a和the

冠词是学习英语时很容易忽略却有很大学问的一类单词。芷兮也对 a和the的区分纠结过很久，经常问些可笑的问题。比如，“老师，你怎么知道写这句话的人想用哪个冠词呢？”

还记得昨天Charlie 的故事吗？今天小编就揭秘他给老妈写的信。劳烦大家便读边思考，冠词在里面的使用方式。

Dear Mom,

I am writing to you to have a discussion about my future. I am now 16 and will choose a college in just two years. Questions such as “What do I want to do in the future?” and “How do people go about their business (做自己的事) in the society?” keep floating around in my mind.

Perhaps I can be a writer of best-sellers. Or perhaps I will be a waiter in a restaurant and rely on unpredictable tips (小费) to scrape by (勉强过活) and make a living.Those might seem very far into the future.

But I also realize that in two years, my life will be filled with the questions that I just asked. Right now, I am still under your protection. You make all my decisions for me. For example, you hire the math tutor because you think a tutor will help me with my test scores. But it turns out that I know more about math than the tutor.

I am very blessed(幸运的) to have a mother like you. But one day, I will be making all my own decisions and how will I do that if every detail of my life is planned by you? I hope that perhaps in the next family meeting, you can start letting me take more control over my life.

Love,
Charlie.

Charlie真是一个好会说话的小孩，能把自己的不满转化成感恩。看完他的信，大家对a和the的不同打开方式有没有一点体会呢？

a 被语法“业界”称为不定冠词，说白了就是因为 a 后面的名词不能确定地特指某一个人或某一个事。例如，Charlie 说自己要去上大学，要当作家，或者在一个餐厅里做服务生，而Charlie 的妈妈认为聘请家教是一件好事，

但到底是哪一个大学，哪一位家教，哪一家餐厅呢？没有人知道。就连作家和服务生这两个职位也是Charlie的幻想。这些事情飘飘渺渺，神神秘秘，所以只需要一个小小的“a”。

相反的，the 则被业界称为定冠词。也就是说，跟在the后面的词是一个更加具体的存在，对于听者和说话者来说都是。

Charlie提到的未来，是他自己的未来，不是随意任何人的未来；
他提到的math tutor，是已经被麻麻聘请到的tutor，不是any tutor；
他所讲的家庭会议，是即将发生的下一次会议，而不是any会议。

当他提到"my life will be filled with the questions that I just asked", 这里的questions 也是前文提到的questions，不是任何一个随意的question。

这些事情有血有肉，无法被别的同类事物替代。甚至对于听者来说，有些词语也在信的前面有出现过，可以在听者内心产生认同感。只有the能承担这样的重任。

所以，关于 a和the的区别，是不是就像是陌生人和朋友的区别一样呢。

下面我们就来做一下练习，看看自己理解多少。
小练习
It was ___ cold winter night and the moon was shining brightly across ___ night sky.
A. /, a
B. a, the
C. the, a
Washing machines made by China have won worldwide attention and Haier has become ___ popular name.
A. a
B. the
C. /
Take your time, it’s just a short distance from here to ___ restaurant.
A. a
B. the
C. /
考试真题
关于冠词的知识点，高考一直非常关注，小编给大家一些例子：

The parents were shocked by the news that their son needed an operation on his knees. (2013， 重庆高考)

Some people fear that air pollution may bring about changes in the weather around the world. (2009，江西高考)

This area has experienced the heaviest rainfall in the month of May. (2009, 辽宁高考)