单词 | 含义 |
释义 | 〔rhetoric〕The wordrhetoric was once primarily the name of an important branch of philosophy and an art deserving of serious study. In recent yearsthe word has come to be used chiefly in a pejorative senseto refer to inflated language and pomposity.Deprecation of the term may result from a modern linguistic puritanism,which holds that language used in legitimate persuasion should be plainand free of artifice—itself a tendentious rhetorical doctrine,though not often recognized as such.But many writers still prefer to bear in mind the traditional meanings of the word.Thus, according to the newer use of the term,the phraseempty rhetoric, as in The politicians talk about solutions, but they usually offer only empty rhetoric, might be construed as redundant. But in fact only 35 percent of the Usage Panel judged this example to be redundant.Presumably, it can be maintained that rhetoric can be other than empty.单词rhetoric 曾主要是哲学的一个重要分支的和一种值得严肃研究的艺术的名称。 近年来,这个词已开始主要用于贬义,指夸大的语言和虚夸。这个词的改变可能源于一种现代语言的刻板做法,认为用于正当劝说中的语言应是朴素,没有人工雕饰的——它自身便是一种宣传性的修辞教条,虽然未常常被如此认为。但许多作家仍愿意记住这个词的传统含义。这样,根据这个词较新的含义,在The politician talk about solutions, but they usually offer only empty rhetoric 中,短语 empty rhetoric 可能被分析为多余的。 但事实上,用法委员会成员中只有百分之三十五的人认为在这个例子中是多余的。大概该词除了空的以外还有其他的意思吧〔blink〕The central meaning shared by these verbs is "to open and close the eyelids or an eyelid rapidly": 这些动词共有的中心含义是“快速睁闭眼睑”: 〔author〕The verbauthor, which had been out of use for a long period, has been rejuvenated in recent years with the sense "to assume responsibility for the content of a published text.” As such it is not quite synonymous with the verbwrite ; one can write, but not author, a love letter or an unpublished manuscript,and the writer who ghostwrites a book for a celebrity cannot be said to have "authored" the creation. The sentenceHe has authored a dozen books on the subject was unacceptable to 74 percent of the Usage Panel, probably because it implies that the fact of having a book published is worthy of special lexical distinction, a notion that sits poorly with conventional literary sensibilities,and which seems to smack of press agentry.The sentenceThe Senator authored a bill limiting uses of desert lands in California was similarly rejected by 64 percent of the Panel, though here the usage is common journalistic practice,and is perhaps justified by the observation that we do not expect that legislators will actually write the bills to which they attach their names. ·The verbcoauthor is well established in reference to scientific and scholarly publications, where it serves a useful purpose,since the people listed as authors of such works routinely include research collaborators who have played no part in the actual writing of the text,but who are nonetheless entitled to credit for the published results.动词author, 很长一段时间不再使用, 近年来又以“对某一出版作品的内容负有责任”的含义重新起用。因此,它已不完全同动词write 同义; 一个人可以写一封求爱信或未出版的草稿,但不是作者,某一人即使雇人写出一篇杰作也不能说是“创作”了作品。对句子他已就这个论题创作了十二部作品 74%的用法专题小组不能接受, 可能因为它暗示着一个事实,即一本已出版的书一定有特别的词汇意义上区别的价值,这是与传统文学观念不太相容的概念,并带有出版机构的意味。此句参议员提出了一个限制使用加利福尼亚地区沙漠土地的议案 ,同样有64%的用法专题小组成员不能接受, 虽然这里这种用法是新闻界实践的惯用。这恐怕是因为我们并不希望立法人员真的是写作一项议案然后在其上署上他们的名字吧。