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Hello! Our question for today on Ask a Teacher comes from a reader in China.
大家好! 今天《名师答疑》的问题来自一位中国读者。
Dear VOA team, I happened to find a question that I'm confused about.
亲爱的美国之音团队，我碰巧发现了一个让我困惑的问题。
When I was surfing the web, I found "historic" and "historical" are both adjectives.
我上网时，发现historic和historical都是形容词。
Are there any differences between them?
它们之间有什么不同吗？
Can you explain how to use them?
你能解释一下如何使用这两个词吗？
Thanks. Best regards, Albert, China.
谢谢。致以最好的问候，艾伯特，来自中国。
Dear Albert, this is an interesting question.
亲爱的艾伯特，这是一个有趣的问题。
The differences between these two words have grown over the years not based on their grammatical form, but on how people have used them.
这两个词并不是基于它们的语法形式，而是基于用法而逐渐产生差异的。
So, let’s start by taking a look at what the Merriam-Webster online dictionary says about the ways people use the words.
所以，让我们先来看看“韦伯在线词典”对这两个词的用法有什么解释。
The word “historic” is used for important and famous events in history.
historic用来指历史上重要且著名的事件。
Here are two examples of that use.
这里有两个例子说明了这种用法。
The weather reporter warned of a big storm coming that will be of historic proportions.
气象记者警告说，一场可以载入历史的大型风暴即将到来。
Will you come to Washington, D.C. and be part of this historic event?
你会来华盛顿特区并参与这一见证历史的事件吗？
In these two examples, we see “historic” used for a storm and for a gathering.
在这两个例子中，我们看到historic用于表示暴风雨和聚会。
The word “historic” might also appear when people talk about sports.
当人们谈论体育运动时，这个词也可能出现。
You can also see the word used to describe places.
你还可以看到这个词用来描述地方。
In the United States, we have an organization that has information on important places, for example, the home of a former president.
在美国，有一个组织收录了许多重要地点的信息，例如某位前总统的住所。
Here is a statement using that phrase, “historic places.”
下面这份声明就使用了“历史名胜”这个短语。
That home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
那所房子被列入《国家历史名胜名录》。
And many local organizations fix up old buildings that are part of their town’s history.
许多当地组织修复了地方历史遗存的一些古老建筑。
This process is called “historic preservation.”
这个过程被称为“历史保护”。
In this neighborhood, homeowners care a lot about historic preservation.
在这个社区，房主非常关心历史保护。
Moving on to the word “historical,” we find it used to describe history, as in “the historical record.”
接着讲historical这个词，这个词被用来描述历史，比如“历史记录”。
It appears more often than the word “historic” and also appears with words like perspective, literature, and analysis.
historical比historic更常见，也常与视角、文献和分析等词一起出现。
Here are some examples.
这里有一些例子。
Historical evidence suggests wolves are both man’s best friend and his worst enemy.
历史证据表明，狼既是人类最好的朋友，也是人类最大的敌人。
Isabel Allende wrote many works of historical fiction.
伊莎贝尔·阿连德写了许多历史小说。
To sum up, if the thing itself is important or famous, you would probably use “historic” with it.
总而言之，如果一件事本身很重要或很有名，一般要用historic。
If the thing you are talking about relates to history, something real in the past, use the word “historical.”
如果你谈论的是与历史有关的事情，或者是发生在过去的真实的事情，那就用historical。
I hope this clarifies the use of these two words for you, Albert.
希望这样能为你解释清楚这两个词的用法，艾伯特。
And that’s Ask a Teacher for this week.
以上就是本周《名师答疑》。
I’m Jill Robbins.
我是吉尔·罗宾斯。
