Ain’t 没有
I ain’t got time.
There ain’t any food left in the fridge.
I ain’t having a good day.
There ain’t anyone here.
I ain’t going to do this.
Diarmuid: Hello everybody, and welcome to another Question and Answer of the
Week from BBC Learning English. I’m Diarmuid.
Li: And I’m Li. 欢迎收听你问我答节目。 What were those people at the beginning
of the programme talking about Diarmuid?
Diarmuid: They were talking about lots of different things but what each sentence had
in common is that it used a particular word.
Li: 刚才我们听到的对话里都用到了一个同样的单词. Is that the word that we have
been asked about for this programme?
Diarmuid: Of course it is. This week’s question comes from Erika, from China. Let’s
hear what we she had to say.
Insert
Thank you for reading my letter! I am a teenager. I come from China.
I wonder what the word ‘ain't’ means? And for instance, what does ‘Ain't No Sunshine’
mean?
I am looking forward to receiving your letter, thank you very much.
Erica
Diarmuid: So thank you to Erica for that interesting question.
Li: Erica 同学的问题是有关一个很有趣的英语单词，而且很多英国人对这个单词看法不
一。
Diarmuid: Yes, Erica has asked us about the word ain’t. It’s a word that you can hear
frequently in spoken English. But what does it mean?
Li: 那么再让我们听听节目开始的那些对话吧。Here they are. Listen closely:
Insert
I ain’t got time.
There ain’t any food left in the fridge.
I ain’t having a good day.
There ain’t anyone here.
I ain’t going to do this.
Diarmuid: Ok Li, what do you think of those sentences? What do they all have in
common?
Li: Well, it seems clear to me that the thing they all have in common is that
they are all negative sentences. 所有这些句子都是否定句。
Diarmuid: You ain’t wrong!
Li: I ain’t?
Diarmuid: Sorry Li. Let me say that again. You aren’t wrong. All of the examples were
negative. Let’s listen to them one by one and decide how we could say the
same sentence without using the word ain’t.
Li: 那好，下面我们将把 ain’t这个词用其他同义词来一一取代。
Diarmuid: Let’s begin:
Insert
I ain’t got time.
Li: I ain’t got time. 意思是我没有时间. So I think that another way to say this
sentence should be: I haven’t got time. Am I right?
Diarmuid: Exactly. I ain’t got time. I haven’t got time. So in this sentence ain’t has
the same meaning as haven’t.
Li: Let’s try another one.
Diarmuid: Ok. Listen to this:
Insert
There ain’t any food left in the fridge.
Li: There ain’t any food left in the fridge. 冰箱里没有吃的东西了。It’s a negative
sentence so it should be: There isn’t any food left in the fridge.
Diarmuid: That’s right. In this sentence ain’t means the same as isn’t. There isn’t any
food left in the fridge,
Li: So here ain’t means isn’t. There isn’t any food left in the fridge.
Diarmuid: Exactly. Let’s do another.
Insert
I ain’t having a good day.
Li: I ain’t having a good day. Ok, it’s negative so instead of saying I ain’t
having a good day, we could say I’m not having a good day.
Diarmuid: Exactly. I ain’t. I’m not.
Li: I ain’t. I’m not. 我看 ain’t 可以代表很多不同的词。Is that right?
Diarmuid: That’s correct. We can use the word ain’t instead of the negative forms of
the verb to be or the verb to have.
Li: So ain’t could be used instead of am not.
Diarmuid: Isn’t.
Li: Aren’t.
Diarmuid: Haven’t.
Li: And hasn’t.
Diarmuid: Absolutely. We can use the word ain’t instead of all of those words.
Li: This word ain’t is fantastic, Diarmuid. We can use it instead of am not,
isn’t, aren’t, haven’t and hasn’t. 多么实用的一个单词啊，我们可以用它来取代很
多其他单词，对不对？
Diarmuid: That’s true. But there is a problem.
Li: A problem? 什么问题？
Diarmuid: The problem is that the word ain’t isn’t correct English.
Li: Ain’t 不是标准英语!
Diarmuid: That’s right. Although lots of people use the word ain’t, it is not seen as
being correct English. Some people might even see it as a sign of being
poorly educated.
Li: 让我们来听听 BBC 英语教学部语言专家 Cath的看法吧。
Insert
It’s interesting the word ain’t. You’ll hear it a lot. People do use it a lot in normal spoken
English. The main problem is, of course, that it’s not correct. So you might want to be a
little bit careful in using the word ain’t in formal situations.
Li: That’s interesting. Cath said that it is a word used a lot “in normal spoken
English”. 在平时的口语中使用。
Diarmuid: She did. But she also went on to say that the word is not correct English,
and that you need to be careful using that word in formal situations.
Li: 在正式场合下。
Diarmuid: So while it may be acceptable to hear and use ain’t when speaking English
in informal situations, it is better not to use it in written English and in
formal situations.
Li: 这么说，在工作面试或者演讲的时候，我们不应该用 ain’t.
Diarmuid: Or if you are writing something in English, it’s best to avoid it.
Li: But I have a question, Diarmuid. If so many people use this word so
frequently, why isn’t it accepted as correct English?
Diarmuid: That is a very good question Li. This is an ongoing debate in the English
language – should words, phrases or structures become accepted as
correct English by popular use?
Li: Or should correct or standard English be protected from the mistakes of
people who don’t speak it properly?
Diarmuid: Hmm, I imagine lots of people have very different answers and opinions to
those questions. Perhaps we should ask our audience what they think.
Li: 好各位听众朋友们，现在我们就想听听你的看法 – 有语法错误的英语如果长时间被人
们接受了是不是就可以成为正式英语？还是我们应该保护传统的正式英语？
Diarmuid: Tell us what you think by sending us an email to
questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk. We’d love to hear from you, and I ain’t
lying?
Li: You ain’t lying!
Diarmuid: Oops! My mistake, or is it? Join us again at www.bbcukchina.com for more
English learning fun. Bye.
Li: Goodbye.