The Chinese pattern of thinking in English letters

英文字符里的中文思维
2009-04-22 15:22:00　来源: 金羊网-羊城晚报(广州)　跟贴 0 条 手机看新闻 　　灵丹妙要说英语

　　曾读到一位中国同学申请出国留学写的个人陈述，其中通过一段论述自己具有很高的创造力。故事开头描述一位来校交流的美国教授向听众提出了一个问题：

　　“…Thequestionprovedtobeextremelydifficulty,challengingandevencontroversial.Allmyclassmatesmadegreateffortstogiveanimpressiveanswer.Unfortunately,theirresponsesturnedouttobeboring,repetitive,banalandcliché.Finallyitwasmyturn.AfterIhadutteredthefirstsentence,thewholeclassfellintosilence.Itwassosilentthateventhesoundofaneedlefallingonthegroundcouldevenbeheard.WhileIwassharingmyview,myclassmatesgazedatmewithtremendousadmirationintheireyesandtheprofessornoddedwithasmileonhisface.WhenIfinishedmyanswer,theclasswasstillsilent.Thesilencecontinuedfor5secondsandgavewaytothunderousapplause….”

　　“……这一问题颇具难度、挑战性和争议性。同学们都竭力给出令人印象深刻的答案，但是很不幸，他们的回答显得枯燥、重复、平庸和陈词滥调。终于轮到我了。我才说出一句话，教室便陷入了安静，静得连一根针掉在地上的声音都能听到。在我陈述观点的过程中，同学以仰慕的眼神凝视着我，教授微笑着点头。当回答完毕后，教师里依然安静。这种安静持续了5秒钟，然后转化为雷鸣般的掌声……”

　　我对他说：“你小时候作文一定写得很棒！”

　　“是的，经常作为范文在全班朗读。”他很高兴地笑。

　　“但是西方人可能读不太懂。”

　　“为什么？”他一脸困惑。

　　“因为这不是真正的英文，在英文字符里边的是中文思维。”

　　西方人需要了解的不是丰富的间接描述和拐弯抹角的陪衬，他们想要读到的内容很简单：教授提出了什么问题；具体写出一两个同学给出的无趣答案；写出自己那个让全场人感到震撼的答案。

　　无论中文或英文，写议论文都要求论据具体，但此具体非彼具体。市面上不乏各种书籍介绍其中差异，在我看来，一个动作和一首歌曲便可诠释。是怎样的动作和怎样的歌曲呢？请关注下期灵丹妙“要”。

　　作者：)


(本文来源：羊城晚报 )

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What are English letters? I thought the letters that are for example in this message are Roman letters or letters that originated somewhere in India.

Latin letters (Roman Letters) are used in this message. The question again - What are English letters?

There are no English letters; English uses Latin letters, and has no special symbols.
Perhaps it could be argued that 'þ' and 'ð' are English letters, as they were used in Old English - Icelandic still uses them now, but the letters which I'm using are Latin ones.

ß is German though...

<,There are no English letters; English uses Latin letters, and has no special symbols.
>>

English uses a form of the Carolingian (or Merovingian: i.e. Frankish) Alphabet, which is based on the Latin, but represents a next stage in the evolution of the alphabet in the same way that Latin is based on the Greek and on down the line. Its note was popularized by Charlemagne and his followers in Medieval Europe.

Most Modern European languages have adopted some form of this Frankish alphabet and style (i.e. capital letters at the beginning of sentences, punctuation, spaces between words, multiple letters representing single phonemes [cf 'sh-', '-tch', 'oa'], etc)--these features did not uniformly exist in Latin.

The latin alphabet usually only had one form for each bookstaff, and there was no 'Ww'. 'I' had no dot, and 'I' and 'J', 'U' and 'V' were the same letter. Oftentimes 'G' and 'C'/'K' were too. 'K', 'Y' and 'Z' were borrowed from Greek and used only in Greek words, with 'K' being rare, usually swapped out for 'C'.

We really don't use the "Latin" alphabet, per se, even though many like to still associate it with that. God forbid we should ever give "barbarians" due credit for improving anything ;)