单词 | 不必 |
释义 | 〔servomechanism〕"We do not need to know in detail how the minute chemical servomechanisms of the muscles operate in order to move our arms"(Harper's)“我们不必详细地知道在移动我们的手臂时肌肉的化学自动伺服机制的运作细节”(哈珀)〔flatwork〕Laundry, such as sheets and linens, that can be ironed by a mangle rather than by hand.机械熨烫件:洗涤时可用机械整理而不必手工熨烫的床单和衣服等织物〔save〕To refrain from a futile appeal or effort:不必白费劲:省去无用的请求或努力:〔sexualize〕"the thesis that one can sexualize life completely without ever bumping into responsibility"(Stephen Koch)“一种人可以使生活彻底情欲化而不必负责的理论”(斯蒂芬·科克)〔denturist〕A dental technician specializing in making and fitting dentures as a direct service to the public rather than through a licensed dentist.假牙师:一种牙科技术师,其专长在于制造和安装假牙,他可以直接为公众服务,而不必通过有执照的牙科医生〔unique〕Over the course of the centuryunique has become the paradigmatic example of the class of terms that do not allow comparison or modification by an adverb of degree such as very, somewhat, or quite. Thus, most grammarians believe that it is incorrect to say that something isvery unique or more unique than something else, though phrases such asnearly unique and almost unique are acceptable. In the most recent survey the sentenceHer designs are quite unique in today's fashion scene was unacceptable to 80 percent of the Usage Panel. · Critical objections to the comparison and degree modification of absolute terms date to the 18th centuryand have been applied to a wide group of adjectives includingequal, fatal, omnipotent, parallel, perfect, and unanimous. According to the standard argument, such words denote properties that a thing either does or does not have but cannot have to a qualifiable degree.Thus ifunique is properly used to mean "without equal or equivalent,” something either is unique or it isn't, and phrases such asvery unique and more unique can only betray a weakening of the sense to mean something like "unusual" or "distinctive.” It is true that comparison and modification ofunique are often associated with the style favored by copywriters, as in the advertisement announcing thatOmaha's most unique restaurant is now even more unique or in the claim that a new automobile is So unique, it's patented. But modification ofunique is also found in the work of reputable writers, where it may lack any connotations of hyperbole.A painting is described asthe most unique of Beckman's self-portraits, and a travel writer states thatChicago is no less unique an American city than New York or San Francisco. The relative acceptability of these usages reflects the semantic subtlety ofunique itself. If we were to useunique only according to the strictest criteria of logic, after all, we might freely apply the term to anything in the worldsince nothing is wholly equivalent to anything else.Clearly, then, when we say that a restaurant or painting is unique,we mean that it is worthy of inclusion in a class by itself according to certain implicit but generally accepted criteria.Thus a legitimately unique painting might be one that realizes an unparalleled aesthetic vision,but not one that is rendered only in pigments whose names begin with the lettero; and a legitimately unique restaurant might be one that serves 18th-century French cuisine according to the original recipes,not one that has been installed in a converted sardine cannery.Given this understanding, it is not inherently impossible to think of uniqueness as a matter of degree,in the sense that one painting or restaurant may be more or less worthy of inclusion in a class by itself than some other. ·What is troubling about the copywriters' use ofunique is not that the word has become a synonym for unusual. Rather, it is the copywriters who are using the word in conformity with strict logic.Uniqueness is claimed for a restaurant in virtue of some trivial properties of