内容简介

名词 “ability”、“skill” 和 “trick” 的意思都是 “技能”，但它们的用法不完全相同。比如，“语言技能” 是 “language skills”，但 “与生俱来或通常无法后天习得的能力” 是 “natural ability”，“妙招” 则是 “clever tricks”。本期节目通过一段谈论个人写作能力的例文，逐一讲解这三个近义词之间的主要区别。

文字稿

（关于台词的备注: 请注意这不是广播节目的逐字稿件。本文稿可能没有体现录制、编辑过程中对节目做出的改变。）

Beth
Hello and welcome to Question and Answer of the Week. I'm Beth. 

Jiaying
And I'm Jiaying. 本期节目的问题是这样的：

Question
我们会碰到 “ability、skill、trick” 三个单词都表示 “技巧，能力” 的情况，那么它们有什么区别呢？

Jiaying
谢谢你的提问！名词 “ability”、“skill” 和 “trick” 的意思都是 “技能”，所以很容易被混淆。 

Beth
Indeed. So, to explain the difference, we're going to hear someone speaking about writing essays.  

Jiaying
为了帮助大家区分这三个名词之间的区别，请听一段话，边听边思考这个问题：说话人觉得自己擅长写作文吗？ 

Monologue
You're so good at writing essays. I don't have the skills, but that's why my teacher is sending me to a study skills class. You seem to have a natural ability. Do you know any tricks that could help me write better?
（你作文写得很好。我的写作能力不怎么好，这也正是我的老师要送我去参加一个学习技巧班的原因。你似乎有天生的写作能力。你有可以帮助我提高写作能力的诀窍吗？）

Beth
So, let's start with looking at the difference between the nouns 'ability' and 'skill' as they are very similar. 

Jiaying
先来讲一讲含义和用法最相近的两个词 —— “ability” 和 “skill” 之间的区别。在讲解之前，再听一遍这句话。

Example
I don't have the skills, but that's why my teacher is sending me to a study skills class. You seem to have a natural ability. 

Beth
It sounds like this person doesn't think they are good at writing essays because they don't have natural ability. 'Ability' is often something that you can naturally do, so it can be difficult to learn and to teach. 

Jiaying
没错，我们前面提出的问题的答案是：说话人觉得自己不擅长写作文。这里，他用到了名词 “skill” 和 “ability”。其中，名词 “ability” 的意思是 “能力”，它往往强调 “天生的才能”。

Beth
It's much easier to teach a 'skill' than an 'ability'.  You can get better at a skill by practising and then improving over time. 

Jiaying
我们通常需要通过积累经验和训练来培养 “skills（技能）”，但很难这样培养 “ability”。这也是为什么说话人被送去参加了 “study skills class（学习技巧班）” 的原因。请听两个使用了名词 “skill” 的例句。 

Examples
A lot of technical skills are needed for this job.
（做这份工作需要拥有很多专业的技术技能。）

He seems to lack basic conversational skills. It's hard to chat to him.
（他似乎缺乏基本的会话技巧。和他聊天很费劲。） 

Jiaying
另外，名词 “ability” 所指的 “才能，能力” 是强是弱比较难以衡量。通常我们说一个人要么有要么没有某种 “ability”。来听两个使用了名词 “ability” 的例句。

Examples
I have no doubt about your ability to do well in this competition.
（我确信你有能力在这场比赛中取得好成绩。） 

Being able to write down language is an ability unique to humans.
（能够将语言书写成文字是人类独有的能力。）

Jiaying
下面，我们来讲名词 “trick”。先来再听一遍这个使用了名词 “trick” 的句子。

Example
Do you know any tricks that could help me write better?

Beth
A trick can be a quick and effective way of doing something.

Jiaying
是的，名词 “trick” 指 “技巧”，也就是 “能帮你快速有效地做一件事情的诀窍、秘诀”。在上面听到的这个句子中，说话人询问对话中的另一方有没有一些 “tricks（妙招，诀窍）” 可以帮助他提高写作能力。Do you have any tricks for our listeners to help them improve their essay writing, Beth?

Beth
I do! If you use different sentence lengths, it will make your essays sound more interesting. Can you share any tricks, Jiaying? 

Jiaying
I like to use a thesaurus to look for synonyms. Then I'm not repeating the same words!

Beth
That is a good trick! Now, let's summarise. 

Jiaying
总结一下：名词 “ability” 多指 “天生就拥有的才能，能力”，这种 “能力” 通常很难通过积累经验和训练而习得；而名词 “skill” 则指 “可以后天学来的技能”；名词 “trick” 指 “秘诀，诀窍，技巧”。

Beth
Remember, if you have a question about the English language you'd like to ask us, please send us an email. Our email address is: questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk    

Jiaying
你也可以通过微博向我们提问。我们的微博账号是 “BBC英语教学”。Bye, everyone.

Beth
Bye!