AEE 2536：如何让你的英语词汇超越一般水平

这是All Ears English播客第2536期。

This is an All Ears English podcast episode twenty five thirty six.

如何让自己的英语词汇量超越普通水平。

How to be better than decent at English vocabulary.

欢迎收听All Ears English播客，本节目下载量已超过两亿次。

Welcome to the All Ears English podcast downloaded more than 200,000,000 times.

你是否觉得自己的英语进步停滞了？

Are you feeling stuck with your English?

我们将教你如何通过注重交流而非完美，变得自信而流利。本节目由美国主持人米歇尔·卡普兰（纽约电台女孩）和雅思达人奥布里·卡特尔联袂呈现，来自亚利桑那州和纽约市，美国。

We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection with your American host, Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, and Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz, coming to you from Arizona and New York City, USA.

如需每周通过电子邮件接收文字稿，请访问allearsenglish.com/subscribe。

And to get your transcript delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish.com forward slash subscribe.

英文单词‘decent’可能令人困惑，因为它的含义会根据你描述的对象和语调而变化。

The word decent can be confusing in English because the meaning changes depending on what you're describing and the intonation you use.

请仔细听接下来的详细说明。

Listen in for details.

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Want a little behind the scenes All Ears English magic?

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Take our super quick five minute survey and you'll be entered to win a free virtual meet and greet with your favorite All Ears English host.

当然。

Yes.

真的能见到我们中的某一位。

Actually meeting one of us.

你的回答能帮助我们把播客做得更好。

Your answers help us make the podcast even better for you.

更多你喜欢的内容，更少你不喜欢的部分。

More of what you love, less of what you don't.

只需五分钟。

Five minutes.

超级有趣。

Big fun.

真实的影响力。

Real impact.

参赛截止日期是12月31日。

Deadline to enter the contest is December 31.

所以现在就去 allearsenglish.com/survey 吧。

So go to allearsenglish.com/survey now.

嘿，奥布里。

Hey, Aubrey.

你怎么样？

How are you?

你好，米歇尔。

Hello, Michelle.

你怎么样？

How are you?

我很期待和你一起录音。

I'm excited to record with you.

我也是，各位。

Me too, guys.

今天我和奥布里一起录音。

Aubrey and I are recording together today.

林赛会回来的。

Lindsey will be back.

但奥布里和我有机会录一点内容。

But Aubrey and I are getting the chance to record a bit.

对此我非常兴奋。

So very excited about that.

但奥布里，我有个问题想问你。

But Aubrey, I have a question for you.

好的。

Okay.

你最近在电影院看的最后一部电影是什么？

What is the last movie you saw in the theater?

哦，《魔法坏女巫》第二部。

Oh, WickedPart two.

《魔法坏女巫：善》。

WickedForGood.

我们昨天带着所有孩子去影院看了。

We took all of our kids yesterday and saw it in the theater.

我昨天差点也去了，但后来大家都太

I almost did that yesterday, but then everyone But was too

感觉怎么样？

how was it?

你喜欢吗？

Did you like it?

还行吧。

It was decent.

好吧。

Okay.

我写了这个角色扮演，只是为了能用上‘还行’这个词，但其实我并不这么觉得。

I wrote this role play for us so I could use decent, but that's not actually how I feel.

我真的很喜欢。

I really loved it.

你喜欢吗？

Did you?

我爱百老汇的《魔法坏女巫》，也一直很喜欢这些电影改编版。

I love Wicked on Broadway and I've loved these film adaptations.

不过我喜欢音乐剧。

I like musicals though.

我知道这不是每个人都喜欢的类型，但我真的非常喜欢。

I know they're not for everyone, but I really loved it.

辛西娅·里沃和爱莉安娜·格兰德的嗓音都太棒了。

And Cynthia Rivo and Ariana Grande both just have amazing voices.

我被这一点深深震撼了。

I was really blown away by that.

歌曲以及她们声音的融合，还有那些美妙的音符。

The songs and how their voices blend and just the beautiful notes.

是的。

Yeah.

太美了。

Just gorgeous.

我很期待去看。

I'm excited to see it.

它没那么长。

It it's not as long

是第一部的时长更长。

as the first one.

对吧？

Right?

对。

Right.

感觉很快。

It felt very quick.

是的。

Yeah.

好的。

Okay.

这很好。

That's good.

