people, population, human, mankind, humankind, man, person, human being...
可是, 关于它们的单复数性质以及一些细微的差别, 大家有深入的了解吗?
- people 指一个群体, 本身就是复数, 不需要加"s"。
例如: People were not appreciative of his painting when he was living, but they do now.
但是, 当people有了民族；族群的意味后, 它后面就可以加"s"了。
例如: Two peoples were fighting to expand their own territories and weaken one another.
- person 是单数, 指一个人, 但是persons除了一些特定场合, 如在法律场合, 才会用到。除此之外, person 的复数都是people。
- population 指人口, 通常是单数名词。
例如: Almost half of the population was against the policy.
The population has shrunk a lot since the war started.
- man 当用作单数形式时, 可以指人类整体。
例如: Man is mortal (终有一死的).
但是由于a man指一个男人, 人们认为用man 表示人类整体有忽略女性的地位。于是, 现在更多用humankind 或 mankind 来替代 man。
它们都是一贯以单数形式出现。
例如: Humankind is evolved from primates (灵长类动物).
- human/ human being 都是单数, 指一个人类。
它们的复数形式humans/ human beings 类似 humankind。不同的是, humans/ human beings 是复数形式。
例如: Human beings have long been used to an omnivorous (杂食的) diet.
(如果大家不认识 "omnivorous" 这个词, 可以把它记做生词, 但先把重点放在human beings这个复数形式上哦。)
大家对这些词有了解了吗？做做练习看看效果吧。
小练习
I saw ____ sitting there, unmoved. I've always wondered how some ____ can stay in the same posture(姿势) for hours.
A. man; humans
B. a man, people
C. a man; mankind
Both ____ and animals tend to react to the change in environment
A. human being
B. humans
C. mankinds
13% of the population ______ in poverty.
A. lives
B. live
C. both are correct
考试真题
来看看真题吧~
Fire was one of the earliest major technological advances for humankind.（CET-4 2014年6月）
There are also rules dealing with interpersonal relationships: Be a responsible human being and do not do evil things to others.（CET-4 2016年6月）
But with low-income students projected to make up an ever-larger share of the college-bound population in coming years, some schools are re-examing whether that aid, typically known as "merit aid", is the most effective use of precious institutional dollars.(CET-4 2017年)