·动词coauthor 是在科学及学术发表论文的意义上建立的, 这里这个词的使用有一个重要意义,因为创作者名单上列出作为这部作品创作者的人通常包括共同研究人员,既使他们实际上并未参加写作,但不可否认地对出版物的结果做出了贡献〔tire〕 Weary, liketire, is applicable to diminution of strength or endurance but often carries a stronger implication of dissatisfaction,as that resulting from what is irksome or boring: Weary 和tire 一样,可以指力量或忍耐力的消退, 但通常带有一种很强的不满的含义,如由于让人讨厌或厌烦的事所导致: 〔landscape〕It would seem that in the case of the wordlandscape we have an example of nature imitating art, in so far as sense development is concerned.Landscape, first recorded in 1598, was borrowed as a painters' term from Dutch during the 16th century,when Dutch artists were on the verge of becoming masters of the landscape genre.The Dutch wordlandschap had earlier meant simply "region, tract of land,” but had acquired the artistic sense, which it brought over into English, of "a picture depicting scenery on land.”The fascinating thing isthat 34 years pass after the first recorded use oflandscape in English before the word is used of a view or vista of natural scenery. This delay suggests that people were first introduced to landscapes in paintingsand then saw landscapes in real life.从landscape 这个词,我们似乎能看到一个模仿自然艺术的例子, 单就这个词的意思发展来说。Landscape 首次记载于1598年, 它是在16世纪期间作为一个绘画术语从荷兰传过来的,当时的荷兰艺术家正在成为自然风景绘画的大师。荷兰语中landscape 这个词早期仅仅意味着“地区,一片地”, 但它后来传入英国时已经有了艺术上的含义“描绘陆上风景的绘画”。有趣的是,从landscape 这个词第一次见于英语文字到这个词表示自然景色的风光,经历了34年。 这一时间上的延迟暗示了人们首先是在绘画时接触自然,然后才是在现实生活中去欣赏风景〔call〕The central meaning shared by these verbs is "to demand or request to appear, come, or assemble": 这些动词的共同含义为“要求或请求出现、到来或集合”: 〔parity〕A quantum number, either +1 (even) or -1 (odd), that mathematically describes this property.量子数的均衡:从数学含义来描述对称性的量子数+1(偶)或-1(奇)〔meaning〕The central meaning shared by these nouns is "the idea that is conveyed by something, such as a word, an action, a gesture, or a situation": 这些名词共有的中心意思是“通过如语言、行为、姿势或情形等体现出来的含义”: 〔stupid〕 Stupid, the most inclusive, means wanting in intelligence: Stupid 的含义最广,意为缺乏智慧的: 〔meaning〕Synonyms are words that have the same or approximately the same meaning.同义词指具有相同或近似含义的词。〔paramnesia〕An inability to recall the meanings of common words.记不起常用词的含义〔innuendo〕An indirect or subtle, usually derogatory implication in expression; an insinuation.暗示,影射:词句中的不直接的或微妙的,通常贬损的含义;暗示〔protagonist〕Theprotagonist of a Greek drama was its leading actor, of whom there could be but one in any play.This is an etymological nicety that many modern writers continue to observe when using the word to refer to the main character of a drama or other fiction.Thus when the members of the Usage Panel were asked "How many protagonists are there inOthello ?” the great majority answered "One"and offered substitutes such asantagonist, villain, principal, and deuteragonist to describe Desdemona and Iago. But there is reputable precedent from the 17th century on for usingprotagonist to mean simply "important actor" or "principal party,”with no implication of uniqueness,as inThere are three protagonists in this sluggish novel. Smith and Jones were the protagonists in the struggle over the future of the computer company. Thus, while some writers may prefer to confine the word to a singular sense in their own usage,it is pedantic to insist that the looser use is incorrect. ·The use ofprotagonist to refer to a proponent has become common only in the 20th century and may have been influenced by a misconception that the first syllable of the word represents the prefixpro-, "favoring.” In sentences such asHe was an early protagonist of nuclear power, this use is likely to strike many readers as an errorand can usually be replaced byadvocate or proponent with no loss of sense.希腊戏剧的protagnist 是主角, 且在任何戏剧中仅有一个主角。许多现代作家在用这个词时都注意使它指代戏剧或其他小说的主要人物,因此当用法专题小组成员被问及“在奥赛罗 里有几个主要人物?”