双语 | 愁坏英国人的九九乘法表 英文怎么念？

据多家英媒报道，从3月份起，英国将对29所小学的8-9岁的4年级学生进行乘法表测试。不仅如此，这项测试还将于2020年在全英国普及。

报道称，此次推行的乘法表，是在中国“九九乘法表”的基础上改成了更适合英国学生的“12*12乘法表”，英国教育部决定让英国学生在小学毕业前完全背会。

Tests to check whether eight- and nine-year-olds know their times tables will be trialled in some primary schools in England next month before being rolled out nationally.

3月份，英格兰的部分小学将开展针对8-9岁儿童是否了解乘法表的测试，随后这项测试将在全国推广。

The test, which ministers hope will improve pupils’ numeracy, will become mandatory in 2020 for all year 4 students.

英国部长们希望通过乘法表测试提高学生的计算能力，到2020年，乘法表将成为四年级学生的必测内容。

The government says the on-screen test, which assesses knowledge of the times tables up to 12, will last no longer than five minutes and has been designed to avoid causing additional stress for children and teachers.

官方表示，考试内容是12以内数字的乘法表记忆，考试时间不超过5分钟，以免给孩子和教师带来额外压力。

The idea of a multiplication test was first raised in the 2015 Conservative manifesto, and was originally intended for 11-year-olds. The numeracy skills of students in England lag behind those of their peers in east and south-east Asia.

乘法测试的想法最初是在2015年保守党宣言中提出的，起初针对的是11岁儿童。英国学生的计算能力落后于东亚和东南亚的同龄人。

The tests will reinforce the “mastery” approach to maths which is favoured by schools in Shanghai and Singapore and is gradually being introduced in English schools. In the most recent Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, England’s mean score was 546, compared with Singapore’s 618.

这种能够强化掌握数学技能的测试，在上海和新加坡的学校中受到青睐，并逐渐被引入到英国的学校。在最新的国际数学与科学趋势研究中，英国的平均分是546分，而新加坡的平均分为618分。 

Nick Brook, the deputy general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: “Although school results won’t be published, this government test will be scrutinised by Ofsted when they visit and therefore become even more significant.

英国校长协会副秘书长尼克·布鲁克说：“虽然学校不会公布学生的成绩，但政府组织的这项测试将受到英国教育标准办公室的实地监督核查，因此而显得愈发重要。”

The tests will be tried out in a sample of schools this spring before being made available on a voluntary ba 44 33603 44 14941 0 0 3102 0 0:00:10 0:00:04 0:00:06 3102sis next year, and then compulsory the following year.

该测试将于今年春季在试点学校试行，明年将基于自愿推行，后年将全面义务普及。

Yee君尤其注意到，中国小朋友信口拈来的乘法表，似乎给英国小朋友、家长和老师带来不小的压力——对于即将迎来的乘法表测试，有英国老师表示“这会给学生增加压力”，也有英国家长表示“不要干扰我们的教育体系了，重新回到40年前的状态吧” … 而其实考试时间不超过5分钟… 

不过，说来也是，这张一下让英国人“方”了的小小表格，看似简单，实则博大精深，已经有几千年历史了，快跟Yee君踏上学习之路吧~~

什么是乘法表？

In mathematics, a multiplication table (sometimes, less formally, a times table) is a mathematical table used to define a multiplication operation for an algebraic system.

乘法表，是在数学中用于定义一个数系中的乘法运算的数学用表。

The decimal multiplication table was traditionally taught as an essential part of elementary arithmetic around the world, as it lays the foundation for arithmetic operations with base-ten numbers. Many educators believe it is necessary to memorize the table up to 9 × 9.

十进制乘法表曾在世界各地被用作四则运算的基础教学，为十进制算法提供了基础。许多教育工作者认为记住九九乘法表是十分有必要的。

乘法表是如何演化的？

The oldest known multiplication tables were used by the Babylonians about 4000 years ago. However, they used a base of 60. The oldest known tables using a base of 10 are the Chinese decimal multiplication table on bamboo strips dating to about 305 BC, during China's Warring States period.

