What would you like to see in the year ahead?

Feifei:    Hello welcome to Question and Answer of the Week. I'm Feifei.
 
Finn:  欢迎收听你问我答, I'm Finn. We're here, as always, to help you with your questions about the English language.
 
Feifei:  And this week, we have a question from a Chinese listener in New Zealand.  
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Hello my name is Hui. I have a question: when I talk with local people they use lots of words like watch, see and look, and I wonder the difference among these words. Thank you..
 
Finn:  A very good question there. Huiping 想知道  look, watch and see 这三个词的不同. Now they're all common words, but actually this question is not so easy to answer, is it Feifei?
 
Feifei:  No it's not but let's try our best. 大家肯定对这个三个单词都不陌生，而且大多数情况下当这三个个表示看的单词出现在一句话中的时候，我们也能正确的理解其意思，不过究竟什么时候该用哪个词呢？
 
Finn:  Yes, so today we'll be looking at the differences in meaning and usage between these three related words, with the help of a cat.
 
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Meow
 
Feifei:  A cat? 不过首先我们还是从最基础的区别开始说吧。Ready Finn?
 
Finn:  Ready. So first up: see, S.E.E. This is the simplest of the three words, and it simply is when you use your eyes, so by using your eyes, you are aware of something – you can see it.
 
Feifei:  See 比较好理解，当一个事物或人进入了你的视野或视线中时，不管你是不是有意去看的，只要你看到了  aware of it 就是知道它的存在，这时就用  see. 
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When I went into my kitchen, I could see my cat, Mr Fluffy.

 
Feifei:  上面的这个例子中这位男士一进屋就看到了  sees 这只猫，而他没有刻意的去看。

 
Finn:  That's right. So let's look at word number two, which is look: L.O.O.K. What's the difference between see and look? Well, the difference is that when you look at something you do it deliberately – you pay attention to it.
 
Feifei:  Look - 当你有意的 deliberately 把视线转向一个东西的时候。
 
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Mr Fluffy couldn't see me, he was looking at his food bowl, which was empty. Then I coughed, and he turned round and looked at me.
 
Feifei:  这个例子说 Mr Fluffy 在盯着看  looking 它的空饭碗  his food bowl – 这是一个有意做出的动作，当它听到有人咳嗽的时候，Mr Fluffy 又转过身去看着  look at 那个人，这也是一个有意做出的动作。
 
Finn:  Now, thirdly, the last word: watch, W.A.T.C.H is a bit different from look. Now, you watch omething when you look at it but for longer, and especially when it's something that's changing or moving.
 
Feifei:  Watch – looking at 和 watching 这两个词的区别通常在于看一个东西的时间长短和强度大小；所以我们常用 watch 来表达你长时间的看一个东西，尤其是一个在不断移动和变化的东西。
 
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Mr Fluffy was hungry. I knew because he just kept watching me – whatever I did he just kept watching me. I walked to the other side of the kitchen to get some food, and he was watching me. All the time just watching me.
 
Feifei:  饥肠辘辘的 Mr. Fluffy 这个一直盯着在看 watching 这位先生在屋子里走来走去帮它准备食物的过程。注意因为这个先生是一直在走动，也就是说一个在不断移动的东西，那这是我们就应该用动词 watch; 假设他一直站着没动，那么Mr Fluffy 这只猫就是  looking at 看着他了。希望我们已经解释清楚了 watch, see 还有  look 的区别。So did Mr Fluffy get his food? 
 Finn:  Hmm, I hope so. Now in Chinese, there's one more thing I think we should be aware of – the influence of the verb 看. So in Chinese you get phrases like 看书，看电视。
 
Feifei:  Yes, 虽然在汉语中我们使用的动词都是看，不过在英语中我们会使用不同的动词来表示看这个动作。
 
Finn:  Indeed, so for example 看电视 we say 'watch TV', we don't say 'see TV' or 'look TV'. 看书呢, that's slightly different. We actually use the verb 'read': to read a book. So here we've introduced a fourth verb: see, look, watch and now read.
 
Feifei:  看书或是看报纸，我们都会用动词  read, 虽然很简单，但是大家一定要特别留意。 
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I gave Mr Fluffy his bowl of food and then sat down to read the paper. Then I watched a little TV. As I was watching I heard a noise. Meow. I looked down. Mr Fluffy was hungry again.
 
Feifei:  好了，我们就先练习到这儿，希望今天的节目内容回答了 Huiping 提出的问题，也非常感谢她提出了这个问题。
 
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Huiping:  Thanks for answering my question, I love this programme very much.
 
Finn:    And Huiping, we have a question for you – do you like cats?
 
Huiping:  Oh, not really?
 
Finn:    Not really? Ok thank you.
 
Feifei:  如果你有任何对英语语言学习方面的问题，请发邮件到 questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk. 当然也可以登陆我们每天更新的网站:
 
Finn:   www.bbcchina.com.cn. Bye for now.
 
Feifei:    Bye.

This week's question comes from Huiping in New Zealand. She asked us about three similar words: see, look and watch.

当然，这三个动词都是表示‘看’的意思，但是究竟什么时候该用哪个词呢？

Let's look at each of these words in turn:

1) See
This is the simplest of the three. When you are aware of something by using your eyes, you see it, whether this is intentional or not.

When I went into my kitchen, I could see our cat, Mr Fluffy.

2) Look
The difference between see and look is that when you look at something, you do it deliberately. You deliberately turn your attention to it.

Mr Fluffy couldn't see me, he was looking at his food bowl, which was empty. Then I coughed, and he turned round and looked at me.

3) Watch
Watching is similar to looking in that it is also something you also do deliberately. But the difference is that you look it for a longer period of time, especially something that is changing or moving.

He was hungry. I knew because he just kept watching me – whatever I did. I walked to the other side of the kitchen to get him some food. All the time he was watching me.

Thank you Huiping for your question. If you have a question please get in touch. You can email us at questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk. We look forward to hearing from you.