时, 大部分人回答“一个”,而且用如antagonist、villain、principal 和 deuteragonist 等词来描述苔丝德蒙娜和雅各。 但是从十七进纪开始,有一个使用protagonist 的规范惯例, 仅表示“重要的演员”或“首要的政党”,而丝毫没有独一无二的暗示,象在句子在这部文风拖沓的小说中有三个人物。 史密斯和琼斯是为计算公司的未来而奋斗的主角中一样。 因此,当某些作家可能在他们自己的用法中偏于把这个词限制在一个简单的含义中时,仍强调自由用法不正确就是卖弄学问的了。用protagonist 来指代建议者或支持者仅在20世纪开始变得常见, 而且被对于代表意为“支持的”前缀pro- 的该词第一个音节的误解所影响。 在句子他是核武力的早期支持者 中, 这种用法可能会使读者认为是个错误,而且常被advocate 或 proponent 所替代, 同时也不会有任何意思的遗漏〔mediterranean〕When one hears the wordmediterranean, one thinks of a specific placeand perhaps of the great cultures that have surrounded it.But the word can also apply to any large body of water that is surrounded completely or almost completely by dry land.This usage goes back to the use in Late Latin of the Latin wordmediterrāneus, the source of our word,as part of the nameMediterrāneum mare for the mostly landlocked Mediterranean Sea. But Latinmediterrāneus, which is derived from medius, "the middle of, the heart of,” and terra, "land,” in Classical Latin actually meant "remote from the coast, inland.”In Late Latin,in referring to the sea,mediterrāneus probably meant originally "in the middle of the earth"rather than "surrounded by land,”for to the Mediterranean cultures without knowledge of much of the earth,the Mediterranean Sea was in the center of the world.Our wordmediterranean is first recorded in English in 1594 as the name of the sea.当一个人听说mediterranean 这个词时, 他所想到的是一具体的地方,而且可能还想到了这个地方周围的那些伟大文明。但这个词同样可以用来指任何几乎被陆地所包围或完全被陆地所包围的大水体。这个用法可以追溯到近代拉丁文中mediterraneus 这个词, 就是我们这个词的词源,亦即表绝大部分被陆地所包围的地中海的名称Mediterraneum mare 的组成部分。 但是拉丁词mediterraneus ,从 medius 意为“…中间的,…的中心”派生而来的,以及意为“陆地”的 terra 这个词, 在古典拉丁语中的确切含义为“远离海岸的,内陆的”。在近代拉丁语中,当mediterraneus 这个词用来指地中海时, 其最早的含义可能是“在地球中央的”,而不是“被陆地所包围的”,因为对于缺乏有关地球知识的各地中海文明来说,地中海就是世界的中心。我们这里所说的英语单词mediterranean 最早于1594年出现于英语中, 也是用来指地中海〔blond〕It is usual in English to treatblond as if it required gender marking, as in French, spelling itblonde when referring to women and blond elsewhere. But this practice is in fact a relatively recent innovation,and some have suggested that it has sexist implicationsand that the formblond should be used for both sexes. There is certainly a measure of justice to the claim that the two forms are not used symmetrically.Since English does not normally mark adjectives according to the gender of the nouns they modify,it is natural to interpret the final-e as expressing some additional meaning, perhaps because it implies that hair color provides a primary category of classification for women but not men.This association of hair color and a particular perception of feminine identity is suggested in phrasessuch asdumb blonde and Is it true blondes have more fun? or in Susan Brownmiller's depiction of Hollywood's "pantheon of celebrated blondes who have fed the fantasies of men and fueled the aspirations of women.” The corresponding masculine formblond, by contrast, is not ordinarily used to refer to men in contexts in which hair color is not specifically at issue; there is something arch in a reference toLeslie Howard, Robert Redford, and other celebrated blonds. See Usage Note at brunette 在英语中,通常在使用blond 时似乎认为这个词需要性别标志。 正如在法语中,指女性时拼作blonde ,指其他时拼作 blond 。 但这实际上是较新的一种用法,一些人就曾认为这个词本身就带有性别的含义,而且blond 可同时用于两种性别。 两种形式并没有相应地使用的说法是有几分道理。因为英语中通常并不根据形容词修饰的名词的性而加以标明,很自然地就词尾的-e 看作附加的意思的表示, 这也许是由于它暗示头发的颜色是女性而不是男性提供了一个鉴别的首要类型。这种把头发颜色和女性鉴别的特殊方法联系在一起的作法,在如下的一些句子中有所体现,dump blonde(愚蠢的女人) 和 Is it true blondes have more fun?(金发女人真的更有情趣吗?) 或苏珊·布朗米勒的《好莱坞》中的描写的 "pantheon of celebrated blondes who have fed the fantasies of men and fueled the aspirations of women"(一些曾满足男人的幻想和勾起女人的野心的显赫女明星)。 