别害怕，就是讲讲情态动词 （情态动词英语讲解）

Hi. I'm Vicki and welcome to the first of two videos about how to use the verbs 'may', 'might' and 'could' to talk about possibilities. We're also going to tell you a story.

嗨。 我是薇姬，欢迎来到关于如何使用动词 may，might 和 could 来谈论可能性的这一课，共两期视频，本期是第一期。我们还会给你们讲一个故事。

A strange and creepy story. You'll love it.

一个奇怪而令人毛骨悚然的故事。你会喜欢的。

There are two main ways we use modal verbs in English. One is when we want to try to control the world and what people do.

在英语中，我们主要有两种方式使用情态动词。一是当我们想要控制世界和人们的行为时。

For example, we can use modal verbs to talk about permission. We've made another video about that and I'll put a link here.

例如，我们可以用情态动词来谈论许可。我们已经做过另一期关于这些内容的视频，我会在这里放个链接。

And the other way we use modal verbs is to express our attitude and opinions. So for example, if we want to say we're not certain, we often use these modal verbs.

而我们使用情态动词的另一种方式，就是表达我们的态度和意见。那举个例子，如果我们想说我们不确定，我们就经常使用这些情态动词。

They're really useful when we want to talk about possibilities. So permission — possibility.

当我们想讨论可能性的时候，这些情态动词真的很有用。情态动词的两种使用方式，许可——可能性。

Modal verbs often have more than one meaning. In today's lesson you'll learn how we use these three modal verbs to talk about possibilities.

情态动词通常有不止一个意思。在今天的课程中，你将学习如何使用这三个情态动词来谈论可能性。

Let's see them in action. Oh. Sit Carter.

让我们来看看它们的实际应用。哦，坐吧，卡特。

Good boy. Hello everyone.

乖孩子。大家好。

Jay here. I'm traveling on business this week.

我是杰。这周我出差。

This hotel is very old. It might be two hundred years old.

这家酒店很古老。它可能有两百年的历史了。

Or three hundred? I don't know but it's dark and cold… . and there's a strange smell in this room.

还是三百年？我不知道，但这里又暗又冷……而且房间里还有一股怪味。

It may be the kitchen downstairs. It could be cabbage.

可能是楼下的厨房散发出来的。也许是卷心菜吧。

I'm not sure. I didn't want to stay in this hotel but it's the only place that would take Carter.

我不确定。我本不想住在这家酒店，但这是唯一能带卡特住进来的地方。

Such a good boy. I didn't want to leave him at home.

真是个好孩子。我不想把他留在家里。

Anyway, I'm going to stop now and take Carter for a walk. It's windy tonight and it could rain soon.

总之，我现在先不说了，我要带卡特出去走走。今晚风很大，可能很快就会下雨。

I hope not because we might get wet. And then after our walk, we may just go to bed and have an early night.

我希望不会下，因为我们可能会被淋湿。散步之后，我们可能就会上床睡觉了，要早点睡。

I'll speak to you all tomorrow. Did you hear Jay say 'may', 'might' and 'could'?

我明天再跟你们大家说。你听到杰说“may”、“might”和“could”了吗？

He used them all to talk about possibilities, and they express the idea that we're not certain. We use them when we don't know something for sure.

他用这些词来谈论可能性，它们表达了我们不确定的想法。我们在不确定的情况下会使用这些情态动词。

This hotel might be two hundred years old. Or three hundred?

这家酒店可能有两百年的历史了。还是三百年？

It may be the kitchen downstairs. It could be cabbage.

可能是楼下的厨房散发出来的。也许是卷心菜吧。

I'm not sure. Could, may and might mean the same thing here, it doesn't matter which word you use.

我不确定。could，may 和 might 在这里的意思是一样的，不管你用哪个词意思都不变。

They all indicate you're not certain. We can use them to talk about the present, and also to talk about the future.

