【趣谈英语】中性人称指代词"hen"-“Hen” Is A Swedish Gender-Neutral Pronoun

Pre-Listening Vocabulary

• gender-neutral: does not identify a person as being male or female
• personal pronoun: a word that is used to identify a specific person or thing
• awkward: uncomfortable
• propose: to make a recommendation
• fad¹: something that is popular for a short time

 

“Hen” Is A Swedish Gender-Neutral Pronoun

A gender-neutral personal pronoun has been officially adopted in Sweden. The word “hen”, which is a cross between “han” (he) and “hon” (she), can be used to avoid the awkward construction of “he/she”. The pronoun “hen” can also be used to refer to people who do not identify themselves as male or female. The word “hen” was proposed in Sweden in the 60s, but has gained a lot of ground in the past few years. Since it is no longer considered a fad, the word “hen” is now being added to Swedish dictionaries and encyclopaedias². Though Sweden recently earned the title “most gender-neutral country in the world” (2010, World Economic Forum), many people in Sweden still consider “hen” a controversial word and refuse to accept it as part of their language.

1 fad   

n.时尚；一时流行的狂热；一时的爱好

参考例句：

• His interest in photography is only a passing fad.他对摄影的兴趣只是一时的爱好罢了。
• A hot business opportunity is based on a long-term trend not a short-lived fad.一个热门的商机指的是长期的趋势而非一时的流行。

2 encyclopaedias   

n.百科全书，大全( encyclopaedia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• IT IS normally hard to get excited about encyclopaedias. 一般情况下，人们很难对一本百科全书而感到兴奋。 来自互联网
• He went from door door, selling encyclopaedias. 他逐门逐户去推销百科全书。 来自互联网