the way we spell things in English is not always the way we say them.

我們在英語中拼寫事物的方式並不總是我們說的方式。

Take these four letters, for example, o u g h.

以這四個字母為例，o u g h。

How do we pronounce them? Well, it all depends.

我們該如何發音呢？嗯，這一切都取決於。

Put a 't' at the end and we have'ought'.

在結尾處加一個 "t"，我們就有了 "應該"。

So, o u g h is pronounced [aw]

所以，o u g h的發音為[aw] 。

But put a 't' at the beginning and it's 'tough'.

但是在開頭加個't'，就成了'艱難'。

o u g h is now pronounced [uff].

o u g h現在讀作[uff]。

So far so bad!

到目前為止還很糟糕!

But now let's add one more letter to make 'though'.

但現在讓我們再加一個字母來構成 "雖然"。

o u g h is [o]

是[O]。

Again, one more letter, r, makes 'through'.

同樣，多一個字母，r，使 "通過"。

o u g h is [ew]

我想說的是

Can we keep going?

我們能繼續下去嗎？

Yes we can.

是的，我們可以。

  Let's add another letter, o, we have thorough.

讓我們再加一個字母，O，我們有了徹底。

o u g h is now [u].

現在是[u]。

  OK, add one more letter and,

好，再加一個字母，然後。

actually that's it. We can't extend any further with just one letter.

實際上就是這樣了。我們不能只用一個字母來進一步擴展。

But you see the point,

但你看到了這一點。

  the same letters pronounced five different ways.

同樣的字母有五種不同的發音方式。

Five!

五!

  You know that's not the end of it.

你知道這還不是結束的時候。

Depending on what part of the English speaking world you come from,

取決於你來自英語世界的哪個部分。

there are around 11 different ways of pronouncing o u g h.

o u g h大約有11種不同的發音方式。

Eleven!

十一!

Why is this?

這是為什麼呢？

Well, a long time ago, the way we spelt things wasn't really fixed.

好吧，很久以前，我們的拼寫方式並沒有真正固定下來。

So people wrote things down the way they thought they sounded.

所以人們按照他們認為的方式寫下東西。

Gradually over time, the spellings became fixed,

隨著時間的推移，漸漸地，拼寫變得固定。

particularly after the printing press was invented in the 15th century.

特別是在15世紀發明了印刷術之後。

Unfortunately, although spellings were fixed,

不幸的是，雖然拼寫被固定了。

something called The Great Vowel Shift was happening.

稱為 "元音大轉移 "的事情正在發生。

This was a period of about two hundred years

這是一個大約兩百年的時期

when for a number of reasons, the way we pronounced vowels in English

當由於一些原因，我們在英語中的元音的發音方式

completely changed.

完全改變了。

I know, crazy, huh?

我知道，很瘋狂，是吧？

  So how does this help us today?

那麼，這對我們今天有什麼幫助呢？

Well, to be honest, not at all.

嗯，說實話，一點也不。

But don't panic.

但不要驚慌。

There aren't actually that many o u g h words anyway,

反正實際上也沒有那麼多的O u g h字。

and most of those are quite common. So you may already know them.

而其中大多數是很常見的。所以你可能已經知道它們。

Are there any rules if you come across a word you don't know?

如果你遇到一個你不認識的詞，有什麼規則嗎？

Well, some guidelines, but not really rules.

嗯，一些準則，但不是真正的規則。

If a word ends in o u g h t then it is more than likely pronounced [awt]:

如果一個詞以o u g h t結尾，那麼它更有可能被讀作[awt]。

thought, bought, brought, fought, ought, nought, sought.

想到了，買了，帶來了，打了，應該了，沒有了，找了。

If it's two syllables and ends in o u g h,

如果是兩個音節並且以O u g h結尾。

it's probably [u]: thorough, borough.

它可能是[u]：徹底的，行政區。

Other than that, the best way of finding out the pronunciation

除此以外，最好的方法是找出發音

is to use a dictionary because with 11 different possibilities,

是使用一個字典，因為有11種不同的可能性。

you might guess the right one, but the odds are not great.

你可能猜對了，但機率不大。

For example, and this is completely true, when researching this topic,

例如，這完全是事實，在研究這個話題時。

I came across an English word I hadn't seen before. S o u g h.

我遇到了一個我以前沒見過的英語單詞。S o u g h。

It's a verb which means to make a soft whistling sound

這是一個動詞，意思是發出柔和的口哨聲。

like the wind blowing through the trees.

就像風吹過樹林。

I said a soft whistling sound!

我說了一聲輕輕的口哨聲!

That's better.

那就更好了。

  But how to pronounce it?

但如何發音呢？

Was it sough like dough, sough like cough, sough like rough,

是像麵糰一樣的咳嗽，像咳嗽一樣的咳嗽，像粗糙一樣的咳嗽。

sough like plough, sough like through, sough like hiccough?

颯颯如犁，颯颯如穿，颯颯如打嗝？

I guessed sough like cough.

我猜測是咳嗽一樣的咳嗽。

Was it a good guess?

這是個好的猜測嗎？

Nope!

沒有!

Annoyingly it can actually be pronounced two different ways,

令人討厭的是，它實際上可以有兩種不同的發音方式。

but neither of them the way I guessed.

但它們都不是我所猜測的那樣。

If you want to know the correct way, you'll have to do what I did.

如果你想知道正確的方法，你就得像我這樣做。

Look it up. It's the best way. Bye.

查一查吧。這是最好的方法。再見。

You didn't really think I'd go without telling you.

你不會真的以為我不告訴你就會走吧。

If you've stayed this long. I think you deserve the answer.

如果你呆了這麼久。我想你應該得到答案。

It's sough like plough or even sough like rough.

它像犁一樣犁著，甚至像粗糙一樣犁著。