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LONDON — It can be as insignificant as the slide from “oops” to “whoops.” It can be as blunt as the shift from “restroom” to “toilet.” It can be no more than the adaptation from “good job” to “well done.” But whatever precisely it is, the adjustment from American to English is momentous. A new nation was born in 1776, and a new language was born with it. 伦敦——从英语到美语的转变，有时是“哎呦”的说法从“oops”变成“whoops”一样不起眼，有时是把“厕所”从“restroom”变成“toilet”一样的天壤之别。它也可以像把“干得漂亮”的说法从“good job”变成“well done”一样，只是改编一下。但无论具体是怎样，这都是一个重大转变。一个新的国家在1776年诞生之际，一门新的语言也随之诞生了。 Having become an American, I returned to England a few years back after an absence of 31 years. I expected to speak the language. I was wrong. Somewhere in the interim the letter aitch had become “haitch,” with the result that spelling out my family name (surname) was painful. You had somehow morphed into the ghastly reflexive “yourself,” as in, “And for yourself?” 几年前，已经成为美国人的我回到了阔别31年的英国。我打算说英国话来着。但我错了。在我离开的31年间，字母H在某些地方的发音已经从“哎吃”(aitch)变成了“嗨吃”(haitch)，致使我很难读出自己的姓氏。“You”（你）不知怎地已经演变成了可怕的反身词“yourself”（你自己）。例如，“And for yourself?”（那你自己呢？） | 
