反问句、简短回答和追问

句末那个小尾巴（isn't it? / will you?）叫反意疑问句。它总是用 be、have、must、can、do 这类能放在一般疑问句开头的动词。尾巴往下降，说明说话人很有把握、知道对方会同意，并不是真的在问，而是在提醒对方。

To show you what we mean by question tags, here are some examples. Listen to David and Harriet, and repeat Harriet's part.

英国人最爱聊天气。陌生人冷得直哆嗦，你接一句 It is rather cold, isn't it?：is 上降，tag 也降，表示「可不是嘛」。注意 cold 后面不要停顿，逗号只是写出来的，听不出来。

As you know, the English love talking about the weather. Now you respond like Alan.

情景：你是医生。上个月有个病人来看咳嗽、打嗝、乏力、没胃口，你叮嘱他别抽烟、别喝酒、别累着、别吃甜食。现在他又来了，你一听就知道他没听话：You've been smoking again, haven't you? 尾巴降调，意思是「我早就猜到了」。

Now you are a doctor. Last month a patient came to you complaining of a cough, hiccups, tiredness and a very poor appetite, so you told him not to smoke, not to drink, not to overwork and not to eat sweets. Sarah will do the first one.

叮嘱、警告别人时，后面加的 won't you / will you 也用降调：前半句是命令，尾巴降下来，语气是「听见没」，比光说命令句更有人情味。

The same falling intonation is used on won't you and will you after orders and warnings. Listen and repeat.

尾巴也常常升调。升调的意思正好相反：说话人自己没把握，真的在问对方。Watkins 先生今天格外健忘，他的尾巴全往上扬。

Tags very often rise, too. Listen to Mr Watkins, who is more than usually forgetful today, and repeat his part.

前面的尾巴都是「前肯定后否定」或「前否定后肯定」。不存在「否定 + 否定」，但有「肯定 + 肯定」：Oh, so he's still writing to you, is he? 这种尾巴一律升调，表示非常感兴趣，有时还带点讽刺。

All the tags so far have been negative-positive or positive-negative. But although negative-negative never occurs, we do find positive-positive tags.

另一种常见的升调尾巴就是 Alan 刚才说的 Let's …, shall we?：提个建议，再用升调的 shall we? 征求对方意见。I'll … / We'll … 后面也常加 shall I? / shall we?。

The other common type of rising tag is used as Alan used it a bit earlier.

别把反意疑问句和真正的短问句搞混。I'm hungry. Are you? 里主语变了（I → you），是真心问对方「你呢？」，所以 you 上先降后升。

Now a word of warning: do not confuse question tags with true short questions. Sarah and Alan are just coming out of a concert.

回声问句：别人说了一件事，你用 Do I? / Have I? / Would he? 这样的短问句把它「弹」回去，意思相当于 Really?（真的吗？），表示有兴趣、听进去了。注意动词和主语都跟着对方的话变。

Next we will look at echo questions. Listen to Alan and Sarah again, talking about Sarah's tiredness, but in a rather different way.

有时光表示有兴趣还不够。侦探听到重要线索时说 Is there? / Has she?，声音先猛地升高再降下来（先升后降），表示「哦？这可有意思了」，常带点怀疑、讽刺或幽默；也可以用来表示「真厉害」。

Sometimes we need to show more than just interest. A detective is interviewing Miss Roke about an office break-in.

简短回答：We should. / We didn't. / It is. 用来回答问题、同意或反驳别人的话。重读和降调落在助动词上（should、didn't、is），主语轻轻带过。

As you see, these echo questions look like questions, but really they are not. Now for something that does not even look like a question: the short answer. Listen and repeat Harriet's part.

简短回答前面常加 Yes 或 No：Yes, I can. 这里有两个干脆的降调，Yes 降一次，can 再降一次，两部分要连起来说，中间别停。

We often add Yes or No, like this.

另一种简短回答：别人问「谁……？」，你答 I have. / I do. / I am.。这时重要的是「谁」，所以降调落在 I（或 my sister、the moon 这类主语）上，后面的动词轻轻带过。

Now listen to a rather different kind of short answer.

对方说「全都……」「都不……」（all、both、none、nobody），你只同意一部分：My mother doesn't. / I do.。这里用先降后升：主语上降、助动词上升，意思是「你说的不全对」。

Now listen to Sarah and Alan.

最后一种简短回答是直接反驳：No, they don't. / Yes, we do.。Yes / No 上降，后面的助动词再往上扬（先降后升），表示「不对，事实正相反」。

There is only one more important kind of short answer: the contradiction. I say fizzy lemonade is good for you, and you say it is poison; in other words, direct disagreement. Listen to Mr Watkins and Miss Roke, and repeat her part.