its decor or menu,or for a resort hotel that simply happens to have a singularly picturesque view of the bay.Though it may be true that such properties render these thingslogically unique, they do not constitute legitimate grounds for putting the things into a class by themselves according to the criteria ordinarily invoked when things are sorted into classes.In fact, the abuse ofunique can be cloying even when no modification or comparison is involved; when we read an advertisement for a line of sportswear that featuresa unique selection of colors, we may suspect that the distinctive properties of the color selection are not so remarkable as the advertiser would have us believe. But it is not surprising that these uses ofunique should lend themselves to promiscuous modification and comparison; for once it is granted that uniqueness can be claimed for any product or service that is somehow distinctive from all its competitors,it is inevitable that an increase in uniqueness will be seen in every minor innovation.See Usage Note at equal ,infinite ,parallel ,perfect 在本世纪整个过程中unique 已成为不能由程度副词,例 very、somewhat 或 quite, 比较或修饰的一类术语的例证。 因此,多数语法学家认为说某事是very unique 或 more unique than 是不正确的, 虽然短语例如nearly unique 和 almost unique 是可接受的。 在最近的调查中,句子Her designs are quite unique in today's fashion scene (她的设计在现今流行样式的场面中是很独特的) 对用法专题使用小组的百分之八十成员是不可接受的。 对纯粹术语的比较和程度修饰的主要异议可追述到18世纪,并已广泛用到许多形容词中,包括equal, fatal, omnipotent, parallel, perfect 和 unanimous。 根据标准论据,这些单词表示一事有或没有但不能有可修饰的程度的性质。于是如果unique 适当地用于表示“没有相等或相当的”,则某事是唯一的或不是唯一的, 而短语像very unique 和 more unique 仅能表露出说明某事像“不寻常的”或“独特的”的意义的减弱。 的确,unique 的比较和修饰常与撰稿人喜欢的文体相联系, 如在广告中称Omaha's most unique restaurant is now even more unique(奥马哈城的最独特的餐馆现在甚至是更加独特) 或声称新汽车是 So unique, it's patented(如此独特,它取得了专利权)。 但是unique 的修饰也在著名作家的作品中发现, 那里可能缺乏夸张法的任何涵义。描述一张油画为the most unique of Beckman's self-portraits(最独特的贝克曼的自画像), 一位旅游作家叙述Chicago is no less unique an American city than New York or San Francisco(芝加哥比纽约或旧金山是不逊独特的美国城市)。 这些用法的相对可接受性反映unique 自身语义的巧妙。 如果我们仅按照逻辑的严格标准使用unique , 则我们终于会自由地把此术语使用于世界上的任何事,因为没有完全等同于另一事的事。于是,显然当我们说餐馆或油画是独特的时,我们意味着根据某种隐含的但可普遍接受的判据它是值得包含在一个等级内的。于是合理独特的油画可能是实现空前未有的审美型的,而不是仅给予名字以字母O开始的颜料; 合理独特的餐馆可能根据原来的食谱提供18世纪法国菜肴的餐馆,而不是配备转换的沙丁鱼罐头食品的餐馆。按这样了解,将独特性视为程度问题不是本来就不可能的,在这个意义上一张油画或一个餐馆或多或少可能是极好的有价值的内涵物而不是其他。关于撰稿人使用unique 的困惑不是此单词已成为 unusual 的同义词。 相反地,正是撰稿人使用此单词与严密的逻辑相一致。对餐馆声称独特性是由于它的布置或菜单的某些不重要的性质,或者对于人们常去的旅馆仅因为有海湾的独一无二地别致的景象。虽然这样的性质使得这些事logically 独特的可能是真实的, 但是当事情进行了分类,根据平常实行的判据把这些事情自身放到一类,他们不组成正常的基础。事实上unique 的滥用会使人发腻,即使在没有涉及修饰或比较的时候; 当我们读运动服装的unique selection of colors(颜色的独特选择) 的一行广告时, 我们会怀疑颜色选择的独特性质并非广告商希望我们所认为的那么明显。但不必惊讶于unique 的这些用法应当适用于杂乱的修饰和比较; 就这一次可以承认,独特性能用来指任何产品或服务,它们与所有的竞争者相比较有某种程度的特色,在每一小的创新中可以看到独特性的增加是必然会发生的 参见 equal,infinite,parallel,perfect〔answer〕“ You don't need to worry about appearing too intelligent,” retorted his opponent. See also Synonyms at satisfy “ 你不必担心表现的过分机智”他的对手反驳道 参见同义词 satisfy〔chamber〕chambers A room in which a judge may consult privately with attorneys or hear cases not taken into court. chambers 内庭:法官与检察官私下讨论或听取不必在法庭上审讯的案件的房间〔so〕So is frequently used in informal speech to string together the elements of a narrative. This practice should not be carried over into formal writing,where the absence of contextual information generally requires that connections be made more explicit. ·Critics have sometimes objected to the use ofso as an intensive meaning "to a great degree or extent,” as inWe were so relieved to learn that the deadline had been extended. This usage is most common in informal contexts,perhaps because unlike the neutralvery, it presumes that the listener or reader will be sympathetic with the speaker's evaluation of the situation. (Thus one would be more apt to sayIt was so unfair of them not to invite you than to sayIt was so fortunate that I didn't have to put up with your company. ) For just this reason,the construction may occasionally be used to good effect in more formal contexts to invite the reader to take the point of view of the speaker or subject: 在非正式的讲话中,so 经常被用来连接叙述的成分。 