Hello! Our question for today on Ask a Teacher comes from a reader in Brazil.
你好！我们今天关于“请教老师”的问题来自巴西的一位读者。
I have an easy question. Why does Sir Elton John use “don’t” and not “doesn’t” in the song This Train Don't Stop There Anymore ?
我有一个简单的问题。为什么埃尔顿·约翰爵士在歌曲《This Train Don’t Stop There Anymore》中使用“don't”而不是“doesn’t”？
Luiz, Brazil
路易斯，巴西
That’s a great question. As an English teacher, I often hear things in songs that do not follow grammar rules. Sometimes, I believe it is because the songwriter wants to speak in a way that is used by another community. Also, informal , or everyday, language is often not completely grammatical.
这是一个很好的问题。作为一名英语老师，我经常听到歌曲中不符合语法规则的东西。有时，我相信这是因为歌曲作者想要以另一个社区使用的方式说话。此外，非正式的或日常的语言通常并不完全符合语法。
Songwriting partners
歌曲创作合作伙伴
Let’s look at some of the words of This Train Don’t Stop There Anymore . It appears in a collection of songs called Songs from the West Coast , published in 2001. The songwriter Bernie Taupin co-wrote this and many other songs with Elton John. Taupin wrote the words and John wrote the music. Taupin said he was always interested in “Americana,” the culture and history of America, and in country and western music. That helps explain the images and language he put into this song.
让我们看一下《这列火车不再停在那里》中的一些话。它出现在 2001 年出版的名为《西海岸之歌》的歌曲集中。词曲作者伯尼·陶平 (Bernie Taupin) 与埃尔顿·约翰 (Elton John) 共同创作了这首歌曲和许多其他歌曲。陶平作词，约翰作曲。陶平说，他一直对“美国”、美国的文化和历史以及乡村和西方音乐感兴趣。这有助于解释他在这首歌中加入的图像和语言。
In the first part, the singer says he does not believe in miracles anymore and has lost strong feelings about romantic love. The second part brings in images of an old kind of train:
在第一部分中，歌手说他不再相信奇迹，并且已经失去了对浪漫爱情的强烈感觉。第二部分引入了一种老式火车的图像：
I used to be the main express All steam and whistles heading west Picking up my pain from door to door Riding on the storyline, furnace burning overtime But this train don't stop This train don't stop This train don't stop there anymore
我曾经是主快车 所有的蒸汽和汽笛都向西 挨家挨户地拾取我的痛苦 骑在故事情节上，炉子超时燃烧 但这列火车不会停下 这列火车不会停下 这列火车不再在那里停留
The singer tells us of the strong emotions he once had by comparing them to a fast, or express , train. The high, sharp sound of a train warning people of its approach is called a whistle. Old trains used to be powered by steam engines that let out whistles as they passed through towns.
这位歌手向我们讲述了他曾经拥有的强烈情感，将它们比作一列快速的火车。火车警告人们即将驶近时发出的高亢尖锐的声音称为汽笛。旧火车过去由蒸汽机提供动力，在穿过城镇时会发出汽笛声。
If we connect these words to the earlier part of the song, we can get a picture in our mind of a lonely, isolated place. A town where the train no longer stops is usually a quiet place with little activity. We can suppose that town is like the singer’s heart.
如果我们将这些词与歌曲的前半部分联系起来，我们的脑海中就会浮现出一个孤独、与世隔绝的地方的画面。火车不再停靠的城镇通常是一个安静的地方，几乎没有什么活动。我们可以假设那个小镇就像歌手的心。
My understanding of the song is that the singer is saying he no longer wants to be in love because the feeling is too strong. Continuing the image of the train, he sings,
我对这首歌的理解是歌手在说他不再想恋爱了，因为这种感觉太强烈了。继续火车的形象，他唱道：
It really means my engine's breaking down
这确实意味着我的引擎坏了
This Train Don't Stop There Anymore lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
This Train Don't Stop There Anymore 歌词 © 环球音乐出版集团