“武汉市”用英文应该怎么说?
昨天文章评论区有读者提到了"the city of Wuhan"以及"Wuhan city"哪个更常用的问题:
不少同学在写“某某市”的时候可能习惯写XX city,但在地道英文中更常见的一个写法其实是the city of XX,举个例子,《经济学人》在一篇报道国内楼市的文章中有这样的句子:
The city of Zhengzhou in central China on March 1st said it would make it easier for people to buy second homes. In the south, the city of Guangzhou cut mortgage-loan rates by 20 basis points on February 22nd.
这里分别用the city of Zhengzhou以及the city of Guangzhou来指“郑州”和“广州”。《中国日报》这条微博用的说法也是the city of Hangzhou
外媒在表达“中国的某某城市”时也经常用the Chinese city of XX这一结构,比如BBC的一个句子:
More than 13 million people in the Chinese city of Xi'an have been ordered to stay at home as authorities attempt to tackle a Covid outbreak there.
对于中国英语学习者来说,the city of XX直观上可能不太好理解,在这一结构中of对前面的名词起到一个补充说明的作用。比如the art of painting意思是“绘画艺术”,其中of painting作为后置定语对art进行补充说明;the problem of unemployment意思为“失业问题”,of unemployment也作为后置定语修饰problem。同样的道理,the city of XX结构中,of XX对city进行具体说明,指明是哪一座城市。
不仅是中国的城市如此,国外的城市也多数采用这种写法,比如“波士顿市”是the city of Boston,“克利夫兰市”是The city of Cleveland。不过有少数几座城市存在XX City的写法,比如“纽约市”除了可以写成the city of New York,也可以写成New York City,“墨西哥市”可以写成Mexico City,此时City的首字母要大写。
在介绍国内城市时我们除了说the city of XX之外,也可以直接说城市名,然后使用同位语做补充说明。举个例子,你可以说:
I come from Hangzhou, one of China's most important tourist cities. It is renowned for its natural beauty and classical Chinese scenery…
此外,除了介绍城市时可以使用the…of XX结构,村、镇以及省份这些行政单位也可以用。比如要介绍“某某村”,可以写成the village of XX,“某某镇”可以说the town of XX。举个例子,《经济学人》上个月有一篇文章,开头句是:
In the village of Anbang in Yunnan, a south-western province, people of social stature are heaving a sigh of relief.
作者用the village of Anbang in Yunnan来表示“云南安邦村”。平时在读外刊时遇到这样的结构可以多留意。
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