評論
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It was on such an occasion the other evening, as the conversation moved desultorily here and there, from the most commonplace to thoughts of Jupiter, without any focus and with no need for one, that suddenly the alchemy of conversation took place, and all at once there was a focus. I do not remember what made one of our companions say it-she clearly had not come into the bar to say it, it was not something that was pressing on her mind-but her remark fell quite naturally into the talk.
有一天晚上的情形正是這樣。人們正漫無邊際地東扯西拉，從最普通的凡人俗事談到有關木星的科學趣聞。談了半天也沒有一個中心話題，事實上也不需要有一個中心話題。可突然間大伙兒的話題都集中到了一處，中心話題奇跡般地出現了。我記不起她那句話是在什么情況下說出來的-她顯然不是預先想好把那句話帶到酒館里來說的，那也不是什么非說不可的要緊話-我只知道她那句話是隨著大伙兒的話題十分自然地脫口而出的。
"Someone told me the other day that the phrase, 'the King's English, ' was a term of criticism, that it means language which one should not properly use.'
"幾天前，我聽到一個人說'標準英語'這個詞語是帶貶義的批評用語，指的是人們應該盡量避免使用的英語。"
The glow of the conversation burst into flames. There were affirmations and protests and denials, and of course the promise, made in all such conversation, that we would look it up on the morning. That would settle it; but conversation does not need to be settled; it could still go ignorantly on.
此語一出，談話立即熱烈起來。有人贊成，也有人怒斥，還有人則不以為然。最后，當然少不了要像處理所有這種場合下的意見分歧一樣，由大家說定次日一早去查證一下。于是，問題便解決了。不過，酒館閑聊并不需要解決什么問題，大伙兒仍舊可以糊里糊涂地繼續閑扯下去。
It was an Australian who had given her such a definition of "the King's English," which produced some rather tart remarks about what one could expect from the descendants of convicts. We had traveled in five minutes to Australia.Of course, there would be resistance to the King's English in such a society. There is always resistance in the lower classes to any attempt by an upper class to lay down rules for "English as it should be spoken."
告訴她"標準英語"應作那種解釋的原來是個澳大利亞人。得悉此情，有些人便說起刻薄話來了，說什么囚犯的子孫這樣說倒也不足為怪。這樣，在五分鐘內，大家便像到澳大利亞游覽了一趟。在那樣的社會里，"標準英語"自然是不受歡迎的。每當上流社會想給"規范英語"制訂一些條條框框時，總會遭到下層人民的抵制。