不同的是相对应的男性的强调形式blond, 在行文中没有特别头发颜色的情况下通常并不专指男性; 如这句说法有调侃的意味的例句Leslie Howard, Robert Redford, and other celebrated blonds(莱斯利·霍华德,罗伯特·莱德佛拉和其他著名的金发明星中) 参见 brunette〔literally〕For more than a hundred years,critics have remarked on the incoherency of usingliterally in a way that suggests the exact opposite of its primary sense of "in a manner that accords with the literal sense of the words.”In 1926, for example,H.W. Fowler cited the example 数百年来,批评家们一直在讨论literally 的一种用法的不连续性, 这一用法使其具有与主要意义“和字面意思相吻合地”正好相反的含义。例如,在1926年,H.W.福勒援引了这样一个例子 〔medium〕The etymologically plural formmedia is often used as a singular to refer to a particular means of communication,as inThis is the most exciting new media since television. This usage is widely regarded as incorrect;medium is preferred. A stronger case can be made in defense of the use ofmedia as a collective term, as inThe media has not shown much interest in covering the issue. As with the analogous wordsdata and agenda, the originally plural form has begun to acquire a sense that departs from that of the singular: used as a collective term,media denotes an industry or community. Thus the example sentence given here would not be appropriately paraphrased asNo medium has shown much interest in covering the issue, which suggests that the disinclination abides in the means of communication itselfrather than in its practitioners.Ifmedia follows the pattern of data and agenda, this singular use may become entirely acceptable someday.But despite its utility,many people still regard it as a grammatical error.语源复数形式media 常用作单数, 用来指传播手段中的某一种,例如在下面这是自电视出现以来最激动人心的新式传媒 的句子中。 许多人都认为这一用法是不正确的;他们还是喜欢用medium 这一单数形式。 我们能提出更为有力的例子来为media 作为集合名词的用法进行辩护, 如下面的句子:大众传媒对于报道这一事件没有表现出多大兴趣 。 正如类似于原为复数形式的其他两个词data 和 agenda 已经开始具有其单数形式的含义: 用作集合名词的media 现在则可以指传播工业或共同体。 这样的话,我们刚才给出的例句就不能改成如下形式:没有传媒对报道这一事件表现出很大兴趣 , 因为这样改动后,这句话所表示的是传播工具本身的不愿意,而不是业者的不愿意。如果media 也象 data 和 agenda 那样, 那么它作为单数形式的用法总有一天会被完全接受的。但是不管它的实用性大小,许多人仍将其视为一个语法错误〔cabal〕The history ofcabal reveals how a word can be transferred from one sphere of activity to another while retaining only a tenuous connection with its past. Ultimately from Hebrewbut transmitted to English probably by way of Medieval Latin and French,cabal is first recorded in English in 1616 in the sense "cabala.” Cabala was the name for the Hebrew oral tradition transmitted by Moses and also the name for a Jewish religious philosophy based on an esoteric interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures.The notion "esoteric" is central to the development of this word in English,forcabal, probably following the sense development in French, came to mean "a tradition, special interpretation, or secret,” "a private intrigue" (first recorded in 1646-1647),and "a small body of intriguers" (first recorded in 1660).It is probably not coincidental thatcabal is found with these latter meanings during the mid-17th century, that time of plots and counterplots by Royalists and Parliamentarians.The word gained a false etymology when it was noticed that the five most influential ministers of Charles II were named Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale.单词cable 的历史表现出一个单词在与其过去的含义仅保持微弱联系的情况下,如何能够从一个使用范围转向另一个范围。 最起始是源于希伯来语,但可能是通过中世纪的拉丁语和法语转化为英语,cabal 以“秘教”的含义在英语中最早载于1616年。 Cabala 是对摩西所传的希伯来口头传说的称谓, 也是对基于希伯来圣经神秘解说的犹太宗教哲学的称谓。“深奥的”这个概念对于这个英文单词的发展是很重要的,因为cabal 可能是沿用法语里发展起来的含义, 意为“传统,特殊的理解或秘密的,“个人阴谋”(最早记载于1646至1647年),以及“较小的阴谋者的联合体”(最早记载于1660年)。