英语可以说one in five people吗

问题描述

一篇题为 My hometown 的书面表达中有这样一段话：
I was born in Changsha, which is the capital city of Hunan. Changsha lies in the east and central part of Hunan and has the Xiangjiang River running through it. It covers an area of 11,819 square kilometers and has a population of more than 6 million, about one in five people lives in the countryside.
我对其中的 on in five people 有点疑问。因为 people 是一个复数名词，表示“人们”，所以英语不可能说 one people。但是可以说 one in five people 吗？即用它来表示“五个人当中有一个人”的意思。请专家指教！

老师答疑

刘老师：

one in five people 完全可以说。people 与five 有关，one 是说“五个人当中的一个”。

one in five people，指人的比例数，意思是“五分之一的人”。five 后面接的名词，自然用复数。该名词词组在句中可以作主语或宾语，作主语时谓语动词用单复数均可。

又如：

One in five people said they would rather be on holiday than watch the game. 五分之一的人说，他们宁愿去度假，也不会观看比赛。

One in five people in the country are classed as poor.  这个国家每五人中就有一个人是穷人。

The desease affects one in five women. 每五个妇女就有一个人患有这种病。

In Beijing, for example, one in five children of school age is now obese. 比如说在北京，现在学龄儿童中有1/5肥胖。

In 2004 only one in five teachers passed the English-proficiency test. 2004年，只有五分之一的教师通过了英语水平测试。

One in five young teenagers suffer headaches at least once a week, say researchers. 研究人员称，五分之一的青少年遭受头痛之苦至少一星期一次。

此外，five 后面的名词，上下文所指若已清楚，可以省略，只说one in five 即可，例如：

And even then, one in five says they are so busy that they never have any time to go out and socialize. 即便如此，五分之一（的被调查者）称他们非常忙，以至于从来没有时间去参加社交活动。

以此类推，我们可以说：one in three people, one in ten students 等等。

此外，你提供的这篇作文，写得不错。但最后一句 about one in five people lives in the countryside. 中，句前用了逗号不妥，建议改为以下形式：

1. 把逗号改为分号，或句号，开头字母大写。

2. 保留逗号，用独立主格结构： about one in five people living in the countryside.