What's the most beautiful word in the English language? Different people, using various criteria, will give a slew of answers。

英語中最美麗的英語單詞是哪個?這個評定標準真可謂百家爭鳴、答案不一。

Surveying more than 7,000 English speakers in 46 countries, the British Council decided on "mother" — an unglamorous word, yet one that conveys comfort and the deepness of human relationships. Others on their list include concepts, like "liberty" and "tranquility," or expressions, as in "smile."

英國文化委員會對46個國家7000多個說英語的人做了調查，最后決定選擇"mother"(母親)一詞，這是一個很單調不浪漫、但卻傳達了舒適感和人際關系的深度的單詞。其他上榜的還包括概念性詞匯，如"liberty"(自由)、"tranquility(寧靜)，表情類詞匯如"smile"(微笑)。

Robert Beard, a former linguistics professor at Bucknell University, also created his own list of beautiful words. Through careful research, he determined 100 English words that people seem to like most though may not use frequently. Some eccentric yet notable words include ailurophile, inglenook, and Susquehanna。

巴克內爾大學語言學前教授羅伯特-比爾德，也列出了自己認為很美麗的單詞列表。他通過仔細研究，確定了大概100個人們可能最喜歡但并不常用的英語單詞。其中不乏有一些讓人感覺怪異卻引人注目的單詞包括：ailurophile(極愛貓的人)、inglenook(火爐邊)、Susquehanna(薩斯奎漢納——美國東海岸的一條主要河流)。

While you might consider these words beautiful without knowing what they mean, linguist David Crystal says it's impossible to separate sounds entirely from their meaning. Words with positive connotations, like birds and flowers, naturally make us happy, while darker words, like "peril," instill less positive feelings。

你可能會認為這些單詞優美動聽，卻不知道這些單詞是什么意思，語言學家大衛-克里斯特爾說，單詞發音不可能完全與單詞含義劃分開。隱含著正面含義的單詞，像鳥類和鮮花，自然讓我們感到快樂;而比較晦暗的單詞，像“peril”(危險)，給人一種不那么積極正面的感受。

But even Crystal can't deny some patterns appear based just on sound; humans simply find some sounds more pleasing than others. By analyzing the consonant and vowel sounds that appear in language the most and least frequently, Crystal created certain criteria that compose the most beautiful words。

但是就算是語言學家克里斯特爾也無法否認，有一些模式只是跟聲音有關;人們就是會覺得有些聲音比其他的更好聽。通過分析在語言中出現頻率最多和最少的輔音和元音，克里斯特爾對于最美麗的單詞組成制定了一些標準：

For example, the word "tremulous" fits every category. The word contains more than three syllables, with the stress on the first. It uses "m" and "l" — letters we seem to enjoy pronouncing. It uses other consonants that appear in English with high frequency but eliminates those with low frequency. It also uses only short vowels, articulated in a mid or low position, in the front of the mouth。

例如，"tremulous"(顫抖的)這個單詞適用于每個范疇。這個詞有三個以上的音節，重音在第一個音節上。它使用了“m”和“l”，這些字母是我們喜歡發音的。這個單詞同樣用到了英語中其他出現頻率很高的輔音，而摒棄了使用頻率較低的輔音字母。

The chart also gives examples of other nice words。

這個圖表中也列出了其它優美動聽的單詞。

Despite these trends, personal preferences also play into whether "mother" sounds more beautiful than "inglenook," and "tremulous."

不過拋開這些語音趨勢，"mother" 是否比"inglenook" 和"tremulous" 聽起來更優美，個人喜好也發揮了很大作用。

Personally, I like "hullabaloo."

就我自己而言，我喜歡"hullabaloo"(吵吵鬧鬧)這個單詞。

(來源：滬江英語)