它们都表示你不确定。我们可以用它们来谈论现在，也可以谈论将来。

The structure is exactly the same. So how can we tell if someone's talking about the present or the future?

结构完全一样。那么，我们如何分辨某人谈论的是现在还是未来呢？

Well, it doesn't matter normally. We look at the situation and the context and we know.

一般来说，这都不重要。我们看情况和语境就知道了。

And if it's important to be clear we can use adverbs or time expressions. It could rain soon.

而如果要明确时间很重要，我们可以用副词表达或时间表达。可能很快就会下雨。

After that, I may just go to bed. So if you're not sure if something's true now, or not sure if it will happen in the future, use may, might or could.

之后，我可能就去睡觉了。所以，如果你不确定某件事现在是不是真的，或者不确定它将来会不会发生，就可以用 may，might 或 could。

Now what about negative sentences? What if we think something might not be true, or we think things might not happen.

那否定句怎么讲呢？如果我们认为某些事情可能不是真的，或者我们认为一些事情可能不会发生，该怎么说。

Let's hear some examples and see how Jay is getting on. Hello everyone.

我们来听一些例句，看看杰怎么样了。大家好。

Well, we're still here but we might not stay in this hotel for long. Last night was terrible.

我们还在这里，但我们可能不会在这间酒店住太久。昨晚过得太痛苦了。

The window in this room was rattling. It was so noisy we couldn't sleep.

房间的窗户发出格格的响声。太吵了，我们睡不着。

This morning I got up and I slammed it shut. But it may not work.

今早我一起床就把它关上了。但这可能没什么用。

I think it might rattle again tonight. I've asked the hotel if we can change our room.

我想今晚它可能还会响。我已经问过酒店我们是否可以换房间。

They're going to try but they don't have many rooms so they might not be able to help. But the worst thing last night was I had a nightmare.

他们会尝试给我们换，但他们的房间不多，所以他们可能帮不上忙。但昨晚最糟糕的是我做了个噩梦。

I dreamed there was a little girl at the end of my bed and she wanted to kill me. I couldn't see her very clearly because it was dark and she was hiding her face.

我梦见有个小女孩就在我的床尾，她想杀了我。我看不清楚她的样子，因为太黑了，她把脸遮起来了。

But I knew she was evil and I was terrified. I may not be able to sleep tonight.

但我知道她很邪恶，我很害怕。我今晚可能会睡不着。

Carter doesn't like this hotel either. He's behaving very strangely.

卡特也不喜欢这家酒店。他的行为非常奇怪。

He keeps staring at the door like someone is outside. But when I open it and look, nobody's there.

他一直盯着门，好像有人在外面一样。但当我打开门一看，没有人在那里。

It's really weird. Carter may not sleep tonight either.

真的太怪异了。卡特今晚可能也睡不着了。

Poor Jay, and poor Carter. Let's look at some of the things Jay said.

可怜的杰，还有可怜的卡特。让我们来看看杰说了些什么。

He used the negative form of may and the negative form of might. We might not stay in this hotel for long.

他用了 may 的否定形式和 might 的否定形式。我们可能不会在这间酒店住太久。

I've slammed the window shut but it may not work. The hotel might not be able to help.

我把窗户砰地关上了，但可能没什么用。酒店可能帮不上忙。

I may not be able to sleep tonight. And Carter may not sleep tonight either.

我今晚可能会睡不着。卡特今晚可能也睡不着了。

With modal verbs we use 'not' to form the negative. Did Jay use contractions here?

在情态动词中，我们用 not 来构成否定形式。杰在这里用了缩写吗？

No. He didn't say mayn't of mightn't.

没有。他没有说 mayn't 或 mightn't。

With may and might, say may not or might not. OK, now what about could?

对于 may 和 might 的否定形式，用 may not 或 might not。好，那 could 呢？

Well, could is different in several ways. Let's see what Jay said.

could 在很多方面都不一样。让我们看看杰说了什么。

It was so noisy we couldn't sleep. I couldn't see her very clearly because it was dark.

