英国人也怕英语 半数不会拼常用词

 'Embarrassment¹', 'occasionally' and 'necessary' have been named among the words Brits have most difficulty spelling.

'Embarrassment（尴尬）', 'occasionally（偶尔地）' and 'necessary（必要的）'等词被评选成为英国人觉得最难拼写的单词。

Researchers, who carried out a study among 2,000 adults, found more than half frequently have issues spelling commonly-used words.

研究者对2000名成年人进行了研究调查，发现超过半数的成年人常常不会拼写一些常用词。

Others which we often struggle with are 'accommodate', 'questionnaire' and 'rhythm'.'Conscience' causes many a Brit a headache, and the words 'occurrence', 'restaurant' and 'guarantee' are also tricky² to master.

英国人常常不会拼写的词还包括'accommodate（调解）', 'questionnaire（调查问卷）' and 'rhythm（韵律）'.'Conscience（道德心）'这个词让很多英国人头疼，'occurrence（事件）', 'restaurant（餐厅）'和 'guarantee（保证）'等词也令人感到难以驾驭。

Also on the top 50 everyday words Brits struggle with were the words 'definite', 'separate' and 'weird³'.

英国人难以驾驭的日常单词中排行前50的单词还有'definite（确切的）', 'separate（单独的）' and 'weird（诡异的）'等。

While 'appearance', 'queue' and 'receive' cause many a person to scratch their head.

'appearance（外貌）', 'queue（队列）' and 'receive（接受）'等词也让很多人抓耳挠腮，拼写不出来。

The results of the study emphasised the average person's reliance on spelling assistance - 40 per cent confessed they completely rely on autocorrect technology to monitor their spelling in day-to-day communication.

研究者尤其强调，大众常常依赖于拼写工具——40%的人承认他们在日常交流中完全依赖于自动校对工具来保证拼写正确。

Over a fifth would panic if they were forced to abandon the use of autocorrect or spell-checking technology and rely on their own knowledge.

超过1/5的人承认，如果要求他们不使用自动校对和拼写检查工具，依赖自己的单词储备知识，他们会感到恐慌。

But spelling mistakes still prove common and costly- just under a quarter of people have been embarrassed by a spelling mistake they made at work.

但是拼写错误仍然是非常普遍的，而且成本很高——略少于1/4的人曾经因为在工作中犯拼写错误而陷于尴尬境地。

While spelling ability is often noticed by others - 48 per cent of people admit they can't help but judge people if their spelling is bad.

尽管如此，人们却常常注意他人的拼写能力——48%的人承认会因为别人拼写能力差而不自觉的对之产生偏见。

英国人觉得最难拼写的50个常用词：

1. Embarrassment (尴尬) 2. Fluorescent⁴ (荧光) 3. Accommodate (调节)4. Psychiatrist⁵ (精神病医生) 5. Occasionally (偶尔) 6. Necessary(必要的)7. Questionnaire (调查问卷) 8. Mischievous⁶ (淘气) 9. Rhythm(韵律)10. Minuscule⁷ (草写小字) 11. Conscience (道德心) 12. Xylophone(木琴)13. Pronunciation(发音) 14. Graffiti (涂鸦) 15. Millennium⁸ (千禧年)16. Occurrence(事件) 17. Exhilarate (使愉快) 18. Restaurant (餐厅)19. Accessory (配件) 20. Guarantee (保证) 21. License⁹ (证件)22. Separate(分开的) 23. Believe(相信) 24. Colleague (同事)25. Definite (确切的) 26. Humorous(幽默) 27. Weird(怪异)28. Symphony(交响乐) 29. Illicit(违法的) 30. Species (物种)31. Appearance (外貌) 32. Possession(财产) 33. Vacuum(真空)34. Changeable(多变的) 35. Queue(队列) 36. Acquire(获得)37. Receipt(收据) 38. Receive(接受) 39. Difficulty(困难)40. Foreign(外国的) 41. Discipline(纪律) 42. Equipment(装备)43. Business(商业) 44. Relevant(有关的) 45. Beautiful(美丽的)46. Technology(技术) 47. Neighbour(邻居) 48. Friend(朋友)49. Religious(宗教的) 50. Government(政府)

1 embarrassment   

n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫

参考例句：

• She could have died away with embarrassment.她窘迫得要死。
• Coughing at a concert can be a real embarrassment.在音乐会上咳嗽真会使人难堪。

2 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

3 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

4 fluorescent   

adj.荧光的，发出荧光的

参考例句：

• They observed the deflections of the particles by allowing them to fall on a fluorescent screen.他们让粒子落在荧光屏上以观察他们的偏移。
• This fluorescent lighting certainly gives the food a peculiar color.这萤光灯当然增添了食物特别的色彩。

5 psychiatrist   

n.精神病专家；精神病医师

参考例句：

• He went to a psychiatrist about his compulsive gambling.他去看精神科医生治疗不能自拔的赌瘾。
• The psychiatrist corrected him gently.精神病医师彬彬有礼地纠正他。

6 mischievous   

adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的

参考例句：

• He is a mischievous but lovable boy.他是一个淘气但可爱的小孩。
• A mischievous cur must be tied short.恶狗必须拴得短。

7 minuscule   

adj.非常小的；极不重要的

参考例句：

• The human race only a minuscule portion of the earth's history.人类只有占有极小部分地球历史。
• As things stand,Hong Kong's renminbi banking system is minuscule.就目前的情况而言，香港的人民币银行体系可谓微不足道。

8 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

9 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。