VOA慢速英语2019 “Call”、“Phone”和 “Ring”的区别

Today on Ask a Teacher, we answer an email from Nathaniel in South Sudan.

今天的《名师答疑》节目中，我们要回复一封来自南苏丹的纳撒尼尔的电子邮件。  

He asks: What is the difference between phone, call and ring?

他问道：“phone”， “call” 和“ring”有什么区别？ 

Hi, Nathaniel, that is a great question. We use these words when talking about telephone calls and other kinds of communication.

嗨，纳撒尼尔！这是个好的问题。我们在谈到电话和其他类型的交流时，会使用这些词语。 

All three words can be used as nouns² and have a verb form. Today, I will be looking at the verb forms.

这三个单词都可以用作名词并具有动词形式。今天，我将研究它们的动词形式。 

The Scottish-born scientist and engineer Alexander Graham Bell is famous for his invention of the telephone. In 1876, the United States government approved a patent on Bell’s telephone. The move gave him the exclusive³ right to the technology. So no one else could manufacture⁴ or sell his invention for a number of years.

生于苏格兰的科学家和工程师亚历山大·格雷厄姆·贝尔因发明电话而闻名。1876年，美国政府批准了贝尔的电话专利。此举使他获得了该技术的专有权。 因此，长达数年内，其他人都不可以制造或销售他的发明。

Since that time, people have shortened⁵ the noun¹ "telephone" to "phone" and started to use it as a verb, meaning to call someone on a telephone. In Britain, it is common to hear people use the verb "ring" for this same purpose. But there is no rule that requires a speaker of American English to only use "phone" or a speaker of British English to only use "ring."

从那时起，人们就将名词"telephone"缩短为"phone"，并开始将其用作动词，意思是通过电话呼叫某人。在英国，常常听到人们使用动词“ring”来表达同样的目的。但是没有规定要求讲美式英语的人只能使用"phone"，或讲英式英语的人只能使用"ring"。

Here are some examples of how we use "phone."

以下是一些关于我们如何使用"phone"的示例。 

Can I phone my wife? She would know the answer to this.

我可以打电话给我老婆吗？ 她知道这个的答案。 

She couldn’t stop to phone for help.

她没有办法停下来打电话求救。 

You may hear the verb "ring" when someone talks about the sound of alarm bells.

当有人谈到报警铃的声音时，你可能会听到动词"ring"。 

I heard the doorbell ring.

我听到了门铃响。 

The sign said, ’Ring for Service.’

这个标记表示，“服务铃”。 

In addition, a common two-word verb is "ring up." We may ask a store employee to "ring up" our purchase, that is, enter the prices on a machine.

另外，还有一个常见的双单词动词，就是"ring up"。我们可能会让商店员工"ring up"（在收款机上结算）我们的购买的商品，即在机器上输入价格。

Google’s Ngram Viewer is an online tool to learn about words. It looks at the words from Google books to show how often people use words over time and in what places.

谷歌的书籍词频统计器（Ngram Viewer）是个学习了解单词的在线工具。它会研究谷歌图书中的文字，以显示人们在一段时间内使用单词的频率以及在什么地方使用的这些单词。

We used the Google Ngram Viewer to compare British and American usage⁶ of the three words. The first ngram looked at British English. It found that the word ’ring’ was a little more popular than ’phone.’

我们使用谷歌的书籍词频统计器将英国和美国对这三个单词的用法进行对此。第一语言模型对英式英语进行研究。它发现单词“ring”比“phone”使用更广泛。

The second ngram looked at American English. It found that ’phone’ is more popular than ’ring.’

第二个语言模型研究美式英语，发现单词“phone” 比“ring”使用更广泛。 

In both online tests, the word "call" was much more common than either ‘phone’ or ‘ring’. English speakers often use "call" to talk about using the telephone to contact someone, such as in the following sentence:Call the police.

在两个在线测试中，“call”一词比“phone”和“ring”更常见得多。 说英语的人经常使用“call”来谈论使用电话联系某人，例如在下面的句子中：报警。

Even more often, we use it in a general sense, as in “give a name to” or “label.”

我们更常使用它一般意义上，如“给……取名字”或“把……称为”。 

They do not want us to call them pirates⁷, but they are stealing.

他们不想我们称他们为海盗，但他们正在偷窃。 

Do you call that bag of potato chips your dinner?

你把那袋土豆片叫做晚餐吗？ 

We also use “call” in the sense of “ask” or “request.”

我们还使用“call”来表示“问”或“请求”的意思。 

Let’s call a meeting for tomorrow afternoon.

让我们明天下午召开会议。 

So here is my advice on using phone, call and ring: You can use any one of them to refer to making a telephone call. “Call” is the most common in American English. As you learn more English, you will learn many expressions that include “call.” I’ll share one with you here:

所以我对使用“phone”，“call”和“ring”的建议是：你可以使用其中任何一个来指打电话。 “Call”在美式英语中最为常见。 随着你更多地学习英语，你将会学习到许多包含“call”的表达方式。我将在此和你分享一个：

Let’s call it a day.

让我们到此结束。 

That is, our work is done; let’s take a deep breath and relax.

也就是说，我们的工作已经完成; 让我们深呼吸，放松一下。 

And that’s Ask a Teacher!

以上就是本期《名师答疑》的全部内容！

1 noun   

n.名词

参考例句：

• What kind of noun is this?这是哪类名词？
• This word is a collective noun.这个词是个集体名词。

2 nouns   

n.名词；名词( noun的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns. 法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Nouns join to form compounds. 名词和名词结合构成复合词。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 exclusive   

adj.不包括的，不算在内的，独有的，独享的

参考例句：

• The hotel charges 6 pounds a day,exclusive of meals.这家旅馆一天收六英镑，不包括饭钱。
• This bathroom is for the President's exclusive use.这间浴室是总统专用的。

4 manufacture   

n.产品，制造，制造业；vt.制造，加工；vi.参与制造

参考例句：

• The equipment is of our own manufacture.这设备是我们自己制造的。
• Plastic is an important manufacture.塑料是种重要产品。

5 shortened   

v.弄短，缩短( shorten的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She shortened the skirt by an inch. 她把裙子缩短了一英寸。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Vacations have lengthened and the work week has shortened. 假期延长，工作周就缩短了。 来自辞典例句

6 usage   

n.惯用法，使用，用法

参考例句：

• I am clear about the usage of this word at last.这个词的用法我算是弄明白了。
• The usage is now firmly established.这种用法现已得到确认。

7 pirates   

n.海盗( pirate的名词复数 )；剽窃者；侵犯版权者；非法播音的人（或组织）

参考例句：

• Children dressed (themselves) up as pirates. 孩子们假扮成海盗。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The pirates treated their captives with barbarity. 海盗们残暴地对待他们的俘虏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》