但，是的，我猜你可能已经习惯了第一部，那里

But, yeah, I guess you're probably used to the first one where

它，你知道，你基本上得安排一个中场休息。

it it you know, you basically have to spend all have the like an intermission built in.

很棒。

It was great.

很长。

It was long.

好的。

Okay.

好的。

Okay.

很好。

Good.

是的。

Yeah.

我儿子一直要求来看这个。

I have to my son has been asking this was asking to see it.

也许我可以给他个惊喜，带他去看。

Maybe I'll have to surprise him and take him.

是的。

Yeah.

很有趣。

It's fun.

他会，这很有趣。

He'll This is interesting.

今天我们来讨论单词‘decent’。

We're talking about the word decent today.

这个灵感来自于我们听到学生犯的一个错误，他们用形容词‘decent’来表示‘好’或‘非常好’。

This was inspired by a mistake we've heard students make where they use the adjective decent to mean good or really good.

比如，他们可能会形容一部电影说：‘这是一部很棒的decent电影。’

Like maybe they would describe a movie and say it was a fantastic decent film.

如果只看字典定义，我真的能理解为什么会出现这种错误。

I can really see why if you just look at the dictionary definition, I can see why this mistake is made.

因为你知道，‘decent’有多种含义，其定义是‘达到可接受的标准，令人满意的’。

Because you know decent has so many meanings and the definition says of an acceptable standard satisfactory.

我能想象学生会认为这意味着‘好’。

And I could see students thinking that means good.

对吧？

Right?

这并不有趣。

It doesn't It's interesting.

是的。

Yeah.

这非常有趣。

That is very interesting.

是的。

Yeah.

这让我想到我爸爸，因为直到今天，我爸爸总是问：‘还行吗？’

It it's I this makes me think of my dad because he my dad to this day always says, oh, was it decent?

比如，如果你说：‘哦，我去了这家餐厅。’

Like, if you say, oh, I I, you know, I had this I went to this restaurant.

‘还行吗？’

Oh, was it decent?

甚至是我们童年度假时的视频。

Or even on our videos from childhood of vacations.

哦，米歇尔，怎么样？

Oh, Michelle, how was it?

还不错。

It was a decent.

但我是说，那

And but I That's

真有趣。

so interesting.

他的标准很低。

He sort of has a low bar.

他不是在问好不好。

He's not asking if it was good.

所谓‘还行’，就是说能不能接受？

Like decent meaning like was it acceptable?

对。

Right.

可接受的。

Acceptable.

令人满意的。

Satisfactory.

足够好了。

Good enough.

是的，没错。

Yes, exactly.

所以我只是觉得，当我听到“decent”这个词时，就会想到我爸爸。

So I just think when I hear the word decent, think of my dad.

我爸爸不只是decent，我爸爸很棒。

My dad is not just decent, my dad is wonderful.

这很有趣，如果你的意思是某物非常好，你不希望不小心用“decent”来形容它。

This is interesting, you don't want to accidentally describe something as decent if you mean it's really good.

对吧？

Right?

这个词 definitely 有负面的搭配含义。

There's definitely a negative collocation to this.

对。

Right.

如果

That if

当你称某物为 decent 时，实际上意思是它没那么好。

you're calling something decent, you actually mean it wasn't that great.

它还不错。

It's fine.

它是可以接受的。

It's It's acceptable.

没错。

Exactly.

但 decent 并不只有这层意思。

But that's not the only meaning for decent.

有四种不同的含义。

There are four different meanings.

所以我们今天会分享所有这些含义，并附上例子。

So we're gonna share all of them today with examples.

但各位，如果你还没有关注All Ears English播客，那你可是错过了很多精彩的剧集。

But guys, if you're not hitting follow on the All Ears English podcast, you are missing lots of great episodes.

每周都有五集新内容。

Five new episodes every week.

所以，无论你现在在哪里，打开搜索栏，搜索All Ears English，确保你关注了这个播客。

So wherever you are right now, open your search bar, search All Ears English, and make sure you're following the podcast.

是的。

Yes.

而且，如果你是在YouTube上收听我们的播客，你可能还不知道，我们有一个活跃的YouTube频道，我们的剧集也在那里。

And also, if you are consuming our podcast on YouTube, if you don't know, we have a thriving YouTube channel and our episodes are on there.

所以也请在YouTube上点击订阅按钮。

So hit the subscribe button on YouTube as well.

