Lesson 25   Do the English speak English？ 英國人講的是英語嗎？

    I arrived in London at last. The railway station was big， black and dark. I did not know the way to my hotel， so I asked a porter. I not only spoke English very carefully， but very clearly as well. The porter， however， could not understand me. I repeated my question several times and at last he understood. he answered me， but he spoke neither slowly nor clearly. 'I am a foreigner，' I said. Then he spoke slowly， but I could not understand him. My teacher never spoke English like that！ The porter and I looked at each other and smiled. Then he said something and I understood it. 'You'll soon learn English！' he said. I wonder. In England， each person speaks a different language. The English understand each other， but I don't understand them！ Do they speak English？

    New words and expressions 生詞和短語

    railway n. 鐵路

    porter n. 搬運工

    several quantifier 幾個

    foreigner n. 外國人

    wonder v. 感到奇怪

    參考譯文

    我終于到了倫敦�；疖囌竞艽�，又黑又暗。我不知道去飯店的路該怎么走，于是向一個搬運工打聽。我的英語講得不但非常認真，而且咬字也非常清楚。然而搬運工卻不明白我的話。我把問話重復了很多遍。他終于聽懂了。他回答了，但他講得既不慢也不清楚。"我是個外國人，"我說。于是他說得慢了，可我還是聽不懂。我的老師從來不那樣講英語！我和搬運工相視一笑。接著，他說了點什么，這回我聽懂了。"您會很快學會英語的！"他說。我感到奇怪。在英國，人們各自說著一種不同的語言。英國人之間相互聽得懂，可我卻不懂他們的話！他們說的是英語嗎？