但是这种做法不能带入正式的写作当中,上下文信息的缺乏通常要求连接明确。批评家们有些时候对so 被用来表示强调的意思“很大程度”提出反对, 如在我们得知最后期限已被推迟的消息时感到了极大的放松 中。 这种用法在非正式的文章中最常用,也许是因为和中性的very 不同, 它假定听众或读者能对讲话者对形势的评价引起共鸣。(因此人们通常会说他们没有邀请你是多么不公平 , 而不是说多幸运啊,我不必再成为你的朋友 )。 正因为这个原因,这个结构有时在正式的文章中也有很好的作用,使读者接受说话人或主题的观点: 〔out〕Used in two-way radio to indicate that a transmission is complete and no reply is expected.表示传讯结束:用作收发两用的无线电通讯术语来表明通话完毕且不必有有回复〔quinella〕A system of betting in which the bettor, in order to win, must pick the first two finishers of a race, but not necessarily in the correct sequence.赌前两名:一种赌博规则,为了获胜,赌博者必须挑选出比赛的前两名到达终点者,但不必按正确的顺序〔ax〕Ax, a common nonstandard variant of ask, is often identified as an especially salient feature of African American Vernacular English. While it is true that the form is frequent in the speech of African Americans, it used to be common in the speech of white Americans as well, especially in New England. This should not be surprising since ax is a very old word in English, having been used in England for over 1,000 years. In Old English we find both āscian and ācsian, and in Middle English both asken and axen. Moreover, the forms with cs or x had no stigma associated with them. Chaucer used asken and axen interchangeably, as in the lines "I wol aske, if it hir will be/To be my wyf" and "Men axed hym, what sholde bifalle,” both from The Canterbury Tales. The forms in x arose from the forms in sk by a linguistic process called metathesis, in which two sounds are reversed. The x thus represents (ks), the flipped version of (sk). Metathesis is a common linguistic process around the world and does not arise from a defect in speaking. Nevertheless, ax has become stigmatized as substandard—a fate that has befallen other words, like ain't, that were once perfectly acceptable in literate circles. ask 的一般非标准变体 ax 常被认为是美国黑人英语极为显著的特色。尽管美国黑人在交谈中的确使用ax这种形式,但美国白人也在口语中普遍使用它,尤其是新英格兰的白人。不必对此表示惊奇,因为 ax 是个很古老的英语词汇,在英语中至少使用了1000年以上。古英语中有 āscian 和 ācsian, ,中古英语中有 asken 和 axen 。而且,带 cs 或 x 的形式同不好的含义无关。乔叟在下文中交替使用 asken 和 axen :"I wol aske, if it hir will be/To be my wyf(我问道,这是真是幻/将成为我的妻子)”和"Men axed hym, what sholde bifalle(人们问他,会降临什么)”,这两句话都出自 《坎特伯利故事集》 。带 sk 的形式经由 换位 的语言过程产生带 x 的形式,换位就是将两个音位置颠倒。因此 x 表示(ks)的发音,即(sk)的翻转发音。换位是世界通用的语言过程并且不会造成交谈中的欠缺。但 ax 已被记作非标准用法──同样降临在曾一度被知识界完全接受的其它单词(如 ain't )的命运 〔smog〕Smog is so much a part of modern, industrialized lifethat it is difficult to realize that at one time neither smog nor the word for it existed.The word, of course, followed the phenomenon perhaps by half a century,for air pollution was noticed during the Industrial Revolution.The wordsmog is first recorded in 1905 in a newspaper report of a meeting of the Public Health Congress. Dr. H.A. des V÷ux gave a paper entitled "Fog and Smoke,” in which,in the words of theDaily Graphic of July 26, "he said it required no science to see that there was something produced in great cities which was not found in the country, and that was smoky fog, or what was known as ‘smog.’”The next day theGlobe remarked that "Dr. des V÷ux did a public service in coining a new word for the London fog.”Since Dr. des V÷ux's creation of this blend, much more has been learned about the composition of smog;unfortunately, it is still with us.烟雾污染已成为现代工业生活中如此大的一部分,以至有一段时间人们难以认识烟雾污染以及表达其存在的烟雾污染这个词。不言而喻,这个词是在这种现象产生半个世纪以后才出现的,因为空气污染是在工业革命期间才被发现。Smog 这个词的第一次使用记录出现在1905年关于公共健康委员会一次会议的新闻报导中, H·A·德佛博士当时上交了一份题为《雾和烟》的论文,按照7月26日每日画报 的说法, 在这篇论文中,“他认为不必借助科学,人们就会发现一种只存在于大城市而乡村没有的东西,那就是含烟的雾,或者叫做烟雾”。第二天的环球报 评论说: "H·A·德佛博士关于伦敦大雾所创造的新词是对公众的一个贡献”。自从H·A·德佛博士用混合的方法创造这个词开始,人们对烟雾的结构做了仔细的研究;但不幸的是,它至今还存在着 |
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