是的，观看这些视频片段很有趣。

Yes, it's fun to watch these episodes as a video.

去YouTube上看看吧。

Go check it out on YouTube.

当然。

Definitely.

是的。

Yes.

好了，我们开始吧。

Alright, let's dive in.

是的，多种定义。

Yeah, the many definitions.

所以第一个是我们已经讨论过的那种。

So number one is kind of this one that we've already been discussing.

对吧？

Right?

我来读一下。

I'll read this.

嗯。

Yep.

足够好或可以接受。

Good enough or acceptable.

并不出色。

Not amazing.

我喜欢这个，但只是满足最低期望。

I like this, but meets minimum expectations.

是的。

Yeah.

我确实看过一些电影，我会形容它们为还行，或者就是那种我觉得还凑合的片子。

And I've definitely seen some films that I would describe as decent or right of something I'm like, it was alright.

我大概不会推荐给任何人，然后我会说它还算不错。

I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone, then I would describe it as decent.

嗯。

Yep.

嗯。

Yep.

所以比如说，这家餐厅并不豪华，

So for example, the restaurant wasn't fancy,

但食物还行。

but the food was decent.

嗯。

Yeah.

这很有趣。

This is interesting.

你并不是说它很棒，会推荐给所有人并给五星评价，但也没糟到极点。

You're not saying it was amazing and you'd get five stars recommend it to everyone, but it wasn't terrible.

比如，食物还行。

Like, the food was decent.

对。

Right.

或者我在考试中得了中等分数。

Or I got a decent score on the exam.

不算好，但也不算差。

Not great, but not bad either.

如果你说你的分数是中等，那大概你及格了。

Like, you probably passed if you're saying your score was decent.

对。

Right.

但肯定不是100分。

But it certainly wasn't like a 100%.

是的。

Yes.

是的。

Yes.

所以，是的，这个单词的定义非常有用。

So, yeah, this is a really useful definition of this word.

为了让我们的听众清楚，'decent' 的拼写是 d-e-c-e-n-t。

And just so our listeners know, decent is spelled d e c e n t.

是的。

So Yes.

没错。

Exactly.

知道。

Know.

这有点棘手，因为如果你加上一个 s，就变成了 'descent' 和 'dissent'。

And this is tricky because if you add an s, we have the word descent Dissent.

发音不同，拼写也略有差异。

Which is pronounced differently, spelled slightly differently.

我能理解这会让人们感到困惑，但没错，这个词的意思不同，你有 d

I could see that confusing people, but yes, this has a different you have d

s c。

s c.

对吧？

Right?

d e s c。

D e s c.

对吧？

Right?

下降。

Descent.

所以第二个词，我们来深入一下，是体面的或可靠的。

So the second one, let's get into it, is respectable or reliable.

诚实、有道德、有操守。

So honest, moral, having integrity.

我们经常用这个词来形容品格良好的人。

And we use this a lot to describe people who have good character.

是的。

Yeah.

而且在这里它带有更积极的含义。

And it is a more positive connotation here.

比如，如果说他看起来是个正派的人。

If you say, for example, he seems like a decent guy.

这并不是说他只是勉强过得去，而是意味着他是个好人。

It's like, I'm not saying he's just barely passable like this means he's a good person.

他可靠、诚实、有原则。

He's reliable, honest, has integrity.

所以这真的很奇怪。

So it's really strange.

我能理解为什么学生可能会误用‘decent’这个形容词来形容电影。

I can see this being what the other reasons students are maybe using decent incorrectly as an adjective to describe like a film.

因为当我们用它来描述一个人时，它的含义是非常正面的。

Because when we use it to describe a person, it's very positive.

如果一个人是正直的，那就意味着他有高尚的道德，有良好的品行，对吧？

If someone's decent, they're like, they have high morals, know, the good integrity, right?

有意思。

Interesting.

或者她帮助年迈的邻居打理庭院，这真是件很正直的事。

Or she helped her elderly neighbor with his yard work, which was really, which was a really decent thing to do.

是的。

Yeah.

就像是善良，对吧？

It was like kind, right?

体贴。

Thoughtful.

所以，这些不同定义之间的差异真的很有趣。

So yeah, really interesting how different those definitions are.

或者我们的第三种意思是恰当或合适的。

Or our third means like proper or appropriate.

这通常与谦逊有关，或者意味着穿着得体、打扮合适。

Often this is about modesty or it might mean presentable or appropriately dressed.

