魔盒来啦
编者按：亲爱的听众，我是郑新民教授。在今天的节目中，我想给大家介绍一种儿童英语读物新系列，它叫做“学会阅读”，也称为“儿童英语阅读魔盒”。众所周知，从婴儿期开始，每天给幼儿阅读，有助于语言习得和识字技能。这是因为在最初的几个月里，给孩子阅读可以刺激大脑的一部分，使他们能够理解语言的意义，并有助于培养关键的语言、识字能力和社交技能。今天，我们将带您和您的宝贝孩子一起来学一学如何识别同义词和反义词。
英文作者：郑新民，香港大学哲学博士（PhD),上海外国语大学教授。
Hello, dear listeners, this is Prof. Zheng Xinmin, broadcasting from Shanghai. In today’s programme, I’d like to introduceyou a new series of young children’s readers, called “Learn to Read”. As everybody knows, reading daily to young children, starting in infancy, can help with language acquisition and literacy skills. This is because reading to your children in the earliest months can stimulate the part of the brain that allows them to understand the meaning of language and helps build key language, literacy and social skills.
In the series ofLearn to Read, we can find a lesson titled “If Animals Came to School”. Well, one of the purposes of this lesson intends to tell us how to recognize the use of “if” when talking about something that might have happened. In fact, this is called subjunctive mood. In order tobetter understand subjunctive mood, we must first understand whatmoodis. In grammar, mood refers to a verb form that shows the writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward the content of his or her words.
There are three different kinds of mood in English grammar.Subjunctive moodexpresses a desire, a requirement, a suggestion, or a hypothetical situation. The other two types of mood are indicative and imperative. Indicative mood asks a question or expresses a fact or opinion, while imperative mood is used to issue a command. OK, now let’s see some examples of these types as follows:
1. Subjective mood can express a desire or a wish:
I wish I were there to help you celebrate your birthday.
2. Subjunctive mood can also express a requirement or necessity:
It is essential that the volunteers arrive on time.
3. Suggestions are also considered subjunctive mood:
I suggest that you move your car away from the dead tree.
4. Hypothetical situations are also expressions cast in subjunctive mood:
If I won the lottery, I would build a house in the country.
Please notethat none of these examples depict an event that has actually happened; instead, these statements express wishes and needs. OK, the following examples tell you how to avoid misuse of subjunctive mood. Please remember the subjunctive for the present tense third person singular drops the-sor-esso that it looks and sounds like the present tense for everything else and the subjunctive mood of the verbto beis”be”in the present tense and “were”in the past tense, regardless of what the subject is.
Incorrect: If I was you, I would run.
Correct: If I were you, I would run.
(The verb follows if and expresses a non-factual condition.)
Incorrect: I wish he was able to type faster.
Correct: I wish he were able to type faster.
(The second verb is in a clause following a verb expressing a wish. It also suggests a non-factual or doubtful condition.)
Incorrect: His requirement is that everyone is computer literate.
Correct: His requirement is that everyone be computer literate.
(Subordinate clause follows main clause with a demand.)
Incorrect: He recommended that each driver reports his tips.
Correct: He recommended that each driver report his tips
Sometimes we may use the conditional auxiliary verbs of could, should, or would to express the same sense.
Subjunctive: I wish he were kinder to me.
Conditional: I wish he would be kinder to me.
To conclude today’s programme, as you know, we don’t use thesubjunctivevery much in contemporary English unless we wish to sound very formal. With verbs like suggest, recommend, insist and adjectives like important, essential, imperative,crucial, vital, we often use should + infinitive instead of thesubjunctiveor we can use the normal tense form.OK,if you are interested in what we have told you above, please try to read “Learn to Read” in original. Thank you for your listening and bye for now.(44)
参考译文
在“Learnto Read”系列中有篇文章题为“如果动物也来上学”，这篇文章的题旨之一是想告诉我们，当我们在谈论某件事情本有可能发生（实际却未曾发生）的时候，该如何使用单词“if”（假如）来表示虚拟。其实，这种情况称虚拟语气。为了更好地理解虚拟语气，我们首先要知道什么是语气。在语法上，语气是一种动词形式，表达作者或说话人对言说内容所抱有的态度。
英语语法中有三种不同的语气。虚拟语气表达愿望，要求，建议或假设。另外两种是陈述语气和祈使语气。陈述语气用于提出问题、陈述事实或表达观点，而祈使语气用于下达指令。好了，我们来看看下面的例句：
1. 虚拟语气表达欲求或愿望：
我希望当时我能在那里为你庆生。
2. 虚拟语气还表示要求或必要：
志愿者必须按时到场。
3. 建议也被视作虚拟语气：
我建议你把车子从那颗枯死的树上移开。
4. 假设状况也要用到虚拟语气：
如果我买彩票中奖，我就在乡下盖个大房子。
请注意，这些例句中描写的事情没有一件是真实发生过的。相反，这些句子表达的是希望和需求。好了，下面的例句教你如何避免误用虚拟语气。要记住，现在时第三人称单数动词使用虚拟语气时去掉后缀-s或-es，这样它看上去或听起来都像是现在时，但是，不论主语是什么wish虚拟语气，“be”动词在现在时的虚拟语气句中都使用它的原型，而在过去时的虚拟语气句中皆使用“were”的形态。
错误：If I was you, I would run.
正确：If I were you, I would run.
如果我是你，我就跑。
（if后面的动词were表示非真实的状况）
错误：I wish he was able to type faster.
正确：I wish he were able to type faster.
我希望他打字能再快些。
（出现在wish从句中的动词were表达希望，暗指这是非真实的或值得怀疑的状况。）
错误：His requirement is that everyone is computer literate.
正确：His requirement is that everyone be computer literate.
他的要求是所有人都要懂电脑。
（主句后面跟的从句表达一种要求）
错误：He recommended that each driver reports his tips.
正确：He recommended that each driver report his tips.
他建议所有驾驶员都要汇报小费收入。
有时候我们可以用条件助动词could，should和 would表达同样的意思。
使用虚拟语气：I wish he were kinder to me. 我希望他对我再和善一点。
使用条件助动词：I wish he would be kinder to me. 真希望他对我再和善一点。
今天的节目就快结束了。大家知道，现代英语中人们并不经常用到虚拟语气，除非想让句子听起来很正式。当句中碰到动词suggest，recommend，insist，或形容词important，essential，imperative，crucial，vital时wish虚拟语气，我们常常使用“should+动词原形”的结构，或直接用正常时态表达，而不是使用虚拟语气。好了，如果你对我们今天讲的感兴趣，请欣赏”Learnto Read”原文。谢谢收听，再见。
~~~
译者：苏州大学翻译学博士研究生 沈洁。特此感谢。
儿童英语阅读魔盒
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