目前已知最古老的乘法表是约4000年前巴比伦人使用的，但他们采用的是十六位进制。目前已知最古老的十进制表是约公元前305年中国战国时期写在竹简上的十进制乘法表。

The multiplication table is sometimes attributed to the ancient Greek mathematician Pythagoras (570–495 BC). It is also called the Table of Pythagoras in many languages. The Greco-Roman mathematician Nichomachus (60–120 AD), included a multiplication table in his Introduction to Arithmetic, whereas the oldest surviving Greek multiplication table is on a wax tablet dated to the 1st century AD and currently housed in the British Museum.

有人认为乘法表出自古希腊数学家毕达哥拉斯（公元前570-前495）之手，很多语言中还称之为“毕达哥拉斯表”。希腊罗马数学家尼科马霍斯（公元60-120）在其所著的《算术入门》中收录了一份乘法表，不过现存最古老的希腊乘法表是刻在一块蜡板上的，可追溯到公元1世纪，目前收藏于大英博物馆。

▲毕达哥拉斯乘法表

In 493 AD, Victorius of Aquitaine wrote a 98-column multiplication table which gave (in Roman numerals) the product of every number from 2 to 50 times and the rows were "a list of numbers starting with one thousand, descending by hundreds to one hundred, then descending by tens to ten, then by ones to one."

公元493年，法国阿基坦的Victorius制作了一个有98列的乘法表，用罗马数字给出了每个数分别乘以2-50的结果。横排从1000开始，往下依次取900-100之间的整百数、90-10之间的整十数和9-1之间的整数。

In his 1820 book The Philosophy of Arithmetic, mathematician John Leslie published a multiplication table up to 99 × 99, which allows numbers to be multiplied in pairs of digits at a time. Leslie also recommended that young pupils memorize the multiplication table up to 25 × 25. The illustration below shows a table up to 12 × 12, which is a size commonly used in schools.

数学家约翰·莱斯利在其1820年著作《算术的哲学》中发表了一份99 × 99乘法表，每次可以查询一组数字相乘的结果。莱斯利还建议小学生记忆25 × 25的乘法表，下图所示为学校普遍采用的12 × 12规格乘法表（节选自约翰·莱斯利99 × 99乘法表——译者注）。 

中国的乘法表

在中国，用于基本算术教育的乘法表只包含了上表中从1×1到9×9的部分，所以通常被称作“九九表”，又称九因歌。

The Chinese multiplication table consists of eighty-one sentences with four or five Chinese characters per sentence, making it is easy for children to learn by heart. A shorter version of the table consists of only forty-five sentences, as terms such as "nine eights beget seventy-two" are identical to "eight nines beget seventy-two" so there is no need to learn them twice.

中国的乘法表由81句话组成，每句4-5个字，便于儿童背诵。简短的版本只有45字，将调换乘数顺序的归在一起，如“八九七十二”和“九八七十二”，这样一来就无需重复记忆。

A bundle of 21 bamboo slips dated 305 BC in the Warring States period in the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips collection is the world's earliest known example of a decimal multiplication table.

“清华简”是清华大学收藏的一批战国书简，其中一捆21片竹简可追溯至公元前305年，是世界上最早为人所知的十进制乘法表范例。

▲世界上最早的十进位乘法表《清华简算表》

▲《清华简算表》演算22×35示意图

那么，了解了这些历史背景，有一个问题就产生了：用中文读起来郎朗上口的乘法表，传到英国后，如何用英语读呢？对此，文中有了一个示例：

nine eights beget seventy-two（八九七十二）

还有外国网友表示他们是这么读的，因为这个网友说他小时候学的是这样的

Once two is two（一二得二）
Two twos are four（二二得四）
Three twos are six（二三得六）
Four twos are eight（二四得八）
……

或者：
One times two is two（一二得二）
Two times two is four（二二得四）
Three times two is six（二三得六）
……

或者：
Three ones are three（一三得三）
Two threes are six（二三得六）
Three threes are nine（三三得九）
……

好像都不如中文读起来上口~~那么，你认为用英文怎么读更简洁实用？欢迎点击右下角“写留言”，分享你的看法~~

注意啦，好消息！在公众号对话框回复“号内搜”，获取链接，可以快捷搜索“译·世界”号内任意信息~

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