听播客学英语 128 说话谈话

 　　Valeriy, who lives in Russia, has sent me an e-mail. He asks whether I can make a podcast about these words – “say”, “tell”, “speak” and “talk”.

　　Well, that is easy, I thought. So I sat down to write a podcast about when we use “say” and when we use “tell” and so on. And after an hour, I realised that I could not do it. English is too complicated¹. There are far too many words in English and there are so many different ways of using them. So I thought, I will not try to explain everything. I shall just explain a few things – the most important things. I will write a few rules, and if my listeners² learn these rules, they will be right most of the time. Please remember that “say”, “tell” and “speak” are irregular verbs³. They go like this – I say, I said, I have said; I tell, I told, I have told; and I speak, I spoke⁴, I have spoken. “Talk” is regular – I talk, I talked, I have talked. Everybody clear? Then let’s begin!

　　I want you to imagine that you are reading a comic book, about Batman perhaps. In many of the pictures there is a bubble⁵ coming from the mouth of one of the characters. It contains the words which the character is saying. We often call this a “speech bubble”.

　　Here is my RULE NUMBER 1. If you can imagine a speech bubble, with words in it, then you can always use the word “say”; like this :-

　　Kevin says, “I am going to the football match on Saturday”.

　　Batman says, “I have only five minutes to save the entire planet⁶.”

　　Joanna says that she will go to the supermarket tomorrow.

　　Kevin says to Joanne, “Is it OK if I go to the football match on Saturday?”

　　When we want to explain who we say something to, we always use the word “to” – I said to him that I would be late. We NEVER say “I said him that I would be late”.

　　And here is RULE NUMBER 2. If there is no speech bubble with words in it, then you can use “talk” or “speak”.

　　I will speak to my boss tomorrow about whether I can take a day off work.

　　Kevin talks to George about the football match.

　　Today, our teacher is going to talk about irregular verbs in English.

　　So you see, “speak” and “talk” can tell us who is speaking or talking; who the speaker is talking to; and what sort of thing the speaker is talking about. But they do not tell us about the exact words which the speaker uses. There is no speech bubble with words in it. Very often, “speak” and “talk” mean exactly the same, and we can use them interchangeably (that is, we can replace one of them with the other). I think that we use “talk” more often than we use “speak”.

　　And how about the last word which Valerij wants me to explain – the word “tell”? Here comes RULE NUMBER 3. “Tell” means⁷ “give information”. And we can use “tell” when there is a speech bubble, and also when there is no speech bubble, provided⁸ that we mean “give information”. Nearly always, when we use “tell”, we also say who the speaker is talking to. Like this:-

　　Joanne tells her boss, “I have nearly finished the report that you asked for”.

　　Kevin tells Joanne that he wants to go to the football match on Saturday.

　　David told me about his holiday.

　　He told me that he went to Spain, and that he had a great time there.

　　John told me how to find his house.

　　You asked me a question; now I will tell you the answer.

　　I looked at my watch and told him the time.

　　At the end of the school day, the teacher told the children a story.

　　I hope this helps you, Valeriy. Please keep sending me your comments and questions, either by e-mail or by leaving a comment on the web⁹ site. I shall do my best to reply to all of them. There is a vocabulary note attached¹⁰ to the podcast today, and also a quiz¹¹, so you can test how well you understand the difference between “talk”, “speak”, “say” and “tell”.

1 complicated   

adj.错综复杂的，麻烦的，结构复杂的

参考例句：

• The poem is so complicated that I cannot make out its meaning.这首诗太复杂，我理解不了它的意思。
• This is the most complicated case I have ever handled.这是我所处理过的最为复杂的案子。

2 listeners   

n.倾听者，收听者( listener的名词复数 )；听众

参考例句：

• the demographics of radio listeners 电台听众统计数据
• The singer's high notes jarred on the ears of her listeners. 那位歌手的高音让听众们觉得刺耳。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 verbs   

动词

参考例句：

• I have to swot up on phrasal verbs for a test tomorrow. 我不得不为明天的测验努力温习短语动词。
• Verbs that do not take object are called intransitive verbs. 不带宾语的动词称为不及物动词。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 bubble   

n.泡，水泡，气泡；泡影，妄想；v.(使)起泡

参考例句：

• The water begins to bubble.水开始起泡了。
• Their hopes of success have burst like a bubble.他们成功的希望已经成了泡影。

6 planet   

n.行星

参考例句：

• Neptune is the furthest planet from the sun. 海王星是离太阳最远的行星。
• Rubbish, however, is only part of the problem of polluting our planet. 然而, 垃圾只是我们这个星球的污染问题的一个方面。

7 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。

8 provided   

conj.假如，若是；adj.预备好的，由...供给的

参考例句：

• Provided it's fine we will have a pleasant holiday.如果天气良好，我们的假日将过得非常愉快。
• I will come provided that it's not raining tomorrow.如果明天不下雨，我就来。

9 web   

n.网，蛛丝，蹼，织物，圈套，卷筒纸；vi.生蹼，形成网；vt.织蜘蛛网于，使落入圈套

参考例句：

• The spider weaves a web.蜘蛛织网。
• You mean the World Wide Web?你是说国际互联网？

10 attached   

附加的

参考例句：

• The lease entitles the holder to use the buildings and any land attached thereto.本租约持有人有权使用此建筑物以及所附属的土地。

11 quiz   

n.智力竞赛；测验，小型考试

参考例句：

• They are having a quiz now.他们正进行小测验。
• He took part in a television quiz and won a prize.他参加了一个电视知识竞赛并得了奖。