Truss, who says she is a stickler for accuracy and not an obsessive pedant, thinks the English have lost touch with the language they invented and gave to the world. She pointedly does not single out the Americans for blame. "American education seems to take grammar quite seriously," she told Reuters before leaving on a 10-city, coast-to-coast tour of North America for the launch of the book there in April. "My sense of it is that British English is worse actually than American English. I think Americans really like rules. I think we in Britain are very slapdash and don't care if we are right or wrong."

　　The book's odd title stems from the joke about a panda that walks into a caf . He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots into the air.

　　"Why?" asks the bewildered waiter as the panda heads for the exit. The animal produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

　　"I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."

　　The waiter turns to the relevant entry and all is revealed: "Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."




“吃完了就开枪 开了枪就走人”
　　伦敦:英国作家琳-特鲁斯最近站出来解救标点符号,在此之前,标点符号在英国几乎成了废物。对于语法上的任何小错都毫不容忍的特鲁斯写了一本很生动的标点符号指南《吃完了就开枪,开了枪就走人》,该书只在英国就卖出了50多万本,名列最佳畅销书榜首。她在承认因特网、电子邮件以及网上聊天开阔了人们视野的同时,也对这些交流方式使标点符号看来无用的倾向深感痛心。

　　特鲁斯说自己是个坚持准确性但并非固执迂腐之人,她认为英国人已经不知道如何使用他们发明并供全世界使用的英语了,她很直截了当,不认为美国人应对此负责,"美国的教育看来对语法是相当认真的"。她在起程前往北美之前对路透社记者说道,她的四月之行要去北美东西海岸间的10个城市,以推动此书在当地的销售。"在语法上,我的感觉是英国人的英语比美国人的英语要差,我认为美国人真正喜欢语法规则,而我们英国人则很马虎,不在乎是对还是错。"

　　该书怪怪的标题来自一个笑话:一只熊猫走进一家餐馆,点了一个三明治,吃完之后就掏出枪朝天放了两枪。

　　"你这是为什么？"一脸狐疑的服务员问正往外走的熊猫,它掏出一本点错标点的野生动物手册,头也不回就甩给了服务员。

　　"我是熊猫,"它在门口说道,"自己去看吧。"

　　服务员翻到与熊猫相关的词条,一切都明白了:熊猫,体型大,毛色黑白,样子像熊,哺乳动物,产于中国,吃完了就开枪,开了枪就走人。(最后一句应为吃竹笋和竹叶,在英语中竹笋与开枪、叶子与离开的写法相同,一个多余的逗号就把意思全改了。) [/hide]

关键字:双语新闻,中英文对照