英国人为什么不卷舌?

Why Do Americans and Brits Have Different Accents?

美国人英国人：口音为什么会不同？

In 1776, whether you were declaring America independent from the crown or swearing your loyalty to King George III, your pronunciation would have been much the same. At that time, American and British accents hadn't yet diverged. What's surprising, though, is that Hollywood costume dramas get it all wrong: The Patriots and the Redcoats spoke with accents that were much closer to the contemporary American accent than to the Queen's English.

1776年，无论是美国人宣布国家独立或英国人宣誓效忠英王乔治三世，人们的发音都大致相同。当时，美国和英国口音尚未分化。然而，令人惊讶的是，好莱坞古装片都搞错了：爱国者美国兵和英国兵(注：美国独立战争时期英国士兵穿红色军上衣)的发音更接近当代美国口音而不是女王时期的标准英语。

It is the standard British accent that has drastically changed in the past two centuries, while the typical American accent has changed only subtly.

在过去的两个世纪，标准的英国口音已发生巨大变化，而典型的美国口音则只有微妙改变。

Traditional English, whether spoken in the British Isles or the American colonies, was largely "rhotic." Rhotic speakers pronounce the "R" sound in such words as "hard" and "winter," while non-rhotic speakers do not. Today, however, non-rhotic speech is common throughout most of Britain. For example, most modern Brits would tell you it's been a "hahd wintuh."

传统英语，无论是在英伦三岛或美国殖民地，其发音大部分都带有“卷舌音” 。带卷舌音的人在说"hard(艰难)" 和"winter(冬季)" 这类词时，总是发出“R”音，而不带卷舌音的人则不然。然而今天，在英国大部分地区，人们说话通常都不带卷舌音。例如，大部分现在英国人会跟你说，这是一个“hahd wintuh(严冬)”。