There was a time in history when it was put forward that grammatically, persons should be the preferred plural any time more than one person was referred to as a countable noun, and people should be preferred for uncountable nouns. That practice did not become standard, and nowadays, the plural persons is only considered correct in legal contexts and, occasionally, when deliberately referring to humans individually rather than collectively.
历史上曾有一段时间，在语法上，当“人”为可数名词时，persons应该是首选的复数形式，而“人”当不可数名词时应该是people。这种做法并没有成为标准，如今，复数persons只有在法律语境中才被认为是正确的，偶尔，当有意地指“人”为独立个体而不是集体时，persons也被认为是正确的。
PEOPLE和PERSONS
早先人们认为people和person的区别在于people是一般用法，而persons是具体用法。因此，人们提到聚集在一起的300人时会说people；而陪审团有12人则用persons。当时认为在指小范围的具体的人更应该用persons。
但对现在的大多数母语是英语的人来说，陪审团中有12个人说成12persons似乎有些乏味，以美式英语为母语的人会说陪审团有12 people。在这样的类似的语境中，“people”这个词已经被使用了很长时间，而且是更自然的表达方式。
总结
The plural of person should be people in the vast majority of contexts, although legalese uses the plural persons.
在绝大多数情况下，person的复数形式应该是people，尽管法律术语中使用的是persons。
To the modern reader or speaker of American English, persons seem a little unnatural or strained. It's understandable that the Associated Press and The New York Times recommend using people over persons except in quotations and set phrases.
对于现代美国英语的读者或讲话者来说，“人”的复数说成persons似乎有点不自然或牵强。美联社和纽约时报建议使用people而不是persons，除了在引用和固定短语中。所以，“三个人”更自然的说法应该是three people。今天的内容都学会了么？
