十大最难发音英语词揭晓

 　　The hardest word in the English language for foreigners to the pronounce is 'Worcestershire', according to a recent poll.

　　根据最新调查，对于以非英语为母语的人来说，英语里最难发音的单词是“Worcestershire”（ 伍斯特郡）。

　　On a recent Reddit thread, user JustATreeNut, asked people from around the world to submit English words they struggled with most.

　　最近在Reddit（社交新闻网站）的一个帖子中，一位名叫JustATreeNut的用户发起了一项投票——让世界各地的人们选出最让他们头疼的英文单词。

　　Top of the list is the name of an English county (and a great British condiment), which although pronounced 'wuss-ter-sheer' seems to confound most non-English speakers when they attempt it.

　　名列榜首的是英国一个郡的名字（也是英国著名的调料名），这个“wuss-ter-sheer”的发音似乎使大多数母语非英语的人感到读起来很费劲。

　　In the top ten, which was put together by Mamamia, apparently¹ easy words such as 'specific' and ‘squirrel’ took second and third place.

　　在由Mamamia统计的十大最难读的单词中，一些看起来很简单的单词也上榜了，例如“specific” 和“squirrel”分别位列第二、第三。

　　And certain words which appear on the list, including 'brewery²' and 'edited', seem rather straightforward³ to an average Brit.

　　某些对于普通英国人来说非常简单的词也上了榜，包括“brewery”和“edited”。

　　Others, including 'phenomenon and 'February', are notorious tongue twisters even for native English speakers.

　　一些众所周知的像绕口令一样难发音的词，如“phenomenon”和“February”也在榜单之列，甚至连以英语为母语的人也认为它们难读。

　　The last two words to make the top ten wereDerby, which is (confusingly for foreigners) pronounced 'darby', and 'heir'.

　　“十大难读词”排在最后两位的是“Derby”（非英语人士会把它误读作darby）和“heir”。

　　Of course, we've all had our embarrassing slips when attempting to pronounce unfamiliar⁴ words.

　　当然，我们所有人在读不熟悉的单词时，都有过另人尴尬的口误。

　　None more mortifying⁵, perhaps, than John Travolta's linguistic⁶ misstep at the 2014 Oscars, where he pronounced Frozen star Idina Menzel's name as: 'Adele Dazeem', for the entire world to see.

　　但大概没有人比约翰·特拉沃尔塔对自己所犯的口误更苦恼。在2014年奥斯卡颁奖礼上，他把《冰雪奇缘》女星伊迪娜·门泽尔（Idina Menzel）念成了阿黛尔·戴齐姆（Adele Dazeem），成了全世界观众的笑柄。

　　And let's not forget Benedict Cumberbatch, the Oscar-nominated British thespian⁷ who famously recorded an entire voiceover for a 2009 BBC nature documentary pronouncing the word 'penguin⁸' as 'peng-wing'.

　　获得今年奥斯卡提名的英国演员本尼迪克特·康伯巴奇，也有个著名的例子。他2009年为BBC自然纪录片配音时，将里面全部的“penguin”（企鹅）说成了“peng-wing”。

　　Speaking later on BBC America's The Graham Norton Show, the 38-year-old blamed his producers for failing to correct him at any point during the recording⁹.

　　后来在参加BBC美国的《格雷厄姆·诺顿脱口秀》时，38岁的“卷福”将此次口误归咎于他的制片人们：在整个录音过程中，他们竟然从没试图纠正过他的这个错误。

　　THE TEN HARDEST ENGLISH WORDS

　　十大最难发音的英语单词：

　　1. Worcestershire

　　2. Specific

　　3. Squirrel

　　4. Brewery

　　5. Phenomenon

　　6. Derby

　　7. Regularly

　　8. February

　　9. Edited

　　10. Heir

　　Vocabulary

　　condiment：调味品

　　confound：使混淆；挫败

　　tongue twister：绕口令

　　mortifying：令人羞愧的

1 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

2 brewery   

n.啤酒厂

参考例句：

• The brewery had 25 heavy horses delivering beer in London.啤酒厂有25匹高头大马在伦敦城中运送啤酒。
• When business was good,the brewery employed 20 people.在生意好的时候，这家酿造厂曾经雇佣过20人。

3 straightforward   

adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的

参考例句：

• A straightforward talk is better than a flowery speech.巧言不如直说。
• I must insist on your giving me a straightforward answer.我一定要你给我一个直截了当的回答。

4 unfamiliar   

adj.陌生的，不熟悉的

参考例句：

• I am unfamiliar with the place and the people here.我在这儿人地生疏。
• The man seemed unfamiliar to me.这人很面生。

5 mortifying   

adj.抑制的，苦修的v.使受辱( mortify的现在分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等）

参考例句：

• I've said I did not love her, and rather relished mortifying her vanity now and then. 我已经说过我不爱她，而且时时以伤害她的虚荣心为乐。 来自辞典例句
• It was mortifying to know he had heard every word. 知道他听到了每一句话后真是尴尬。 来自互联网

6 linguistic   

adj.语言的，语言学的

参考例句：

• She is pursuing her linguistic researches.她在从事语言学的研究。
• The ability to write is a supreme test of linguistic competence.写作能力是对语言能力的最高形式的测试。

7 thespian   

adj.戏曲的；n.演员；悲剧演员

参考例句：

• If you enjoy acting in plays,join your school's thespian club.如果你喜欢戏剧表演，就加入你学校的戏剧社团。
• The actress demonstrated thespian talents at her first audition.这位女演员第一次试镜就展现出戏剧天分。

8 penguin   

n.企鹅

参考例句：

• The penguin is a flightless bird.企鹅是一种不会飞的鸟。
• He walked with an awkward gait like a penguin.他走路的步子难看得就像企鹅。

9 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。