| 单词 | 实用性 |
| 释义 | 〔relevance〕a governmental policy lacking relevance.没有实用性的政府政策〔functionalism〕A doctrine stressing purpose, practicality, and utility.强调目的性、实践性和实用性的理论〔pragmatism〕A practical, matter-of-fact way of approaching or assessing situations or of solving problems.实用性，实用观点：分析、估计形势或解决问题的实际的、可行的方法〔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〔relevance〕Applicability to social issues:实用性：对社会事务的适用：〔hopefully〕And though this use ofhopefully may have been a vogue word when it first gained currency 30 years ago, it has long since lost any taint of jargon or pretentiousness for the general reader.The well-attested acceptance of the usage reflects an implicit popular recognition of its usefulness;there is no precise substitute.Someone who saysHopefully, the treaty will be ratified makes a hopeful prediction about the fate of the treaty,whereas someone who saysI hope (or We hope or It is hoped ) the treaty will be ratified expresses a bald statement about what is desired. Only the latter could be continued with a clause such asbut it isn't likely. · It might have been expected, then, that the initial flurry of objections tohopefully would have subsided once the usage became well established. Instead, increased currency of the usage appears only to have made the critics more adamant.In the 1969 Usage Panel survey the usage was acceptable to 44 percent of the Panel;in the most recent survey it was acceptable to only 27 percent.(By contrast, 60 percent accepted the analogous use ofmercifully in the sentence Mercifully, the game ended before the opponents could add another touchdown to the lopsided score. ) Yet the Panel has not shown any signs of becoming generally more conservative:in the very same survey panelists were disposed to accept once-vilified usagessuch as the employment ofcontact and host as verbs. · It seems that this use ofhopefully has been made a litmus test, which distinguishes writers who take an active interest in questions of grammar or usage from the great mass of people who keep their own linguistic counsel.No one can be blamed who useshopefully in blithe ignorance of the critics' disdain for it, since the rule could not be derived from any general concern for clarity or precision.But writers who are aware of the critical controversy face a more delicate decision.Some will simply flout the rule,seeing no reason that they should be deprived of a useful construction.Others may choose to avoid the usage,whether they are motivated by discretion or civility. ·Like other sentence adverbs such asbluntly and happily, hopefully may occasionally be ambiguous. In the sentenceHopefully, the company has launched a new venture, the word hopefully might be construed as describing the point of view of either the speaker or the subject. Such ambiguities can be resolved either by repositioning the adverb (as inThe company has launched the new venture hopefully ) or by choosing a paraphrase ( One may hope that the company has launched the new venture ). 尽管hopefully 的这一用法在30年前首次通用的时候曾是个时兴词， 但对于广大读者来说它早已失去了俚语或矫饰的色彩。屡经证实的对这一用法的接受反映了对其实用性的普遍默认；而且并不存在其他精确的代用词。有人如果说但愿条约能被批准 ， 便是对条约的命运作了充满希望的预测，反之如果有人说我希望 （或 我们希望 或 希望 ) 条约将会被批准 则表达了对其期望之物的大胆声明。 只有后者可以接从句象但这不大可能 。 也许我们本可以期待当这一用法已变得根深蒂固之后， 对hopefully 的一片反对声可稍事平息。 然而，这一用法的流行似乎反而使批评家们更为坚定。在1969年用法调查使用小组的调查中44%的成员接受这一用法；在最近一次的调查中却只有27%的成员接受。（相比之下，60%的人接受mercifully 在句子 幸好，在对手能够给这一边倒的比分再加上一分之前，比赛就结束了 中的类似用法） 但是并没有任何迹象表明调查小组成员正在普遍变得更保守：在同一次调查中小组成员们倾向于接受被一度废除的某些用法，如把contact 和 host 用作动词看来。 似乎hopefully 的用法已经成了一块试金石， 它把对语法和用法怀有浓厚兴趣的作家和保留着他们自己的语言学顾问的广大民众区分开来。那些全然忽视批评家们的蔑视使用hopefully 的人不该受到指责， 因为规则并不来源于任何对清晰和精确的关注。但是意识到了批评界争议的作者们面对着一个更为微妙的决定。有些人干脆违反规则，他们认为没有理由要失去这么一个实用的结构。另外一些人则选择避免这一用法，无论其动机是出于谨慎还是出于礼貌。象许多其它句中副词如bluntly 和 happily一样，hopefully 经常出现歧义。 在下句 Hopefully, the company has launched a new venture 中， hopefully 一词可以解释为记述说话者的观点或者句中主语的观点。 这种歧义可以通过调换副词位置（如公司已经满怀希望地到办了一个新企业 )或选择另一种说法( 有人希望这个公司已经创办了一个新企业 )来消除 〔application〕The capacity of being usable; relevance:实用性；适用性：〔application〕Geometry has practical application in aviation and navigation.几何学在航空和航海中有其实用性〔virtue〕a plan with the virtue of being practical.有着实用性优点的计划〔vanity〕Lack of usefulness, worth, or effect; worthlessness.无用：缺少实用性、价值或效果的；无价值 |
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