它可能与cabal 的17世纪中叶的后来含义并不一致, 在这一时期内充斥着保皇党人和议员们的阴谋和对策。由于注意到查理二世时期五位最有影响的大臣姓名分别为克利福德,阿灵顿,白金汉,阿什利和劳德戴尔(其姓名首字母合起来为CABAL),该词由此得来一错误的语源说明〔irony〕An expression or utterance marked by a deliberate contrast between apparent and intended meaning.反语句:以表面含义与实际含义含意相反为特征的表达或措词〔pueblo〕The identity of the Pueblo peoples is undeniably connected to the stone and adobe dwellings they have occupied for more than 700 years—especially from an etymological point of view.Originally coming from the Latin wordpopulus, "people, nation,” the Spanish wordpueblo, meaning "town, village,” as well as "nation, people,”was naturally applied by 16th-century Spanish explorers to villages that they discovered or founded in the Southwest.The English wordpueblo is first recorded in an American text in this sense in 1808, marking it as an Americanism.The distinctive adobe or stone villages of the Pueblo peoples,with some buildings rising as high as five stories,must have impressed the Spaniards considerably,becausepueblo came to be transferred from a name for the village to a name for its inhabitants, perhaps in honor of their architectural achievements or simply as an obvious way to distinguish the Pueblo from other Native American peoples.The first recorded usage of this sense is found in 1834.无可质疑,普埃布洛族的象征是与他们已经居住了700年的土石结构房屋联系在一起的——尤其是从词源学的角度来看。最初源于意为“民族,国家”的拉丁语populus, 意为“城镇,村庄”的西班牙语pueblo , 同时也有“民族,国家”的意思,16世纪的西班牙探险家们很自然地用这个词来称呼他们在西南部发现或建立的村庄。英语中pueblo 的这个含义最早记载于1808年的一篇美国课文中, 这标志着它成了一个美语词。普埃布洛族有特色的石造和土造村庄,有些建筑高达五层,肯定给西班牙人留下了深刻的印象,因为pueblo 这个词是从这个村庄的名字转变成村庄中居民的名字的, 这可能是出于对他们建筑成就的敬仰或仅仅作为将普埃布洛族和其它美洲土著民族区分开的明显途径。这个词义是在1834年最早有使用记载的。〔denotation〕Something signified or referred to; a particular meaning of a symbol.指示:有所表示或有所指(的事物);符号的特定含义〔stomp〕Stomp and stamp are interchangeable in the sense "to trample" or "to tread on violently": Stomp 和 stamp 在“践踏”或“粗暴地踩上”这层含义上可互换: 〔chaperon〕The chaperon at a high-school dance seems to have little relationship to what was first signified by the English wordchaperon, "a hood for a hawk,” and not even that much to what the word later meant, "a protectress of a young single woman.”The sense "hood for a hawk,” recorded in a Middle English text composed before 1400,reflects the original meaning of the Old French wordchaperon, "hood, headgear.” In order to understand why ourchaperon came to have the sense "protectress,” we need to know that in French the verbchaperonner, meaning "to cover with a hood,” was derived from chaperon and that this verb subsequently developed the figurative sense "to protect.”Under the influence of the verb sensethe French nounchaperon came to mean "escort,” a meaning that was borrowed into English,being found first in a work published in 1720.In its earlier useEnglishchaperon referred to a person, commonly an older woman, who accompanied a young unmarried woman in public to protect her. The English verbchaperon, "to be a chaperon,” is first recorded in Jane Austen'sSense and Sensibility, begun in 1796 as a sketch called "Elinor and Marianne"and published as a novel in 1811.中学舞会上的年长监护者似乎与英语词chaperon 的最初含义关系极微,(当时其意为“鹰的羽冠”), 与后来该词的意思“年轻单身女子的伴护人”,关系也不甚大。“鹰的羽冠”的意思,最初见于作于1400年以前的一个中古英语文本,反映了这个古法语词chaperon 的最初的“羽冠”的含义。 为了理解为什么我们所用的chaperon 一词具有了“女伴护人”的意思, 我们需要知道法语中表示“覆以羽冠”意思的动词chaperonner 是从 chaperon 派生出来的, 这个词后来逐渐发展具有了“保护”的意思。受动词意义的影响,法语名词chaperon 也有了“伴护”的含义, 英语借用了这个含义,首见于1720年发表的一部作品。在早期用法上,英语词chaperon 是指一个在社交场合陪伴并保护一名未成婚少女的人,尤指年长妇女。 