Million和Millions的区别

下面哪一句是对的？

A: New Zealand has a population of over four millionpeople

B: New Zealand has a population of over four millionspeople

第一句 (A)是对的，而第二句 (B) 是错的。为什么呢？

English students often get confused about when to put an S on the end of words like hundred, thousand, and million. Below are the rules:

学英语的同学经常会对于什么时候在hundred, thousand和million这类词后加s感到迷惑。

下面是一些规则：

Million

When we have large numbers or a specific number, we do NOT put an S at the end of hundred, thousand, and million.

当我们有些大数或者一个具体的数字，我们不在hundred, thousand和million这类词后加s。

我们会说five thousand (正确)

而非five thousands (错误).

Sometimes we say a hundred instead of one hundred and a thousand instead of one thousand (and the same for a million).

有时我们会用a hundred，而不是one hundred；用a thousand，而非one thousand（million也一样）。

Remember, when we are talking about an exact number (e.g. one million, eight thousand, two hundred and sixty-four), we do not put an S on the end of any of the numbers.

记住，当我们在讨论一个精确的数字时（比如，one million, eight thousand, two hundred和sixty-four），我们不在这些数字末尾加s。

Millions

We can use an S at the end of hundreds, thousands, millions etc to express an approximate figure.

This gives people an idea of quantity but not a precise amount.

我们在hundreds, thousands, millions等词后使用s, 来表示大概的数字。

这能给人们一些数量的概念，而不是一个精确的量。

In addition hundreds/thousands/millions etc are often followed by of countable noun

另外，hundreds, thousands, millions等词也经常跟随着of 可数名词。

As we are using plurals here, you should never put A in front of hundreds, thousands or millions.

因为我们在这里用复数形式，所以永远不应在hundreds, thousands, millions等词前用A。

比较:

• He won a million dollars in the lottery（ 他在博彩中赢了100万美元）

  = He won exactly $1,000,000 （他整整赢了精确的$1,000,000）

• He won millions of dollars in the lottery （他在博彩中赢了好几百万美元）

  = He won an unspecified amount but it was in the millions. （他赢了不确定的美元数，但量级是百万。）

We often use hundreds/millions etc when we want to give the impression of ‘very many’ and we are often exaggerating, using the numbers as a figure of speech.

我们当有“非常多”的印象时，经常使用hundreds/millions等；有时我们也会用夸张的手法，这些数字就成为一种修辞手段。

比如：

I went camping in Australia and returned with hundreds of mosquito bites!

This is obviously an exaggeration but it gives the impression of very many.

这明显是一种夸张，但给人一种非常多的印象。

I went camping in Australia and returned with one hundred mosquito bites.

This gives an impression that you literally have one hundred bites on your body. It sounds like you counted them since it is a specific number.

这句话给人一种印象：你身上确实有一百个叮咬点。这听起来像是你数了它们，因为这是一个具体的数字。