English grammar, beloved by sticklers, is also feared by non-native speakers. Many of its idiosyncrasies can turn into traps even for the most confident users.
堅(jiān)持細(xì)節(jié)的人鐘愛的英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)法也是非母語(yǔ)者的畏懼之物。甚至對(duì)于那些最自信的使用者來(lái)說(shuō)，英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)法的許多特性也會(huì)變成陷阱。

But some of the most binding rules in English are things that native speakers know but don’t know they know, even though they use them every day. When someone points one out, it’s like a magical little shock.
然而，英語(yǔ)最具約束力的部分（語(yǔ)法）規(guī)則，雖然那些母語(yǔ)使用者們明白這些規(guī)則，且天天都使用這些規(guī)則，但是他們卻并不自知。當(dāng)某個(gè)人指出一條規(guī)則的時(shí)候，就像有魔力一般，大家都會(huì)有點(diǎn)震驚。

This week, for example, the BBC’s Matthew Anderson pointed out a “rule” about the order in which adjectives have to be put in front of a noun. Judging by the number of retweets—over 47,000 at last count—this came as a complete surprise to many people who thought they knew all about English:
比如，這周BBC的馬修·安德森指出一條關(guān)于順序的“規(guī)則”，也就是形容詞必須放在名詞之前。根據(jù)推特轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)量來(lái)判斷（最后一次統(tǒng)計(jì)已超過(guò)4萬(wàn)7000次），這對(duì)許多以為自己對(duì)英語(yǔ)了如指掌的人來(lái)說(shuō)都完全是件意外的事：

That quote comes from a book called The Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase. Adjectives, writes the author, professional stickler Mark Forsyth, “absolutely have to be in this order: opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose Noun. So you can have a lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife. But if you mess with that order in the slightest you’ll sound like a maniac.”
那個(gè)例子出自《雄辯的要素：如何完美地使用英語(yǔ)短語(yǔ)》這本書。堅(jiān)持細(xì)節(jié)的專家馬克·福賽斯在書中寫道，形容詞“當(dāng)然必須要按照這個(gè)順序來(lái)說(shuō)：意見-尺寸-年齡-形狀-顏色-起源-材料-用途名詞。所以，你可以有一把古老的產(chǎn)自法國(guó)的可愛的綠色矩形銀質(zhì)小削刀。但是如果你打亂一點(diǎn)兒順序，你聽起來(lái)就像個(gè)瘋子?！?/div>

Mixing up the above phrase does, as Forsyth writes, feel inexplicably wrong (a rectangular silver French old little lovely whittling green knife…), though nobody can say why. It’s almost like secret knowledge we all share.
就像福賽斯寫的那樣，把上述短語(yǔ)混在一起使用，莫名其妙地就會(huì)覺得錯(cuò)了（一個(gè)矩形銀質(zhì)產(chǎn)自法國(guó)的古老的小的可愛綠色削刀……），盡管沒(méi)人能說(shuō)清到底是為什么。這幾乎就像是我們共同分享的隱秘知識(shí)。

Learn the language in a non-English-speaking country, however, and such “secrets” are taught in meticulous detail. Here’s a page from a book, published by Cambridge University Press, used regularly to teach English to non-native speakers. An English teacher in Hungary sent it to us.
然而，在一個(gè)不講英語(yǔ)的國(guó)家學(xué)習(xí)這門語(yǔ)言，就會(huì)有人詳細(xì)地教授這類的“秘密”。這是劍橋大學(xué)出版社出版的一本書中的一頁(yè)，常用于教授非英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)者學(xué)習(xí)英語(yǔ)。一位匈牙利的英語(yǔ)老師把它發(fā)給了我們。

The book lays out the adjective order in the same way as Forsyth’s illumination. Hungarian students, and no doubt those in many other countries, slave over the rule, committing it to memory and thinking through the order when called upon to describe something using more than one adjective.
就像福賽斯闡明的那樣，這本書也用了同樣的方法列出了形容詞的順序。毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，匈牙利的學(xué)生以及許多其他國(guó)家的學(xué)生得努力記住這條規(guī)則，當(dāng)他們要用不止一個(gè)形容詞來(lái)描述某個(gè)事物的時(shí)候，他們就得仔細(xì)想想這條規(guī)則。

The fact is, a lot of English grammar rules only come as a surprise to those who know them most intimately.
事實(shí)上，對(duì)于那些非常精通英語(yǔ)的人來(lái)說(shuō)，許多英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)法規(guī)則也讓他們很意外。

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