更新日期：2010-02-02浏览次数：1753次所属教程：
听力原文
Li: 大家好，欢迎收听你问我答节目，我是杨莉，今天和我一起在演播室的是我的同事 William Kremer.
 |
| He is selecting (or choosing) a piece and choosing where to move |
Hi William.
William: Hi Li!
Li: Let’s listen to this week’s question, from Willa Ke.
William: Ah she’s my sister!
Li: Yes, 柯·威廉, Ke Willa… well, good!
William: Yeah that’s my Chinese name, is柯·威廉。
Li: Very good, you have got a sister in China! I didn’t know that before.
William: Not a real sister but a… ‘same name’ sister. OK, I think we should listen to the question anyway.
Robot Voice: Please select from the following options. To listen to the question, press one. To speak to Willa press two. To answer her question press three.
To replay these options press four.
Li: 真烦人，我到底该按几呀!?
William: Press one!
Willa: My name is Willa Ke. Yeah, now I’m in Shanghai. My question is how to distinguish two words, between ‘choose’ and ‘select’?
Li: 维拉想请我们解释两个同义词的区别，‘to select’ 和 ‘to choose’.都是选择的意思。 I’ve always thought those words mean more or less the same, William!
William: Well they do Li. But there are a couple of things to note. ‘To choose’ is one of the most commonly used verbs in English – it’s in the 1,000 most frequently-used words. ‘To select’ is also commonly used, but a bit less than ‘to choose’ – it’s in the top 2,000 most commonly used words. So ‘choose’ is used slightly more than ‘select’.
Li: ‘Choose’ 这个词比 ‘select’ 使用的更为普遍。
William: And that might be because ‘select’ has a slightly narrower meaning than ‘choose’.
Li: It has a narrower meaning, 意思更为狭窄。既然这样，那是不是说我们可以用 广义的choose来代替狭义的 select，却不能反过来用 select 代替 choose。是这样吗？
William: Yeah exactly. To select something, you usually pick one thing or one person from a group. So for example,
Example
Please select from the following options.
William: In that example, you are selecting from a list of options. However it is also possible to say
Example
Please choose from the following options.
Li: Right… 也就是说，在表达从多项里选择一个的时候，要用 select 这是动词，其名词就是 selection 选项， William，你说对吗?
William: Exactly, yes. You are selecting from a selection. So to give you another example, we could say,
Example
I was selected to represent my school at table tennis.
William: “I was selected to represent my school at table tennis.” So in that example the selection included all the other students, but the person speaking was selected. But once again, she could also say…
Example
I was chosen to represent my school at table tennis.
Li: 嗯，有什么情况下，我们不能说 select 而必须要说 choose?
William: Well it’s when we are talking about choosing to do something. For example, I can say that I chose to become an English teacher, but if I say that I selected to become an English teacher, that sounds a bit strange.
Li: 明白了，根据一个人的意愿来作出的选择就是 he chose to do something 不能说，he selected to do something.
William: That’s the main difference in usage, but there are also some subtle differences in meaning.
Li: Some subtle differences in meaning, 意思上的某些微妙区别。
William: I think that the word ‘select’ sometimes implies that someone has thought about a choice. Of course that’s what we normally do, we think about choices, but it is possible to talk about unconscious choices for example… like choosing to walk on one side of the street or the other.
Li: 好，我来解释一下这两个词不同含义，在表示根据各人喜好，下意识地选择做某件事的时候，要使用 unconsciously choosing，比如我喜欢中间色，所以经常选择买那些不太艳丽的服装。 反过来，在动脑筋思考之后作出的选择就是 selecting.
William: Also, ‘select’ has a slightly more formal feel. So we often use ‘select’ rather than ‘choose’ in a technical context. For example, if we’re talking about options in a computer programme.
Li: 在操作电脑的时候，我们经常用 select 这个词，而不用…
William: So for example…
Example
If you want to preview the document go to ‘File’, and then select ‘Print preview’.
William: But the main thing to remember is that ‘choose’ is more common than ‘select’ so you will normally want to choose ‘choose’!
Li: Choose or select, select or choose, 嗯，你们英语中为什么有这么多同义词啊？
William: I know. One of the really remarkable things about English is just how big the vocabulary is. There are over 59 million entries in the Oxford English Dictionary! And part of the reason for that is that the language has been shaped by lots of other languages in the past, which had their own words for concepts. So, to take Willa’s example, the word ‘choose’ is an Old English word originally from German, whereas the word ‘select’ comes to us through Latin.
Li: 英语的同义词经常是从英语以外的语言派生而来的，比如今天的例子就来自德语和拉丁语 German and Latin. 说到这里我想让大家猜一猜牛津词典有多少词条，一共有五千九百万!
William: Yeah, how can anyone ever choose what to say?
Robot Voice: Please select your words from the following 59 million options. A,
aardvark, aback, abacus…
Li: Ha ha… 其实情况没有那么糟糕，根据统计英国人的常用词汇不外乎就是 7,500
词左右。
William: Thanks Willa, for your excellent question. I do hope we’ve helped.
Willa: Yeah, thank you very much for your detailed answer. It’s very helpful!
Li: 是的，如果大家有需要解答的问题请随时给我们发电子邮件 questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk. 说不定你的问题会被选中，you never know, we might select your one!
William and Li: Bye.
问题与答案
The words 'choose' and 'select' are both very common verbs with nearly the same meaning.
However, 'select' has a slightly narrower meaning and is used less frequently than 'choose'.
Both words can mean to pick one thing or person from a group. For example:
She chose a nice red apple.
She selected a nice red apple.
I was selected to represent my school at table tennis.
I was chosen to represent my school at table tennis.
However, when we discuss choosing to do or be something, we don't use 'select'. For example:
When I was 19, I chose to become a teacher.
It was such a sunny day I chose to go the long way home.
There are also one or two subtle differences in meaning between the words... but you'll have to listen to the programme to find out more about that!
You will also hear William and Li discuss just why there are so many synonyms in English.
If you have a question, email it to questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk.
Glossary 词汇
narrower meaning 意思更为狭窄
represent 代表
subtle 微妙的
synonyms 同义词