This week we answer a question from Pakistan.
Shahid writes:
本周我们回答一个来自巴基斯坦的问题。
沙希德写道：
What is the difference between these terms: place, location, position, site and situation? Dear Shahid,
place，location，position，site和situation这几个词的区别是什么？亲爱的沙希德，
The five terms you gave are very close in meaning.
The English language often has more than one word to describe a similar idea or action.
你给出的这五个词的意思很接近。
英语中常常有不止一个词来描述相似的概念或行为。
The word "place" is used to describe an area that may not have an exact border.
In fact, it may not be a particular or special area.
"place"这个词被用来描述可能并无确切边界的区域。
事实上，它可能不是一个特殊区域。
Place is so general it could be a room, a building, a town, a country, or something else.
For example, in a news broadcast, I heard this sentence:
"Place"所表示的区域如此普遍，它可以是一个房间，一个建筑，一个城镇，一个国家，或其它地方。例如，在新闻广播中，我听到了这句话：
The beach is one of the safest places to be these days.
Official documents may ask for your "place of birth," which usually means a city and country.
海滩是当今最安全的地方之一。
官方文件可能会问你的"出生地"，那通常是指出生的城市和国家。
Have you ever been waiting in line but need to leave for a short period?
Then you might ask someone:
你是否曾在排队等候时需要离开一小段时间？
然后你可能会问某人：
Will you hold my place in line? This use of place is the same as how we use the word "position".
你能帮我占一下位置吗？"place"的这种用法和"position"这个词的用法相同。
Position means a specific point. The position of something is relative to other things.
"Position"是指一个特定的地点。用 position来表示某物的位置是相对于其它事物而言。
For example, in an auto race, the "pole position" is in the first row on the inside lane.
She earned the pole position for the race because she was the fastest driver this year.
例如，在一场汽车比赛中，"杆位"在内侧车道第一排。
她赢得了该比赛的杆位，因为她是今年最快的车手。
A position can also be a way of holding one's body, as in this example.
Most office workers spend the day in a sitting position.
"position"也可以是人们身体的保持方式，正如这个例子。
大多数办公室职员都是一坐一整天。
The word "location" is used to describe a specific point in physical space. For example:
"location"这个词被用来描述物理空间中的一个特定地点。例如：
The location of a business is very important to its success.
People who buy and sell homes and buildings often use the expression: Location, location, location!
企业的地理位置对其成功非常重要。
买卖房屋和建筑的人经常使用这种表达：位置，位置，还是位置！
That means a store on a busy street corner is more likely to be successful, and a house that is in a nice neighborhood will be easier to sell.
那意味着在繁华街头开一家商店更有可能成功，而位于好街区的房子更容易卖掉。
A related word is "site," which we can use for the present or past location of a building or an important event in history, as in:
与之相关的单词是"site"，我们可以用它来表示建筑物当前或过去的位置，或历史上的重要事件，例如：
This was the site of the first battle in the war.
We also use "site" to talk about the future location of a building or structure:
这是战争中首次战斗的地点。
我们还使用"site"来谈论建筑物的未来位置：
The mayor chose the site of the new memorial.
Finally, Shahid, you asked about the word "situation".
市长选定了新纪念碑的位置。
最后，沙希德，你问了"situation"这个词。
This is an old-fashioned and more formal, or official, way to talk about a place: The house is in a wonderful situation close to the water.
这种谈论地点的方式老式且更为正式：这座房子位置很好，傍水。
However, American English speakers generally no longer use this word when talking about specific places.
I hope these answers help when you want to use these five place terms.
然而，说美式英语的人在谈到特定地点时通常不再使用这个词。
我希望这些解答可以在你想要使用这五个表示位置的词时对你有帮助。
What questions do you have about English? Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews. com.
你有什么英语问题吗？发邮件给我们到learningenglish@voanews。com。
And that's Ask a Teacher for this week. I'm Jill Robbins.
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