重學(xué)英語(yǔ)賞奧運(yùn)

A place where everyone is looking ahead eagerly to the opening of the Olympics this summer.

And London-based correspondent， Philip Reeves， sends us an occasional letter about the games. His latest contains a warning for those planning to go to the Olympics. Phil says if you think you’ll get around London easily just because you speak English， think again.

Philip Reeves: Americans and Britons enjoy sharing a mother tongue. I mean， we understand one another pretty well， don’t we? Well， no—not always. English spoken by the British has some bizarre variants. One of the weirdest of these is found in the Kingdom’s capital.

The Olympic Games will be based here in East London， in one of the city’s poorest parts. This isn’t much like the London of Big Ben and Buckingham Palace. It’s a 1)drab， flat sprawl north of the River Thames. If you’re planning to come， prepare to be 2)baffled. People ’round here speak in code.

Listen， for a minute， to Eastenders Nicola McCluskey and Jackie Dunning.

Nicola McCluskey: Apples and pears is stairs， mince pies is eyes.

Jackie Dunning: Daisy roots is your boots. Philip: The Olympics are being held in the heartland of Cockney rhyming slang. This odd linguistic device was introduced in 3)Victorian times by Cockney market traders who wanted to avoid being overheard by the police. The Cockneys used to be working-class Londoners from the East End. Many have moved out of town， and up the social ladder.

These days in East London， you hear a vast range of languages—from 4)Urdu to Polish. Yet Cockney rhyming slang continues to thrive.

Jackie: People use it every day. I mean， we use it; we don’t even know we’re using it， do we? You know， you say something and it’s just part of what we say.

Nicola: It’s like our everyday speech. So I’ll say to the girls， “I’ll just quickly run up the apples and pears.”

Jackie: My husband sat and taught my son Cockney rhyming slang right from being little...

Philip: Did he?

Jackie: ...because it’s important， yeah.

Gordon Smith: Ah， well， those are examples— parts of the body， for example.

Philip: Gordon Smith collects Cockney rhyming slang for fun and puts it on his website， CockneyRhymingSlang.co.uk.

Gordon: Starting from the top， you’ve got your 5)Barnet Fair; that’s your hair. You’ve got your boat race; that’s your face. You’ve got your I suppose; that’s your nose; mince pies， north and south...

Philip: Gregory Peck， what’s that?

Gordon: Well， that’s your neck.

Philip: You see how it works， right? You take a word—let’s say， talk; replace it with a rhyming phrase， rabbit and pork; and drop the rhyming word. Thus， the word for “talking too much” in Cockney becomes a small， furry animal.

London’s bloggers， including Smith， are busy compiling rhyming slang especially for the Games.

Gordon: We’ve got the cycling. And the word bike is Dick Van Dyke in Cockney rhyming slang. Tennis players will be using balls， so that’s Albert Halls. And these…these are all genuine Cockney expressions.

Philip: There’s a rumor the rhyming slang for the“Games” themselves is the 6)Sids， after the late Sid James. You may not have heard of him， but he was a big comedy star in Britain， thanks largely to the “Carry On” movies. Eastenders Nicola McCluskey and Jackie Dunning don’t think the Sids will catch on.

Nicola: Oh， I’ve not heard that one.

Jackie: No. See， there’s a lot of new slang brought out by people. And， like some of it， you have to say to them， “What does that mean?” because it’s not the true slang， is it?

Nicola: Yeah， it’s not like we was taught when we was younger.

Philip: It’s fake.

Nicola: Yeah.

Jackie: Yeah， and we won’t have it. We want the true ones.

這個(gè)地方是今年夏天奧運(yùn)會(huì)開(kāi)幕時(shí)人人都翹首以盼的地方。

我們駐倫敦的記者菲利普·里夫斯時(shí)不時(shí)會(huì)就這屆奧運(yùn)會(huì)給我們發(fā)來(lái)信函。他最近的來(lái)信包含了給那些準(zhǔn)備去觀看奧運(yùn)會(huì)的游客的忠告。菲爾指出，如果你覺(jué)得因?yàn)樽约褐v的是英語(yǔ)就可以在倫敦暢通無(wú)阻，那你可要三思了。

菲利普·里夫斯：美國(guó)人和英國(guó)人有共同的母語(yǔ)。我的意思是我們可以很好地理解對(duì)方的話，沒(méi)錯(cuò)吧？嗯，其實(shí)不是的——不總是這樣。英國(guó)人講的英語(yǔ)有一些非常奇怪的變體，而英國(guó)首都正是其中一個(gè)最怪異的英語(yǔ)變體的所在地。

奧運(yùn)會(huì)的大本營(yíng)在東倫敦，那里是倫敦最貧困的區(qū)域之一，與有著大本鐘和白金漢宮的倫敦大不相同。泰晤士河的北面散亂地分布著單調(diào)的公寓樓。如果你打算到這里來(lái)的話，準(zhǔn)備好陷入一籌莫展的困境吧，因?yàn)檫@里的人用密碼交談。

聽(tīng)一下來(lái)自東倫敦的尼古拉·麥克拉斯基和杰基·鄧寧的話吧。

尼古拉·麥克拉斯基：蘋(píng)果與梨子（apples and pears）在一起代表樓梯（stairs），肉餡餅（mince pies）代表眼睛（eyes）。

杰基·鄧寧：雛菊根（daisy roots）代表靴子（boots）。

菲利普：奧運(yùn)會(huì)賽事的舉辦地正是考克尼押韻俚語(yǔ)的中心區(qū)域。這種奇特的語(yǔ)言手段源于維多利亞時(shí)代，它的發(fā)明者是當(dāng)時(shí)考克尼市集的商人，其目的是不讓警察聽(tīng)到他們的談話內(nèi)容。當(dāng)時(shí)的考克尼人是來(lái)自東倫敦的勞工階層。現(xiàn)如今，許多人已經(jīng)離開(kāi)了這里，發(fā)跡脫離了這一階層。

如今在東倫敦，你會(huì)聽(tīng)到諸多語(yǔ)言，從烏爾都語(yǔ)到波蘭語(yǔ)都有。……