对吧？

Right?

嗯。

Uh-huh.

是的。

Yeah.

你可以说：别进来。

You could say, don't come in.

我还没穿好衣服。

I'm not decent.

对吧？

Right?

所以你甚至可能没穿衣服。

So you might not even be wearing clothes.

你可能

You might

身上一件衣服都没穿。

not have any clothes on.

对吧？

Right?

对。

Right.

或者有人敲门时，他们可能会问：你穿好了吗？

Or So or if somebody knocks on the door, they might say, are you decent?

比如，我能进来吗？

Like, can I come in?

对。

Right.

而通常这意思是：你至少穿衣服了吗？

And often that means are you clothed at all?

但我们也会用这个来表示我穿得不得体。

But then we'll also use this to mean I'm not dressed appropriately.

对吧？

Right?

如果你穿着运动服，却需要出去，就会说：让我穿点像样的衣服。

If you're like in sweats and you need to go outside and be like, let me put something on.

我穿得不体面。

I'm not decent.

这只是意味着我穿得不适合出门。

It just means like I'm not dressed to go out.

对。

Right.

对。

Right.

对。

Right.

没错。

Exactly.

接下来，我们来看最后一个我们要分享的词，它的含义相当大或相当可观。

And then let's get into the last one we're gonna share is fairly large or a respectable amount.

因此，这个词用来描述数量或规模不小的情况。

So this is used to describe an amount or quantity that is not small.

意思完全不同。

Such a different meaning.

真奇怪，我们竟然用同一个词表达两种完全不同的意思，为什么不能想个别的词呢？

It's so strange that we have the exact same word to mean Why couldn't we come up with another word?

我不知道。

I don't know.

真的很奇怪。

It's really weird.

真的很奇怪。

It's really weird.

例如，参加活动的人数相当多。

So for example, we had a decent number of people show up to the event.

这意味着人数挺多的，对吧？

So this means like, it was quite a few, right?

总比一个人没来要好。

It wasn't like nobody showed up.

我们对到场人数感到非常失望。

We were really disappointed by the numbers.

我们会用这个词来表示，没错，人数还算可以。

We would use this to mean like, yeah, it was a decent number.

也就是说，人数并不少，不只是寥寥几人。

Like there, you know, this was not small, not just a few people.

嗯。

Mhmm.

嗯。

Mhmm.

或者他们在停下之前开了相当远的距离。

Or they drove a decent distant distance before stopping.

所以也不是很多。

So not quite a bit.

对吧？

Right?

嗯。

Yeah.

挺好的。

Pretty.

嗯。

Yeah.

像相当大一部分。

Like a like a good portion.

嗯。

Mhmm.

可能几个小时吧。

Several hours maybe.

如果我前面还有十五小时的车程，我不会开三十分钟就觉得自己已经开了相当远的距离。

I wouldn't go thirty minutes and be like, I drove a decent distance if I have like a fifteen hour drive in front of me.

不会。

No.

对。

Right.

但这确实是相对的。

Although it is relative.

比如，假设你的孩子在学开车，对他们来说，三十分钟就已经算是不错了。

Like let's say your child is learning to drive and you know for them thirty minutes it's like, okay.

是的。

Yeah.

他开了一段相当不错的距离。

He drove a decent amount.

对，没错。

Like Right.

他们在练习。

They're practicing.

对他们来说这已经很多了。

That'd be a lot for them.

说得对。

Good point.

是的。

Yeah.

所以这完全取决于语气，你的语气会稍微改变它的含义，是积极还是消极。

So it's all about how this will like, your tone will change this a little bit, whether it's positive or negative.

因为想象一下，如果第一个情况你原本期待有成千上万人，这是一场筹款活动，但来的人只有你期望的一半。

Because imagine with this first one, if you were expecting thousands of people, it's like a fundraiser event and maybe half the amount come that you want.

如果你说：‘嗯，人数还算可以’，这就不那么积极了。

If you're like, yeah, had a decent number and it's not that positive.

我的语气某种程度上表明了，

My tone kind of indicates that like,

你知道，到场的人还挺多的

you know, there were quite

但其实人还是有点少，我本来更希望是肯定的回答。

a few people, but like, I would have preferred Yes.

这真的很有趣。

That's really interesting.

但如果你真的来了很多人，你可以说：‘来参加活动的人数还不错。’

But if you were if you said, if you did have a lot show up, you could say, oh, we had a decent number of people show up to the event.