英语动词chaperon “做伴护人”, 最初见于简·奥斯丁的理智与情感 , 此作品开始是1796年动笔的一部名为“艾利诺和马利恩”的文学速写,1811年作为一部小说出版〔loblolly〕Loblolly is a combination of lob, probably an onomatopoeia for the thick, heavy bubbling of cooking porridge, and lolly, an old British dialect word for "broth, soup, or any other food boiled in a pot.” Thus, loblolly originally denoted thick porridge or gruel, especially that eaten by sailors on board ship. In the southern United States, the word is used to mean "a mudhole; a mire,” a sense derived from an allusion to the consistency of porridge. The name loblolly has become associated with several varieties of trees as well, all of which favor wet bottomlands or swamps in the Gulf and South Atlantic states. Lobolly 是 lob ,可能是模仿熬粥时沉重的冒泡声,和意为“锅里煮着的清汤、浓汤或其他任何食物”的古英语方言 lolly 的结合。这样, loblolly 本来表示稠粥或稀粥,尤指船上水手们所喝的粥。在美国南部,这个词用于表示“泥坑;泥沼”,这个含义是以粥的浓稠性这一暗示而来。 loblolly 这一名称也与几种树木有关,这些树都适于生长在墨西哥湾及南大西洋各州的潮湿洼地或沼泽里 〔pariah〕In the wordpariah, which can be used for anyone who is a social outcast, independent of social position,we have a reminder of a much more rigid social system,where only certain people could be pariahs.The caste system of India placed members of the pariah caste very low in society;until 1949 they were also known asuntouchables. The wordpariah, however, which we have extended in meaning, came into English from Tamil paṛaiyar, the plural of paṛaiyan, the caste name, which literally means “(hereditary) drummer"and comes from the wordpaṛai, the name of a drum used at certain festivals. The word is first recorded in English in 1613.Its use in English and its extension in use probably owe much to the close relationship that developed between Great Britain and India.Indeed, many of the British servants in India were from the pariah caste.pariah 一词能用于任何一个被社会遗弃的人, 不管他的社会地位如何,在这个词中,对我们有一个更严酷的社会体制的暗示,在这种体制下,仅仅某些特定的人才能成为被社会遗弃的人。印度的社会体制把被遗弃者的社会地位订得很低,直到1949年这些人还仍旧被称作是不可接触者 。 然而,我们已经扩展了含义的pariah 一词从泰米尔语 paraiyar 即 paraiyan 的复数转入英语中来, 字面含义是“(世袭)鼓手”,源于一种特定节日用的鼓名parai 。 1613年这个词首次在英语中有所记录。它在英文中的运用和用法的扩展可能很大程度是由于大不列颠和印度的密切关系。的确,在印度许多英国人的佣人都来自于贱民阶层〔paradise〕Perhaps the supreme example of the semantic process known as melioration is the wordparadise. In tracing this word from its origins to its present status,we see an elevation, or melioration, of meaning that raises the word to new heights.The history begins with the Avestan (the eastern dialect of Old Iranian) wordpairi-daēza-, "enclosure,” made up ofpairi, "around,” and daēza-, "wall.” The Greek military leader and historian Xenophon, who served with Greek mercenaries in Persia,first used the Greek wordparadeisos adopted from the Avestan wordto refer to the Persian kings' and nobles' parks or pleasure grounds.This Greek word extended to mean "garden" or "orchard" was an obvious choice for translators of the Bible into Greekto use both for the Garden of Eden and the Abode of the Blessed, or heaven.The Greek word was adopted into Late Latin and was used much as we might expect in its biblical senses in ecclesiastical Latin (Late Latinparadīsus ). The Old English wordparadis taken from Latin is found, but our word probably really established itself in Middle English (first recorded before 1200),derived both from Latin and from Old French, which had adopted the word from Latin.paradise. 这个词也许能作为词义进化最典型的例子, 从它的起源到现在的地位,我们可以看到词义的进化或改进把这个词带到了一个新的高度。这个历史过程从意为“领地,圈地”的阿维斯陀语(古伊朗人西部方言)pairi-daeza-, 开始, 由意为“环形的”pairi, 和意为“墙”的 daeza-, 组成。 