VOA日常语法2024--A Trip Around the World

A Trip Around the World

　　Pack your bags, make sure your travel documents are in order.

　　Today we are taking a trip around the world — if only in our imagination.

　　For this Everyday Grammar lesson, we will leave behind our grammar books. We will instead look at messages from friends who are in Pakistan, Spain, Belgium, and Japan.

　　Our goal: to learn more about the populations of different countries. We will learn about English along the way.

　　Let's begin our journey...

　　Background

　　In a recent lesson about the noun "population," we asked our listeners the following questions:

　　What is the population like in your country or city? Is the population increasing or decreasing?

　　Here are some of the answers we received:

　　Pakistan

　　Saeed wrote to us from Lahore, Pakistan. Saeed noted¹:

　　City Lahore – Pakistan

　　Increasing

　　In 2023 was 13,979,000, a 3.23% increase from 2022.

　　Saeed presented some exact numbers about the city of Lahore.

　　Our suggestion is to use complete sentences. In other words, Saeed could update the statement to something like this:

　　The population of Lahore, Pakistan, is increasing.

　　In 2023, the population was 13,979,000, a 3.23% increase from 2022.

　　Spain

　　Now that we have learned some information about a big city in Pakistan, we can learn about a major European city. Rafael writes to us from Barcelona, Spain.

　　Here is part of the message:

　　...The populacion in my city is decreasing due to low birth rate, although the total count is maintained thanks to inmigration....The arrival of people from very different cultures creates some integration² problems, but it helps to solve other important ones derived³ from the general aging....

　　Rafael wrote an excellent message. Our main suggestion is to double check the spelling of a few words: population and immigration.

　　In terms of grammar, one idea is to include an article such as "the" before "birth rate." Definite and indefinite⁴ articles help show the difference between a specific and a general noun.

　　So, we could update Rafael's statement to something like this: "The population in my city is decreasing due to the low birth rate..."

　　Belgium

　　Now let's look at part of a message from Jean Claude, in Belgium.

　　...The population of Belgium was 11.67 million inhabitants on January 2023. The Belgian population increased by 0.98% compared to the previous year...

　　Jean Claude's message was clear and to the point. There is one suggestion we have. It is in the first sentence. We have the phrase "on January 2023" but instead we should use the short word "in," like this:

　　The population of Belgium was 11.67 million inhabitants in January 2023.

　　We usually use the short word "on" for an exact date, such as "on January 4th" or "on January 27th"

　　Next, we are in for a long trip to the other side of the world. A friend from Japan would like to tell us about the population of the island country.

　　Japan

　　Here is part of a message from an unnamed reader:

　　According to the national statics, Japan's population has been decreasing almost 600,000 people per a year. There are more than 120,000,000 people in Japan now. However, I heard the population will be under 100,000,000 in 30 years.

　　We suggest the following changes to the first sentence. The term "statics" should be changed to "statistics⁶." In addition, we often use the short word "by" after decreasing. We can then remove "a" from its position before "year." So, we might update the sentence to something like this:

　　According to national statistics, Japan's population has been decreasing by almost 600,000 people per year.

　　Lessons

　　That brings us to the end of our imaginative⁷ trip around the world.

　　We received many wonderful pieces of writing – those that were included in today's lesson and many others that were not.

　　Overall, the general recommendations⁸ are to pay careful attention to spelling and to double check short words – prepositions, articles, and so on.

　　We hope that you have learned a little more about the world, as well as some ideas to use when you write in English.

　　Words in This Story

　　check –v. to make sure something is correct by looking at it or reading it again

　　spelling –n. the way the letters in a word are correctly written, or spelled

　　phrase – n. a group of two or more words that express a single idea but do not usually form a complete sentence

　　inhabitant – n. a person that lives in a particular place

　　statistic⁵ – n. (often plural) a number that represents a piece of information

1 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

2 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

3 derived   

vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取

参考例句：

• Many English words are derived from Latin and Greek. 英语很多词源出于拉丁文和希腊文。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He derived his enthusiasm for literature from his father. 他对文学的爱好是受他父亲的影响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 indefinite   

adj.不明确的，模糊的，不定的，无限的

参考例句：

• The store will be closed for an indefinite period.这家商店将无限期关闭。
• He gave me an indefinite answer.他给了我一个含糊其辞的答复。

5 statistic   

n.统计量；adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• Official statistics show real wages declining by 24%.官方统计数字表明实际工资下降了24%。
• There are no reliable statistics for the number of deaths in the battle.关于阵亡人数没有可靠的统计数字。

6 statistics   

n.统计，统计数字，统计学

参考例句：

• We have statistics for the last year.我们有去年的统计资料。
• Statistics is taught in many colleges.许多大学都教授统计学。

7 imaginative   

adj.富有想象力的，爱想象的

参考例句：

• The imaginative child made up fairy stories.这个想像力丰富的孩子自己编神话故事。
• Scott was an imaginative writer.司格特是位富于想象力的作家。

8 recommendations   

n.推荐( recommendation的名词复数 )；推荐信；正式建议；提议

参考例句：

• The board completely disregarded my recommendations. 董事会完全无视我的建议。
• Recommendations from two previous clients helped to establish her credibility. 两位以前的客户的推荐有助于确立她的诚信度。 来自《简明英汉词典》