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Today's Mini English lesson is about singular they.
今天的迷你英语课是关于单数they的用法。
I'm going to give you three examples.
我将举三个例子。
In each example, can you find the mistake?
在每个例子中，你能找出错误吗？
Example number one.
示例一。
I have a Chinese friend who speaks perfect English.
我有一个中国朋友，英语说得非常好。
Wow, how did she learn it?
哇，她是怎么学英语的？
Did you spot the mistake?
你发现错误了吗？
It was 'she'.
错误就是“她”。
Why are you so sure that my friend is female?
为什么你确定我的朋友是女性？
The correct sentence would be: Wow! How did they learn it?
正确的句子应该是：哇！他们是怎么学会的？
Example number two.
示例二。
Oh no, somebody has forgotten his umbrella.
哦，不，有人忘了带走雨伞。
Did you see the mistake?
你找到错误了吗？
This time it was 'his'.
这次错误是“他的”。
How do you know if the owner of the umbrella is male or not?
你怎么知道这把伞的主人是男性还是女性呢？
If you use his, you're saying that the owner must be male.
如果你使用他的，你就是在说伞的主人一定是男性。
So the correct word to use is their.
所以正确的单词是their。
Oh no, someone has forgotten their umbrella.
哦，不，有人忘记带走他们的伞了。
And example number three.
以及示例三。
A good boss explains what he wants, so his employees can understand him.
一个好的老板会说明他想要什么，这样他的员工就能理解他。
This time there were three mistakes.
这次有三个错误。
He, his and him.
他，他的，他。
If you use a sentence like this, you're saying that all bosses are male, which just isn't true.
如果你使用这样的句子，你就是在说所有的老板都是男性，而事实不是这样。
So the correct sentence would be: A good boss explains what they want so their employees understand them.
因此正确的句子应该是：一个好的老板会解释他们想要什么，以便他们的员工理解他们。
All these examples contain variations on the same mistake, which is that they're not using the singular they.
所有这些例子都是同一个错误的变体，即没有使用单数的they。
This could be the subject pronoun they, the object pronoun them and the possessive their.
可能是主语代词they，宾语代词them和所有格their。
You've probably learned about they for plurals, for groups of people or objects.
你可能已经知道，they用于复数可以指代一群人或许多物品。
And that's correct.
这是正确的用法。
But you might not have learned about singular they.
但你可能不知道单数they的用法。
We use this after words like everybody, somebody, nobody.
在everybody，somebody，nobody这样的词后面会使用单数they。
Even though these words are singular, the pronoun we would use would be they.
即使这些词是单数，我们使用的代词依然是they。
We also use it if we don't know the gender of the person or if the gender is not important.
如果我们不知道某个人的性别，或者性别不重要，那么我们也会用单数they。
And non-binary people often use singular they because they're not comfortable with he or she.
而且非二元性别的人通常使用单数they，因为“他”或“她”都让他们感到不舒服。
There was a time in English when people used he to refer to general people.
曾经有一段时间，在英语中，人们用he来泛指人。
For example, in this sentence, 'Everyone worked according to his capacity,' which is from George Orwell's 'Animal Farm'.
例如，在这句话中，“每个人都根据他自己的能力工作”，这句话出自乔治·奥威尔的《动物庄园》。
But now that sentence sounds old-fashioned and a little bit strange, and it excludes all of the people on the farm who were not male.
但现在这句话听起来很老式，还有点奇怪，而且它把农场里所有不是男性的人都排除在外了。
When you say this sentence, it's like the only people who worked were male, and that's not true in the story.
当你说这句话的时候，就好像只有男性在工作，而在故事中不是这样的。
And actually, even at the time, it was not necessary to use he because the history of singular they is very long.
实际上，即使在奥威尔那个时候，也没有必要使用he，因为单数they的历史非常悠久。
The first written example of singular they in English is ...
英语中单数they的第一个书面例子是……
drum roll please ...
请配上鼓声
1375.
1375年。
That's six hundred and fifty years ago.
那是650年前了。
And it's in a medieval poem called Willem and the Werewolf.
那个例子出现在一首中世纪诗歌中，名为《威廉与狼人》。
I'm not going to quote it because it's in Middle English, and I don't speak Middle English.
在这里我就不引用了，因为是中古英语，而我不会说中古英语。
But I'll give you a more recent quote.
但我可以给你引用一个更晚近的例子。
Here's an example from 1594.
这里有一个1594年的例子。
'And every one to rest themselves betook.'
“于是每个人都去休息了。”
There we have everyone and then the reflexive pronoun themselves, which shows that this was already common usage in English over four hundred years ago.
在这句话里，有everyone和反身代词themselves，这表明单数they在四百多年前的英语中已经是常见用法。
And that's a quote from a writer who you might have heard of.
而且写这句话的人你可能听说过。
HIs name is William Shakespeare.
他的名字是威廉·莎士比亚。
To give you another, slightly more modern quote, here's one from 1813.
再引用一个稍微现代一点的例子，这是1813年的一句话。
You might recognize it if you're a fan of historical romance.
如果你很喜欢古典爱情小说，你可能会认出这句话的出处。
'To be sure, you knew no actual good of me, but nobody thinks of that when they fall in love.'
“说实话，你并不了解我有什么真正的优点，可是人在恋爱的时候，谁也不会去想这个问题。”
That was a quote from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, from near the end of the novel when Elizabeth Bennet finally agrees to marry Mr. Darcy because he stops being so annoying.
这是简·奥斯汀的《傲慢与偏见》中的一句话，出自小说接近尾声的部分，当时伊丽莎白·班纳特终于同意嫁给达西先生，因为他不再那么讨厌了。
So singular they is really useful and really common and it has existed for centuries.
所以单数they真的很有用，也很常见，而且已经存在了几个世纪。
The next time that you read a book or watch a film in English, see if you can find some examples.
下一次你读英文书或看英文电影时，看看你是否能找到一些例子。
Anybody who wants to speak accurate and inclusive English will make sure they use singular they.
任何想要说准确且有包容性英语的人，都会确保他们使用单数they。
And even an old-fashioned person who tells you that they isn't singular, will use it themselves when they're not paying attention.
即使一个守旧的人告诉你they不是单数，但当他们不注意的时候，他们也会用单数they。
Bye.
再见啦。