曾随希腊雇佣军到波斯服役的希腊军事将领和历史学家色诺芬,首先使用了希腊语词paradeisos, , 该词采用了阿维斯陀词,指波斯国王和贵族们的花园或游乐场,这个希腊词衍生到表示“花园”或“果园”,显然是译者在把《圣经》翻译成希腊文时所做出的选择,以用来表明伊甸园和天国或天堂,有这两种含义的希腊词被引入后期的拉丁语中且当它们在教会拉丁文(后期拉丁语paradisus )中意为《圣经》方面的意义时被更广泛地使用, 古英语paradis 一词来自拉丁文, 但我们用的这个词可能在中古英语(首次记录在1200年前)中真正确立了起来,人们发现它源于拉丁文和从拉丁文中采纳了这个词的古法语〔hisself〕Speakers of some vernacular American dialects, particularly in the South, may use the possessive reflexive formhisself instead of himself (as in He cut hisself shaving ) and theirselves or theirself for themselves (as in They found theirselves alone ). These forms reflect the tendency of speakers of vernacular dialects to regularize irregular patterns found in the corresponding standard variety. In Standard English, the pattern of reflexive pronoun forms shows slightly irregular patterning; all forms but two are composed of the possessive form of the pronoun and -self or -selves, as in myself or ourselves. The exceptions are himself and themselves, which are formed by attaching the suffix -self/-selves to the object forms of he and they rather than their possessive forms. Speakers who use hisself and theirselves are smoothing out the pattern's inconsistencies by applying the same rule to all forms in the set.·A further regularization is the use of -self regardless of number, yielding the forms ourself and theirself. Using a singular form in a plural context may seem imprecise, but the plural meaning of ourself and theirself is made clear by the presence of the plural forms our- and their-. Hisself and theirselves have origins in British English and are still prevalent today in vernacular speech in England. 一些美国本土方言的使用者,尤其是美国南方人,可能会用所有格的反身代词形式hisself 代替 himself (如 He cut hisself shaving﹝刮脸时他割到自己﹞ )以及 theirselves 或 theirself 代替 themselves (如 They found theirselves alone﹝他们发觉自己很孤独﹞ )。这些形式反映出本土方言使用者试图规则化相应标准变化中的不规则模式。在标准英语中,反身代词模式显示出略微不规则模式的形成;除两个反身代词外,所有的反身代词都由代词的所有格形式加 -self 或 -selves 构成(如 myself 或 ourselves )。例外的就是 himself 和 themselves ,将后缀 -self/-selves 附加在 he 和 they 的宾格形式而不是所有格形式上形成。采用 hisself 和 theirselves 的本土方言使用者消除了将同一规则用于一组中所有形式时产生的模式矛盾。进一步的规则化是不考虑数量而全部使用 -self ,由此产生 ourself 和 theirself 。在复数上下文中使用单数形式似乎有失严谨,但 ourself 和 theirself 的复数含义已由复数形式的 our- 和 their-清楚表明。Hisself 和 theirselves 起源于英式英语并在英国本土语言中依然流行 〔miss〕completely missed the point of the film.完全没有理解这部电影的含义所在〔Wittgenstein〕Austrian-born British philosopher noted for his analyses of language and meaning. Among his writings areTractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1921) and Philosophical Investigations (1953). 维特根施泰因,路德维格:(1889-1951) 奥地利裔的英国哲学家,以其对语言和含义的分析而著名,他的作品中有《逻辑哲学论》 (1921年)和 《哲学探究》 (1953年) 〔meager〕a small, meager woman); in a less specific senseit implies an insufficiency of what is needed for completeness or richness: 一个瘦小的女人); 在略广的含义上,它指是的缺乏所需求的完整或丰富: 〔encyclopedia〕The wordencyclopedia, which to us usually means a large set of books, descends from a phrase that involved coming to grips with the contents of such books.The Greek phrase isenkuklios paideia, made up of enkuklios, "cyclical, periodic, ordinary,” and paideia, "education,” and meaning "general education, literally the arts and sciences that a person should study to be liberally educated.”Copyists of Latin manuscripts took this phrase to be the Greek wordenkuklopaedia, with the same meaning, and this spurious Greek word became the New Latin wordencyclopaedia, coming into English with the sense "general course of instruction,” first recorded in 1531.In New Latin the word was chosen as the title of a reference work covering all knowledge.The first such use in English is recorded in 1644.