每日一词学英语(60): spelling bee

Believe、receive等词我经常写错，把“i”和“e”的次序搞反，其实早有一句话用于记忆：“i before e except after c”。不过，it applies only to words in which the ie or ei stands for a clear ee sound. Unless this is known, words such as sufficient and veil look like exceptions。还有更多例外，如eight, feisty, foreign, heinous, protein and seize。

对想参加spelling bee的孩子来说，上述规则大概算小儿科了吧。Spelling bee是拼字比赛，a spelling competition where contestants, usually children, are asked to spell English words; the individual or team spelling the most words correctly wins (Wiktionary)。该比赛源于美国，现在也见于很多别的英语国家。

旁白：本博Alexa排名June 26, 2009首次突破900万，达868.8258万；June 27, 2009首次突破800万，达773.9430万。