太吵了，我们睡不着。因为太黑了，我看不清楚她的样子。

Did Jay use a contraction? Yes, we generally say couldn't. Could not — couldn't.

杰用的是缩写词吗？是的，我们通常会说 couldn't。 could not 缩写为 couldn't。

But something else is different here and this is important. The meaning is different to may not and might not.

但这里还有一些不同，这很重要。couldn't 与 may not 和 might not 的意思不同。

Have a look. Is he talking about present and future possibilities here?

大家看一下。他说的是现在和未来的可能性吗？

NO! He's talking about that past, and things that didn't happen.

不是！他说的是过去，是那些没发生的事。

They wanted to sleep but it was impossible. He wanted to see the girl but it was too dark.

他们想睡觉，但没办法睡。他想看那个女孩，但天太黑了。

So here's the thing. We use may not and might not to talk about things we're not sure about, but couldn't means something different.

区别是这样的。我们用 may not 和 might not 来谈论我们不确定的事情，但 couldn't 表示不同的意思。

We use it to talk about things that didn't happen in the past. We know they didn't happen so there's no uncertainty.

我们用 couldn't 来谈论过去没有发生的事情。我们知道这些事没有发生，所以没有不确定性。

So if you're not sure and you're feeling uncertain, don't use couldn't. It's not the same as 'may not' and 'might not. '

那如果你不确定，或者你感觉不确定，你就不要用 couldn't。couldn't 和“may not”与“might not”不一样。

So let's summarise. When you want to talk about possibilities, use could, may and might.

我们总结一下。当你想谈论可能性时，可以用 could、may 和 might。

They all mean the same thing and we use them all to talk about things that are possibly true now and things that will possibly happen in the future. If you think things are possibly NOT true or NOT certain, say 'might not' or 'may not'.

它们的意思都是一样的，我们用它们来谈论现在可能是真的事情，以及将来可能会发生的事情。如果你认为事情可能不真实或不确定，就说“might NOT”或“may NOT”。

Don't say 'could not' or 'couldn't'. We use that to talk about impossible things.

不要说“could not”或“couldn't”。我们用“could not”或“couldn't”来谈论不可能的事情。

Great. Now you know how to use these modal verbs to talk about the present and the future.

很棒。现在你知道如何用这些情态动词来谈论现在和将来的事了。

But what about the past? Come back next week and we'll show you how to do that.

但过去的事要怎么说呢？下周回来，我们会告诉你怎么做。

But before we stop, let's see how Jay and Carter are getting on? Well as you can see, I couldn't change our hotel room so Carter and I are still here.

但在我们结束本课之前，让我们看看杰和卡特怎么样了？如你所见，我没能换酒店房间，所以卡特和我还在这里。

Carter's not happy. He's not eating much and he seems nervous.

卡特很不开心。他吃得不多，而且看起来很紧张。

The phone rang everal times last night and he went crazy. I don't know who called.

昨晚电话响了好几次，他都要烦死了。我不知道是谁打来的。

I couldn't hear very well because Carter was barking. But it sounded like a young girl's voice.

我听不太清楚，因为卡特在叫。但听起来像是一个年轻女孩的声音。

She didn't say anything but she was laughing. Or could be she was crying.

她什么也没说，但她在笑。也可能是她在哭。

I'm not sure. Do you think this hotel could be haunted?

我不确定。你觉得这间酒店会闹鬼吗？

What do you think? Might it be haunted?

你怎么看？会不会闹鬼吗？

And what might happen to Jay and Carter next week? Write and tell us in the comments.

下周杰和卡特会发生什么事呢？请在评论里写出来告诉我们。

Please share this video with your friends, and see you all next week for part two of the story. Bye.

请把这个视频分享给你的朋友，我们下周故事的第二部分再见。拜拜。