Part 2 Family Members and Family Tree 家庭成員
我們每個(gè)人都有很多親屬,那么我們應(yīng)該怎樣用英語(yǔ)來(lái)稱呼他們呢?father,mother,dad,mom 的意思分別是“父親”,“母親”,“爸爸”,“媽媽”,前兩個(gè)詞為書面語(yǔ),后兩個(gè)詞是孩子在家對(duì)“爸爸”,“媽媽”的稱呼常用在中語(yǔ)中。還有daddy和mommy也是孩子們最喜歡的稱呼語(yǔ)。
稱呼還有husband,wife,son,daughter,brother,sister,uncle,aunt,nephew,niece,cousin。在father mother前面加上grand組成 grandmother和grandfather,就是祖父祖母或外公外婆,口語(yǔ)當(dāng)中常用 grandma grandpa。這里哥哥,弟弟都用brother 來(lái)表示,sister可以同時(shí)表示姐姐、妹妹,這跟漢語(yǔ)是不同的,一般在西方家庭兄弟姐妹之間都可以直呼其名,那么當(dāng)你必須說(shuō)明你和你的兄弟姐妹之間的長(zhǎng)幼關(guān)系時(shí)怎么辦呢?可以在brother或sister前面加上elder這個(gè)詞,elder brother 或elder sister,就表示哥哥、姐姐了,或者也可以加上big,這個(gè)詞也能表示同樣的意義。那么在brother 或者sister前面加上younger就可以表示“弟弟、妹妹”了,就是younger brother,younger sister。
英語(yǔ)中對(duì)親戚的稱呼跟中文也是有區(qū)別的,結(jié)婚以后,雙方的直系親屬也就是immediate family就都變成了對(duì)方的姻親in-laws,比如father-in-law就是指岳父或者是公公,mother-in-law指岳母或婆婆,sister-in-law嫂子、弟媳等等,brother-in-law指內(nèi)兄、內(nèi)弟、小叔子、姐夫、妹夫等等。一看中英文的對(duì)照,就知道英語(yǔ)對(duì)親屬的稱謂比起中文要簡(jiǎn)單得多。中文按年齡、男方還是女方的關(guān)系等等為親屬冠之以不同的稱呼,而西方人似乎不太在乎這位親戚是父親這邊的(on the father's side)還是母親那邊的(on the mother's side),一視同仁,給一個(gè)稱呼。
更有意思的是對(duì)distant relatives,也就是“遠(yuǎn)親”的稱呼。cousin一詞不分男女,概括了所有“堂兄弟和堂姐妹或者表兄弟和表姐妹”。而“侄子或外甥”都是nephew;“侄女或外甥女”則都是"niece"。不過,盡管英語(yǔ)中的稱謂不如中文的分工細(xì)致, "Blood is thicker than water"(血濃于水)是東、西方人都認(rèn)同的。
那么,既然英語(yǔ)的家庭關(guān)系詞匯不難,那我們來(lái)聽聽下面這段話,看你是否能根據(jù)這段話畫出一張family tree。
還是先來(lái)解釋一下什么是family tree 吧。family tree顧名思義就是“家譜圖”,英文解釋為A family tree is a diagram(表格)of the people in a family. 就是指家庭成員關(guān)系的圖解描繪。感興趣的朋友們可以根據(jù)下面這段話自己動(dòng)手畫一畫。
聽力材料:
Stephanie is the youngest in her family. Her elder brother Mark is married with a son Kevin. Her sister-in-law Rose used to go to the same high school with Stephanie. Her sister Kate married Thomas Hawkins last year and they've just had a baby daughter Millie. Stephanie adores her nephew and niece. Bart and Marie are Stephanie's cousins. They are children of Barbara and Peter. Aunt Barbara is the younger sister of Stephanie's father Gordon. Stephanie's mother Joy had a younger sister Liz who is divorced with a daughter Lily. Both grandparents on Stephanie's father's side have passed away. But her mother's parents Lucas and Nancy are living not far away from their house.
歌曲欣賞:Sister Sledge---We Are Family