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在引述他人的话时，我们通常会使用 “indirect speech（间接引语）” 这种引述方式。不过，你真的掌握了间接引语的规则吗？比如，哪些时态需要 “降级”？哪些代词或表时间的词必须变化？听节目，跟主持人步理和 Phil 学习使用间接引语时的注意事项。

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（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。）

Buli
大家好，欢迎收听 BBC 英语教学的 “你问我答” 节目。This is Question and Answer of the Week, where we answer your questions about English language, culture and life. I'm Buli.

Phil
Hi Buli, how are you?

Buli
I'm very good, thank you! In this programme, we are answering a question about indirect speech. 一位听众在留言中提出了一个有关 “indirect speech（间接引语）” 的问题。让我们一起来听一听。

Question
We usually change 'two weeks ago' into 'two weeks before'. What's the difference between them? There is always backshift in indirect speeches, but the past perfect stays the same. If reporting a third or mixed conditional sentence, how can we clarify it? Thank you.

Phil
I really like this question because it means we get to explain a little bit about what the language is really like. There are lots of rules around indirect speech, but a good grammar book should tell you that the most important thing is to think logically.

Buli
是的。在使用间接引语时，人们通常会改变原句所使用的一些和时间有关的表达。比如，“two weeks ago” 通常会变为 “two weeks before”。除此之外，虽然句子的时态经常会发生改变，但过去完成时却一般保持不变。那么，我们该如何处理间接引语中的各种时态变化，甚至各种条件句呢？

Phil
Were you in the meeting yesterday, Buli? I missed it.

Buli
Yes, I was. The manager said we need to change the new project. He said that we started working on it 30 days before, and it hadn't been successful.

Phil
OK. Did he say why it hadn't succeeded?

Buli
Well, I said that if we'd had better computers, we would have been more successful. If we'd been able to do more, we would be in a better position now.

Phil
OK. Did he say anything about getting faster computers?

Buli
He showed us one of the new ones. He said that one was the best we could get, and that we'd have it by the end of today.

你正在收听的是 BBC 英语教学制作的 “你问我答” 节目。在本期节目中，我们正在学习和间接引语有关的常见规律。在刚才的对话中，我和 Phil 讨论了一场昨天发生的会议，以及会议上的发言。

There are some great examples of indirect speech there. What was the first thing that the manager actually said?

Phil
Well, he said, which you reported, "We need to change the new project. We started working on it 30 days ago, and it hasn't been successful."

Buli
也就是说，这个句子中的 “30 days ago” 变成了 “30 days before”。这是因为，“ago” 的意思是 “现在的……之前”，但当我转述昨天听到的话时，实际上指的是 “昨天的多久之前”，所以需要把 “ago” 变为意思是 “在某个时间的……之前” 的单词 “before”。

在间接引语中，类似的变化规律还有 “now（现在）” 变为 “then（当时）”、“this（这个）” 变为 “that（那个）”，以及 “we（我们）” 变成 “they（他们）” 等等。这些变化的要点是将时间、地点、人称等参考系从原先的场景变为当下的时空。

Phil
Yes. It's important to remember to follow this logic when using indirect speech. Buli, in your reply, you also said, "If we'd had better computers, we would have been more successful. If we'd been able to do more, we would be in a better position now."

Buli
是的。在这两个句子中，我分别用到了第三类条件句和混合条件句来提出自己的意见。由于第三类条件句讨论的是 “与过去事实相反的假设”，因此它不论是对说话者还是转述者来说都基于 “对过去的假设”，因此并不需要变换时态。

而对于混合条件句来说，虽然它讨论的是 “与过去事实相反的假设可能给现在带来的结果”，但通常也不需对情态动词 “would” 进行调整。

Phil
Since we don't change the form for third and mixed conditionals, we have to look at the context to see if they are direct speech or indirect speech.

Now let's look at the last thing the manager said. "This one is the best we can get. You'll have it by the end of tomorrow".

Buli
And I said, "He said that one was the best we could get, and that we'd have it by the end of today." 在这两个句子的间接引语中，我们可以观察到刚才提到的一些变化规律。比如，“this one” 变成了 “that one”、“tomorrow” 变成了 “today”，这就是因为讨论的时间和地点都发生了变化。除此之外，我们还可以注意到，情态动词 “can” 在间接引语中通常会变为“could”。

Phil
This is where you can see that it's logical. If it's not the one near the new speaker – that's Buli in this case, it's that one, not this one. And if we look at the days – yesterday's tomorrow is today's today. The important thing to think about with indirect speech is how is the new speaker's situation different from the original speaker, and what do you have to change for it to make sense.

Buli
We hope that's answered your question.

Phil
Remember, if you have a question that you'd like us to answer, you can email us too at questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk

Buli
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!

Phil
Bye!