世界節(jié)假日博覽 第154期:國家標點日

National Punctuation Day is a very important holiday for teachers and students of English. In fact, anyone who writes in English should celebrate this day. Few of us feel we are experts at the small marks that make up the English punctuation system. The day was founded in 2004 by Jeff Rubin, a former journalist. He wanted to draw attention to the importance of proper punctuation and to promote good writing skills. He said:“Successful people have good communication skills, and that includes knowing how to write properly.“ He added:“I'm stunned at how many executives and CEOs send me articles and correspondence that are poorly written and punctuated…Magazines and newspapers routinely make punctuation errors.“

對于學英語的學生和英語老師來說，國家標點日是個非常重要的節(jié)日。事實上任何寫英文的人都應該慶祝這一節(jié)日。小小的標點符號構成了英語標點系統(tǒng)，我們卻幾乎沒人覺得自己是這方面的專家。國家標點日是2004年由一名前記者杰夫·魯賓設立的。他想讓人們注意到正確標點的重要性和提高良好的寫作技巧。他說：“成功人士有好的溝通技巧，其中就包括知道如何正確書寫。”他補充說：“我接到許多主管和首席執(zhí)行官寄給我的文章和通信，我驚訝于他們糟糕的書寫和錯誤的標點……雜志和報紙也經(jīng)常有標點錯誤。”


Punctuation is everything in a written language except the actual letters or numbers. Punctuation marks and other things like spaces and indents help the reader understand the structure and organization of writing. Punctuation rules are different in every language. The oldest document containing punctuation dates back to the 9th century BC. English punctuation developed when large numbers of Bibles were produced. A standardized punctuation system emerged after the invention of the printing press. Many purists believe punctuation is under threat today. They say that the emergence of text messaging is killing off commas, colons and apostrophes. People are in too much of a hurry to bother with correct punctuation.

在書面語中，標點是實意詞匯和數(shù)字之外最重要的部分。標點符號和其他如空格和縮進能幫助讀者理解文章的組織結構。每種語言的標點規(guī)則都不一樣。含有標點的最古老文件可追溯到公元前9世紀。英語標點符號在圣經(jīng)大量出版時期得到完善。標準的標點系統(tǒng)出現(xiàn)在印刷機發(fā)明以后。許多純粹主義者相信現(xiàn)在的標點受到了威脅。他們說短信的出現(xiàn)扼殺了逗號、冒號和省略號。人們太忙了，懶得寫正確的標點符號。