The future of English
未来的英语语言变化
You're learning English, right? You might think you can work out the grammar and have built a vast vocabulary, but then you come across an expression like 'plos'. According to online urban slang dictionaries, it means 'parents looking over shoulder'. Teenagers are to blame. They have their own code, including 'text speak' when they are on the internet or using their phones.
你在学英语，对吗？你可能认为自己能解释语法并积累了大量的词汇，直到遇到了像“plos”这样的表达。在线城市俚语词典的解释是“父母在背后看着”。青少年是“罪魁祸首”，他们有自己的暗号——包括上网或发短信时用的暗号。
Text speak has a lot to do with inventing cool new terms - and these change quickly. Maybe you shouldn't be surprised if an English friend says you sound a bit old-fashioned. The modal verb 'shall' is on the way out because 'will' sounds more natural these days. Bas Aarts, Professor of English linguistics at University College London says, "If you have two words which more or less express the same meaning, one of the two words will get pushed out of the language."
文本语言与创造酷炫的新词汇有很大关系——而且这些词汇变化很快。如果有英国朋友说你听起来有点过时，你也不应该感到惊讶。情态动词“shall”正在被淘汰，因为“will”现在听起来更自然。伦敦大学学院英语语言学教授巴斯·阿特表示：“如果有两个词或多或少表达了相同的意思，其中一个词就会被挤掉。”
People have been shying away from using the modal 'must' because it sounds authoritarian and people are choosing to express obligation in different ways. It sounds nicer to soften obligation by saying 'might'. For example, "You might like to read this article."
人们一直羞于使用情态动词“must”，因为它听起来很强硬。人们选择用不同的方式来表达义务。用might来委婉地表达“可能”听起来更好。例如，“你可能想读这篇文章。”
Progressive tenses - formed from the verb 'be' and the suffix 'ing' - are used for ongoing situations, for example, 'I'm writing this article for you to read'. But its use has been increasing rapidly. Bas Aarts says that this might have to do with advertising. A fast-food chain uses the expression 'I'm loving it' in English-speaking countries. But the verb 'love' expresses a state of being - as opposed to doing - and is usually used in the simple form, for example, 'I love it'. These days, people are using stative verbs in the progressive more and more.
由动词“be”和后缀“ing”构成的进行时态用于进行时，例如，“I'm writing this article for you to read ” 。但这种用法一直在变得更普遍。巴斯·阿特表示，这可能与广告有关。在英语国家，快餐连锁店使用“I'mlovingit”这个表达。但是动词“爱”表达的是一种正在进行的状态，通常用简单的形式，例如“我爱它”。现在，人们越来越多地在进行时中使用静态动词。
Before you despair and throw your English book in the bin, be assured that some words take a very long time to change. According to Professor Mark Pagel at Reading University in the UK, pronouns like 'I', 'you' and 'we' evolve slowly - a thousand years ago we would be using similar or sometimes identical sounds. Nouns and adjectives, on the other hand, get replaced rapidly - and in 500 years or so we'll probably be using different words to the ones we have now. But let's leave the problem for the future generations.
在你绝望地把手中的英语书扔进垃圾桶之前，请相信，有些单词需要短时间内是不会改变的。英国雷丁大学的马克·佩格尔教授说，像“我”、“你”和“我们”这样的代词进化得很慢——一千年前，我们会使用相似或有时相同的发音。另一方面，名词和形容词会很快被取代——在500年左右的时间里，我们可能会使用与现在不同的词。但是这个问题就留给后代吧。
词汇表
grammar
语法
vocabulary
词汇
urban slang
现代俚语
code
代码，语言，代号
cool
酷的，时尚的
term
表达，术语
old-fashioned
过时的，老派的
modal verb
情态动词
on the way out
即将过时，即将被淘汰
linguistics
语言学
shy away from
回避，躲避
authoritarian
专制的
obligation
义务，职责
progressive tenses
进行时态
suffix
后缀，词尾
advertising
广告业
stative verb
静态动词
pronoun
代词
noun
名词
adjective
形容词