bbc你问我答--Below, under and beneath 易混淆的几个单词（在线收听）

BBC Learning English 

Q and A of the Week 你问我答 

Below, under and beneath 

易混淆的几个单词 

  关于台词的备注: 

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Feifei:  大家好，我是冯菲菲。欢迎收听《你问我答》。在这个节目中中我们会回答你

在英语学习中遇到的语法和词汇问题。To help answer today's question, 

we have invited Neil to join us. 

Neil:   Hello everyone, I'm Neil. What is today's question Feifei? 

Feifei:  Today's question is from Zhang Junming from Chengdu, Sichuan. 

Question 

Hi, I am Zhang Junming, a student from Chendu. Could you please tell me the 

difference between under, below, behind and beneath? I know these words are 

used to describe locations, but I can't tell how I use them correctly. Thank you! 

Feifei:  Zhang Junming想请我们帮忙区分一下几个非常容易混淆的单词。   

Neil:   Below, under, beneath and behind – how to use these words.  

Feifei:   Shall we start by talking about 'behind' as it's quite different from 

the other words?  

Neil:  Yes, good idea. 'Behind' can be a preposition of place.  

Feifei:        Behind 是一个可以表示位置关系的介词，意思是在什么东西或人的后面。 

Neil:   I am sitting behind Feifei; Feifei parked her car behind mine. 

Feifei:  'Behind' can also be an adverb也可以做为副词来使用，意思是在后面、

落在后面。 

Neil:   After the party last night, I stayed behind to help clean up the 

mess. 

Feifei:  Or you can say 'I left the house in such a big rush this morning I 

left my wallet behind'.   

Neil:   One other meaning we haven't mentioned so far - it also mean 

'bottom'. 

Feifei:  Trust you to point that out, Neil! 这个词还有一个意思 – 屁股。 

Neil:   Now let's look at below, under and beneath. These are three very 

similar words. Both 'below' and 'under' can mean one thing is in a 

lower position than the other. 

Feifei:  Below 和under 都可以当介词使用表示在什么东西下面或某物低于或在另一

个东西的下面。 

Neil:  There is a slight but important difference in meaning, for example, 

if something is being covered by something else, we use 'under'. So, 

my wallet was under the newspaper. 

Feifei:   这两个词的意思很相似，但我们会依据不同的情况来选用合适的词。比如说，

如果某物被另一个东西给遮住了，这时我们用under, my wallet was under 

the newspaper 我的钱包在报纸下面。 

Neil：   We use 'below' to describe something that's not immediately under. 

So you could say, 'the author's name is printed below the title, or, 

'20 miles below the surface of the earth'.  

Feifei:    Below 可以用来描述在某物下方，但不一定是紧挨着的正下方，可以是抽象的

下方。比如说“作者的名字印在书名下面 the author's name is printed 

below the title”或“20 miles below the surface of the earth地球表面

下20英里”。 

Neil:   Another use for 'under' is when we want to say if something is 

'under' a particular age or amount.  

Feifei:  Under 这个词的另一个用法可以描述年龄或数量不足、低于或在什么水平之

下。 

Neil:  'This film is not suitable for children under the age of 12', or, 'I am 

not going to sell the house for under half a million pounds'. 

Feifei:   这部电影不适合12岁以下儿童观赏 children under the age of 12; under 

half a million pounds 五十万英镑以下。 

Neil:  There are also some fixed expressions using the word 'under', for 

example, 'under construction, under attack, under pressure, under 

arrest' etc.  

Feifei:   Under 这个词还可以和很多词组成固定搭配，常表示在某种情况条件下、受某

物或人的影响和控制等等。Under construction 正在修建；under attack 

遭受攻击；under pressure 受到压力；under arrest 被拘捕。What about 

'beneath'? 

Neil:    'Beneath' is more literary and formal compared to 'below' and 

'under'. 

Feifei:  Beneath和单词 under and below 相比，意思虽然相同但beneath使用起

来相对更书面、更正式一些。 

Neil:  So those are the most common usages of 'under, below and 

beneath'. We hope this answers your questions.   

Feifei:  是的，希望大家在以后使用这几个词的时候遵循我们今天所讲的规则。Thank 

you for your question Zhang Junming. 欢迎大家在微薄上关注@BBC英

伦网英语教学，并留下你的问题。 

Neil:  Or email us at [email protected] 

Feifei:  See you next time! 

Neil:    Goodbye.