所以这是一种不同的语气。

So that's a different tone.

听起来你对人数还挺满意的。

It sounds like you were happy about the number.

这个话题我真的很喜欢。

That's really I like this topic.

奥布里，这个不错。

Aubrey, this is a good one.

很高兴我们正在讨论这个话题。

I'm glad we're talking about this.

是的。

Yes.

你想要一个更国际化的事业吗？

Do you want a more international career?

如果英语不再成为你获得晋升、被选中参与重要项目或演讲的障碍，会怎样呢？

What if English no longer held you back from getting a promotion, getting chosen for an important project or presentation?

想象一下，如果你能流利地说英语，会有多少可能性。

Imagine the possibilities if you had fluent English.

立即通过我们的免费水平测试了解你的英语水平。

Find out your English level now with our free level quiz.

前往 allearsenglish.com/fluencyscore。

Go to allearsenglish.com/fluencyscore.

再次提醒，网址是 allearsenglish.com/fluencyscore。

Again, that's allearsenglish.com/fluencyscore.

我们在那里见。

And we'll see you there.

好的，米歇尔。

Alright, Michelle.

我们来角色扮演一下，练习一下 'decent' 这个词的各种含义。

Let's do a role play to use all of these different meanings of decent.

在这个角色扮演中，你来接我，送我去机场。

You are picking me up to give me a ride to the airport in this role play.

谢谢你，米歇尔。

Thank you, Michelle.

你真是太好了。

So kind of you.

不客气。

You are very welcome.

我不会让你花钱打优步。

I'm not letting you spend money on an Uber.

不行。

No.

对吧？

Right?

真是个好朋友，尤其是大清早的时候。

Such a good friend, especially if it's early in the morning.

天啊，这个。

Oh my this.

我提供了搭车，他们却说好的。

I've offered a ride, and they're like, okay.

我们需要四点出发。

We need to leave at four.

我当时想，如果我也是那样的话

I'm like, if I had been like that

算了。

Never mind.

嗯。

Yeah.

我本来就不会提出。

Wouldn't have offered.

这太好笑了。

It's hilarious.

好吧。

Okay.

我们就从这里开始吧。

Let's just start here.

我来带头。

I'll start us out.

哦，我喜欢你的夹克。

Oh, I like your jacket.

谢谢。

Thanks.

我买的时候正好打折，价格很合适。

I got it on sale for a decent price too.

太棒了。

Amazing.

你一直很擅长找到划算的买卖。

You've always been good at finding a deal.

顺便谢谢你来接我。

Thanks for picking me up by the way.

你真是太好了。

That was really decent of you.

不客气。

No problem.

你准备好了吗？

Are you ready?

我得换一下，让自己看起来得体一点。

Just need to change so I look decent.

我刚才把咖啡洒在这件衬衫上了。

I spilled coffee on this shirt a minute ago.

哦，明白了。

Oh, gotcha.

不过快点。

Hurry though.

从这儿开车到机场路途还挺远的。

It's a decent drive to the airport from here.

不错。

Nice.

真有趣，居然在这个对话里用了这么多次‘decent’，听起来一点也不奇怪，因为这个词有这么多不同的含义。

And it's so interesting how it doesn't even sound strange to use decent so many times in this one conversation because they have there's all these different meanings.

真奇怪，它居然还是同一个词。

It's weird that it's even the same word.

对。

Right.

没错。

That's true.

我不知道我会这么说那么多次。

It I I don't know that I would do it that many times.

它有不同的定义。

It has different definitions.

这些都是不同的语境。

These are all different contexts.

但，是的，我仍然觉得我们还是想换个说法。

But, yeah, I still think we would wanna vary what we say.

但那是对的。

But That's true.

对吧？

Right?

我们在这次角色扮演中是有意使用它们的。

We're using them on purpose in this role play.

但如果我只是说‘我看起来还行’，你可能会说：‘去机场路途可真远啊。’

But if I had just said, so I look decent, you'd probably say, oh, it's a long drive to the airport.

所以，我们不会说‘这是一段还不错的路程。’

So let's say wouldn't say it's a decent drive.

对。

Right.

对。

Right.

这可能有点过度了，但你说得对，它们的定义确实完全不同。

It just might be a little overkill, but you are right that they have different totally different definitions.

几乎注意不到。

So hardly notice.

对。

Right.