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British v American English: What's your cup of tea?
英式英语vs美式英语：哪种是你的菜？
British intellectuals enjoy bewailing the influx of Americanisms into the language of the mother country.
英国知识分子喜欢为了美式英语大量涌入其母国的语言而哀叹。
The BBC once asked British readers to send in the Americanisms that annoyed them most and was flooded with thousands of entries, including "24/7", "deplane" and "touch base".
英国广播公司曾请英国读者提交最让他们恼火的美式英语，结果收到了数千个词条，其中包括"24/7" "下飞机"和"与某人联系"。
The furore--which Americans would call a furor--seemed to die down. But in September Simon Heffer of the Daily Telegraph revived it with a column and book exploring Americanisms, a trend he situates "in the past 15 years".
这场群情激奋的讨论----美国人会称之为furor----似乎平息了。但在今年9月，《每日电讯报》的西蒙·赫弗在一篇专栏文章和一本书中探讨了美式英语，从而重新提起了这个话题，他认为这种趋势"在过去15年间"产生。
His language evokes violence, bemoaning American words' "poisoning", "linguistic assault", "conquest" and "penetration".
他的语言让人想到暴力，他悲叹美国词汇的"毒害""语言攻击""征服"和"穿透"。
In the end, though, even the hyperbolic Mr Heffer concedes that Brits are, in fact, "willingly adopting" these words, especially via two channels associated with America: digital technology and "corporatespeak". He just wishes his countrymen would stop.
但在最后，就连夸张的赫弗也承认，事实上，英国人"愿意采用"这些词汇，尤其是通过与美国相关的两个渠道：数字技术和"企业用语"。他只是希望他的同胞们能够停止使用美国词汇。
But linguistic exchange can also be seen in a more upbeat way. This is the approach of Ben Yagoda, emeritus professor of English at the University of Delaware, in "Gobsmacked!"
但是语言交流也可以从更乐观的角度来看待。这是特拉华大学英文专业荣誉退休教授本·雅戈达在《惊呆了！》一书中的看法。
The trend is older and more extensive than many think. Mr Yagoda describes Britishisms like "it's early days" and "gone missing" taking hold in America almost entirely below the radar in the 1980s and 2000s, respectively.
语言交流的趋势比许多人认为的更为古老和广泛。雅戈达写道，一些英式表达，如"早期"和"不见了"，这两个表达分别在20世纪80年代和21世纪初在美国流行起来，而且几乎没有引起人们的注意。
Mr Yagoda identifies the intensifier "awfully" (as in "awfully tired") as the first Britishism, having been noticed (disapprovingly) by an American commentator in the 19th century.
雅戈达指出，"极其"（如"极其疲惫"）这个强调词是第一个传入美国的英式英语，19世纪时被一位美国评论家注意到（并对这个词表示不赞成）。
The early 20th century saw many more Britishisms take hold, especially via military contact: "gadget", "cushy", "scrounge", "bonkers", "dicey" and "shambolic" all made their way from the British Tommy to GI. Joe, and thence to the wider American public.
20世纪初，更多的英式英语表达流行起来，尤其是通过军事接触："小装置""轻松的""乞讨""发疯的""不确定的""混乱的"都从英国士兵传到了美国士兵那里，然后又传给了美国大众。
Mr Yagoda has compiled a "top 40", including "brilliant" (merely "OK, good"), "chat up" and "ginger". It is possible that the British need "Gobsmacked!" more than their American cousins.
雅戈达编制了一份"英式用语前40名"清单，包括"很好的"（意思仅仅是"不错，很好的"）"搭讪"和"姜黄色的"。有可能英国人比他们的美国表亲更需要《惊呆了！》这本书。
The Americanisation of British English is well known; the Britishisation of American English, not so much (as a Californian teen might say). A country not sure what influence it still has in the world might like to know that the superpower across the ocean still fancies the mother country and its culture.
英式英语的美国化是众所周知的，而美式英语的英国化则不是（一个加利福尼亚青少年可能会这样认为）。一个国家如果不确定自己在世界上还有什么影响力，那么它可能会想知道大洋彼岸的超级大国仍然喜欢其母国及母国的文化。
