不说还真不知道：15条有趣的英语小知识

8. The phrase 'rule of thumb' is derived from and old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
词组“rule of thumb”（经验法则），是从一条古老的英国法律中来的，即：不能用超过大拇指粗细的东西打老婆。

9. The longest word in the English language is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconioses!
英语中最长的单词是“pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconioses”（硅酸盐沉着病）！

10. More people in China speak English than in the United States.
会说英语的中国人比会说英语的美国人还多。

11. The word "listen" contains the same letters as "silent."
单词“listen”（听）和“silent”（安静的）用到了一样的字母。

12. Hoover vacuum cleaners were so popular in the UK that many people now refer to vacuuming as hoovering.
胡佛真空吸尘器在英国曾经非常流行，到现在很多人还把“vacuuming”（吸尘）说成“hoovering”（胡佛ing…）。

13. Stressed is Desserts spelled backwards.
“Stressed”（压力）倒过来拼就是“Desserts”（点心）。

14. The most used letter in the English alphabet is 'E', and 'Q' is the least used!
英语中使用最多的字母是“E”，用得最少的是“Q”。

15. Ernest Vincent Wright wrote a novel, "Gadsby", which contains over 50,000 words -- none of them with the letter E!
作家厄尔尼斯特·文森特·莱特曾经写过一篇5万字的小说《葛士比》，里面没有一个字母“E”！