单词encyclopedia 对我们而言通常是指一大套书, 来源于一个涉及掌握这类书内容的短语。希腊片语enkuklios paideia 是由下列两个词组成的 enkuklios “循环的,周期性,平常的”以及 paideia “教育”, 含义是“普通教育,从字面上说就是一个想接受通才教育的人所应该学习的艺术和科学知识”。拉丁文手稿的抄录者将此片语当成了带有相同词义的希腊词enkuklopaedia , 而该谬传的希腊词又构成为新拉丁语词encyclopaedia , 带着其“指导教育的普遍课程”之语意又进入英语,最先记载于1531年。在新拉丁语中该词被选中作为一本覆盖各科知识的参考著作的书名。在英国首次这样的用法记载于1644年〔incline〕The central meaning shared by these verbs is "to influence or be influenced toward a particular attitude or course of action": 这些动词共有的中心含义是“影响或受影响而倾向于一种特殊的态度或行动过程。”: 〔reverse〕reversed the paintings for a more satisfying effect. Toinvert is basically to turn something upside down or inside out, but the term may imply placing something in a reverse order: 倒转绘画品以得到更满意的效果。 Invert 基本含义是指把某物倒置或里面转到外面, 但此词可能意指以相反顺序放置某物: 〔burdensome〕Onerous adds toburdensome the connotation of the figuratively heavy load imposed by something irksome or annoying: Onerous 加深了brudensome 一词被烦人的或令人讨厌的事物强加的比喻为繁重负担的含义: 〔uncertainty〕 Uncertainty, the least forceful, merely denotes a lack of assurance or conviction: Uncertainty 含义最弱,只表示不能保证或确信: 〔tend〕The central meaning shared by these verbs is "to have the care or supervision of": 这些动词共有的中心含义是“照料,监督”: 〔intention〕Intent more strongly implies deliberateness: Intent 有更强的故意的含义: 〔pickle〕Trade with the Low Countries across the North Sea was important to England in the later Middle Ages,and it is perhaps because of this tradethat we have the wordpickle. Middle Englishpikel, the ancestor of our word,is first recorded around 1400with the meaning "a spicy sauce or gravy served with meat or fowl.”This is a different sense from the one the word brings to mind now,but it is related somewhat in sense to its possible Middle Dutch sourcepekel, a solution, such as spiced brine, for preserving and flavoring food.After coming into Englishthe wordpickle expanded its sense range in several ways. It was applied, as it had been in Middle Dutch, to a pickling solution.Laterpickle was used to refer to something so treated, such as a cucumber. The word also took on a figurative sense,"a troublesome situation,”perhaps under the influence of a similar Dutch usage in the phrasein de pekel zitten, "sit in the pickle,” and iemand in de pekel laten zitten, "let someone sit in the pickle.” 在中世纪末,穿过北海与低地国家的贸易对英格兰来说非常重要,也许就是因为这种贸易,便有了pickle 这个词。 中世纪英语中的pikel , 也就是我们这词的祖先,大约在1400年第一次被记录,意思是“加有肉或禽肉的多香料的调味汁或肉汁。”这与现在我们所想到的意思有所不同,但从其可能的中世纪荷兰语词源pekle 的意义上讲又有些关联, 该词指如加香料的卤水等用来腌制或保存食物的溶液。进入英语后,pickle 这个词的词义在很多方面扩大了其含义。 象在中世纪荷兰语那样,它被用来指一种腌制食物的溶液。后来pickle 又用来指如此腌制的东西,如腌黄瓜。 从而这个词也有了比喻意义,即“麻烦的境地,”这大概是因为受了荷兰语中有短语坐在卤水中 和 让某人坐在卤水中 的类似用法的影响 〔care〕It is true that a close examination of the syntax of the phraseI could care less reveals that it ought by rights to mean something like "I care more than I might,” rather than "I don't care at all.” But while the illogicality of a phrase may be reason enough for excluding it from formal writing,this illogicality cannot be invoked as grounds for keeping it out of the colloquial language,particularly when the phrase is itself an expression of casual indifference.See Usage Note at cannot 对短语I could care less 的句法的仔细研究揭示,该短语按理应有类似“我极其在意,甚于我应该做的”的意思,而不表示“我一点儿也不介意”,这一点确凿无疑。 但是,尽管由于一个短语有不合逻辑性的含义,也许这一点足以使其不合逻辑的用法被排除在正式文体之外;这不合逻辑性却不能被援引作为把它排除在口语用法之外的根据,尤其是当该短语本身只是一个非正式的或随意的表达语时 参见 cannot〔purport〕Meaning presented, intended, or implied; import.See Synonyms at substance 含义:提供的、意指的或给出的含义;意义 参见 substance |
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