty. And then there were two more I didn’t catch…
好的，我听到了无数，还有若干这两个词，它们像十五和四十一样，是以teen和ty音素结尾的。然后还有两个我不太明白。
A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in a language. For example, a word or part of a word. So Rob, you didn’t catch umptisteen or fortyleven?
词素是语言中最小的意义单位。例如，一个词或者词的一部分。所以罗伯，你不理解umptisteen或者forty-leven吗？
No. I’m not familiar with umpti…steen and forty. What’s it?
是的，我对umptisteen和forty不熟悉。它是指什么？
But let’s get back to what Stephen Chrisomalis was saying. The ending –illion tells us a number is big, because we recognize it from real numbers, like million and billion.
我们先回顾一下史蒂芬克里斯马里斯所说的内容。词尾是illion可以表明这个数字是很大的，因为我们从一些像百万，十亿的词中识别出出来。
So when we put a funny morpheme at the front to make zillion, jillion, or squillion, we understand that the number is probably more than a million.
所以当我们把一个好玩的词素放在单词前面构成zillion，jillion或者squillion这些词时，我们可以理解这个词或许比百万要大。
Exactly. Now do people use big indefinite numbers anywhere else in the world, Rob?
确实是。现在人们在世界上其它任何地方都使用无限的数字吗，罗伯？
Sure. In the Middle East, a thousand and one is used as a big indefinite number, like in the famous storybook – A Thousand and One Nights. In Japan, they use eight thousand. And in Sweden, they say femtioelva, which means fifty-leven.
当然。在中东，1001被当做一个无限大的数字适应，例如在那个有名的故事书——《一千零一夜》。在日本，人们用8000代指无限大的数字。而且在瑞典，人们说femtioelva,指的就是fifty-leven。
But it still sounds like here, in the UK, we use sillier numerals than any other parts of the world.
但是听起来在英国这里，我们比世界上其它地方更多使用令人犯晕的数字。
That’s true. And it gets even sillier when we start using intensifiers. These are words or prefixes in this case that make the meaning of another word stronger. Let’s listen to our expert in the field again, talking about this.
是的。并且当我们开始使用强调语时，数字会更琐碎。在这种情况下，这些词或者前缀使得其它词的意思更加强烈。让我们再听一下这个领域的专家聊这个问题。
The intensifiers are ka and ga and ba. So if I were to ask, which is bigger, a zillion or a bazillion? Almost all English speakers will say that a bazillion is definitely bigger than a zillion.
强调语是ka,ga和ba。所以如果我问哪个词更大，是a zillion和a bazillion呢？几乎所有说英语的人都会说a bazillion 绝对比a zillion大。
OK, well we haven’t got a gazillion minutes to finish the show.But I should explain that a prefix is a letter or letters added to the beginning of the word to change its meaning. Now, let’s move on to today’s question. Rob, I asked you: What does ’hyperbolic’ mean? Is it…a) endless, b) enormous or c) exaggerated?
好的，我们没有过多时间来做完这个节目。但是我应该解释一下，前缀是加在单词前面来改变词的意思的一个字母或几个字母。现在让我们看一下今天的问题。罗伯，我问你hyperbolic指什么吗？它是a)无限的 b)庞大的 还是 c)夸张的？
And I said endless.
我回答是无限的。
And you were wrong again I’m afraid, Rob! The answer is c) exaggerated. It has a more specific meaning in mathematics, but the origin of the word is the same. The noun hyperbole comes from Ancient Greek.
罗伯，恐怕你又错了。答案是c选项-夸张的。在数学上它有一个更特定的意思，但是词的起源是一样的。夸张这个名词源自古希腊。
OK, let’s use some hyperbole to talk through the vocabulary items we heard today. Number one is ’zillion’, which means a very big but indefinite number. For example, ’I have a zillion things to do today.’
好的，让我们用一些夸张的词句来说一下我们今天听到的单词。第一个词是zillion，指的是一个非常大但是无限的数字。例如，我今天有无数的事情要去做。
OK, number two – ’indefinite’ , means vague or without clear limits. For example, ’Rob will be on holiday for an indefinite period of time.’
好的，第二个词indefinite指的是模糊的或者没有清楚的界限。例如，罗伯将会有一个没有明确期限的假期。
Really? Who told you that?
真的吗？谁告诉你的？
Let’s move on to number three-numeral or number. For example, ’The letter X is the Roman numeral for ten.’ Number four – a morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in a language. For example, a word or part of a word.
让我们继续第三个词——numeral或者number。例如，字母X是罗马数字10。第四个词-词素是语言中最小的意义单位。例如一个词或者词的一部分。
For example, ’Gazillion’ contains two morphemes – ga and zillion.’
例如gazillion包含两个词素——ga和zillion。
Number five – an ’intensifier’ makes the meaning of another word stronger. ’Rob made me an excellent cup of coffee this morning.’
第五个单词，intensifier使另一个词的意思变得更强烈。罗伯今天早上给我做了一杯极好的咖啡。
Did I? The intensifier in this example is ’excellent’. I’m glad you like my coffee, Catherine!
我吗？这个例子中的强调语是极好的。很高兴你喜欢我做的咖啡，凯瑟琳。
I do.
我真的很喜欢。
OK, our final word today is ’prefix’ – which is a letter or letters added to the beginning of a word to change its meaning.
好的，我们今天最后一个单词是prefix,它是加在单词的前面来改变单词的意思一个或多个字母。
For example, ’Un is a very common prefix in the English language.’
例如，在英语语言中un是一个很常见的前缀。
Unquestionably! Well, that’s all we have time for today.
毋庸置疑！好的，这就是我们今天这个时间所有的内容。
Bye!
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