单词 | 大致平行 |
释义 | 〔parallel〕In its mathematical usageparallel is an absolute term— two lines either do or do not intersect—and as such does not admit of qualification as to degree.Some grammarians have arguedthat this restriction should apply as well to nontechnical uses of the word.According to this logic,one may not sayThe two roads have been made more parallel, except perhaps as a loose way of saying what is rendered more precisely by expressions such asmore nearly parallel. Like the analogous objection that has been made to the comparison ofequal, the point betrays a misconception about the relation between mathematical concepts and their ordinary-language equivalents.Applied to objects in the world,parallel can only denote a rough approximation to a geometric ideal. A pair of rails or parked cars cannot be truly parallel in the mathematician's sense of the termbut only more or less so,just as a road or shelf cannot be truly straight in the geometric sensebut nonetheless may be described as very straight or relatively straight.The grammarians' compunctions make even less sense when applied to metaphorical uses ofparallel, as inThe difficulties faced by the Republicans are quite parallel to those that confronted the Democrats four years ago, in which the intended meaning has nothing to do with the possibility of intersectionbut instead suggests the structural correspondence of two distinct situations.In this sense, parallelism is clearly a matter of degreeand the wordparallel can be modified accordingly. See Usage Note at equal ,perfect ,unique 在数学用法中,parallel 是一个绝对的表达法—— 两条线要么相交,要么就不相交——它既没有限定性也没有程度差别。一些语法学家曾提出,这种限制也应该适用于该词在非科技方面的用法,按照这种逻辑,人们不能说这两条路已被修得更加平行了, 除非作为用例如更接近于平行 这样的表达方法更精确地表示的东西的不够精确的说出方法。 象对equal 的比较所做的类似反对一样, 这个观点使数学概念与普通用语中等价词之间的关系引起误解。当运用到世间的实物时,parellel 仅能指与几何理想状态大致接近的状况。 一对铁轨或停放的车辆不可能按数学家对于这个术语的理解来真正地相互并行,而不过是大致平行而已,正如公路和架子不可能是真正几何意义上的笔直,但仍可被描绘成很直的或相对而言的笔直。在用到parallel 的比喻用法时,语法学家的不安就更显得意义不大了, 例如:共和党人所面临的重重困难与四年前民主党人遇到的困难十分相似, 在这句话中,该词的引申意义与相交的可能性毫无关系,然而它暗指了两种不同情况结构上的一致。在此意义上,相似性明显是程度的问题,相应地,parallel 一词也能被其它词限定修饰了。 参见 equal,perfect,unique |
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