the English就是表示“英国人”。如:

The English love tea. 英国人喜欢喝茶。

The English do not drink much wine. 英国人不喝很多酒。

The English have a wonderful sense of humour. 英国人有很强的幽默感。

The criticism that the English do not truly care about their children was oftenvoiced.

常有人指责英国人并不真正关心自己的子女。

We came from the English tradition of not being demonstrative.

我们继承了英国人轻易不表露感情的传统。

It seemed to some observers that the English had a mania for travelling

在某些观察家看来,英国人对旅行似乎抱有一种狂热。

His taste strikes the English as very French

他的品位让英国人觉得他是个地道的法国人。

English表示语言或表示学科的语言名词前习惯上不加冠词还有,当需要特指时,English前要用定冠词。如:

the English he has learned 他学过的英语(重要五颗星)

下面的试题,可以说the English吗?请看:

_________ is his favorite subject, but he doesn’t know _________ for “gongzhuo”.

A. English, English B. The English, the English

C. English, the English D. The English, English

【分析】此题容易误选A,认为表示语言的名词前是不用冠词的。的确,英语中表示语言或表示学科的语言名词前习惯上不加冠词,但是它若表示语言中的对应词语时,说白了就是特指语言中某一些某一个语言或知识等时,则其前习惯上要用定冠词,因此,最佳答案选C。

又如:

What’s the Chinese for “work”(work 用汉语怎么说)?

The term Wissenschaft has a much broader meaning than the English word'science'.

Wissenschaft这个术语比英语词science含义更广。

《柯林斯高阶英汉双解学习词典》

另外,在 the English language, the French language 这类带有 language 的表达中也通常要用冠词。或表示语言的词汇后有其他名词的一般也加冠词;如:

He collaborated with his son Michael on the English translation of a text on foodproduction

他和儿子迈克尔合作,把一篇介绍食品生产的文章译成了英文。

Such a system would be a fundamental blow to the rights and liberties of theEnglish people.

这样一种制度将对英国人民的权利与自由造成根本性的打击。

We found the English treacle pudding too good to resist. Sure enough, it was delicious

我们觉得英国糖蜜布丁太好吃了,令人无法抗拒。的确非常美味。

Our legal system inherited laws from the English system.

我们的司法体系沿袭了英国的法律体系。

She was a master of the English language

她是英文高手。

顺便说一句,语言名词前习惯上不用物主代词,所以“谁教你们的英语”不能译为 Who teaches your English? 而应译为 Who teaches you English?(此句 teach 后接的 you 和 English 为双宾语) 但是,当表示语言的名词表示某人使用语言的能力和水平时,则可用物主代词,如可说:

My English is not as good as his.

我的英语学得不如他好。

My English cannot compare with his.

我的英语不及他。

His English is rusty.

他的英语丢荒了。

His English is really excellent.; His English is perfect.

他的英语真过得硬。

Her English pronunciation is passable.

她的英语发音还说得过去。

以上5例摘自《汉英大词典》

While her English was correct, it was peppered with French phrases

她的英语语法上没错,但是里面夹杂着很多法语短语。

Where did you pick up your English?

你在哪儿学的英语?

His Arabic was not as good as his English, but serviceable enough

他的阿拉伯语没有他的英语好,但是够用了。

以上3例摘自《柯林斯高阶英汉双解学习词典》

the English只能表示“英国人”吗