Xiaozhang is a university student. She is good-tempered and she does not like arguing with people. One day, she had a quarrel with her roommate over something trivial. But they talked to each other and made up soon after. Xiaozhang is on the university debating team. During last week’s national contest, the participants debated whether social media is a force for good. Her team argued in favour of the motion. Xiaozhang supported her argument with compelling evidence and helped her team gain an advantage.
在这个简短的故事中,出现了很多类似“争吵、争执、辩论、论点”等近义词。我们来分析一下在上述的场景中使用“argue、quarrel”和“debate”的理由。
首先,当我们想要表示“与人争吵”或“发生争执”的时候,应该选用动词“argue”或“quarrel”,这是因为“argue”和“quarrel”都可以表示“两个或多个人或团体间因意见、想法等不同而发生口角”,也就是我们平时常说的“吵架”。但“debate”却不能用来表示日常生活中人与人之间的争吵。
在表示“争吵”这个含义的时候,"argue" 是 "人与人之间由于产生不同意见而争吵" ;“quarrel” 则多指 “家人、朋友、关系好的熟人之间因一些小事的吵闹”。它们的名词形式分别是 “quarrel” 和“argument”。来听几个例句。
Examples
She doesn’t like arguing with people. 小张不喜欢和别人争吵。
She doesn’t like quarrelling with people. 小张不喜欢和别人吵架。
Xiaozhang had an argument with her roommate over something trivial.
Xiaozhang had a quarrel with her roommate over something trivial.
Feifei
单词“argue”还有一个“quarrel”不具备的含义,那就是“论证、说理”,即“通过论证来支持某个观点、想法”。请听例句。
Examples
She argued in favour of the motion.
She supported her argument with compelling evidence.
Feifei
单词“debate”做动词时的意思是“讨论、争论严肃而正式的话题”。它做名词时的含义是“讨论;辩论”。来听两个例句。
Examples
Xiaozhang is on the university debating team.
The participants debated whether social media is a force for good.
Feifei
好了,希望本集《你问我答》帮助大家掌握了动词“argue、quarrel”和“debate”以及它们的名词之间的用法及区别。简单地总结一下:单词“argue”和“quarrel”都可以表示“日常生活中人与人之间发生的争吵、口角、争执”,但“argue”的感情色彩要强于“quarrel”。此外,“argue” 还可以表示 “论证、说理” 的意思;而单词 “debate” 则指 “讨论、争论较为严肃的话题”,也可以特指 “辩论” 这一表达形式。
再次感谢 Eric 发来的问题,如果你在英语学习中遇到疑问,可以把问题发送到 questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk,你也可以通过微博“BBC英语教学”私信的形式与我们取得联系。谢谢收听本集《你问我答》节目,我是冯菲菲。下次再见!