| 单词 | 实际上 |
| 释义 | 〔incommunicable〕an executive who was virtually incommunicable.一个实际上很孤僻的总经理〔ilk〕When one usesilk, as in the phrasemen of his ilk, one is using a word with an ancient pedigreeeven though the sense ofilk, "kind or sort,” is actually quite recent,having been recorded no earlier than the end of the 18th century.This sense grew out of an older use ofilk in the phrase of that ilk, meaning "of the same place, territorial designation, or name.” This phrase was used chiefly in names of landed families,Guthrie of that ilk meaning "Guthrie of Guthrie.” "Same" is the fundamental meaning of the word.The ancestors ofilk, Old Englishilca and Middle English ilke, were common words, usually appearing with such words asthe or that, but the word hardly survived the Middle Ages in those uses.当我们使用ilk 一词， 例如在词组men of his ilk 中那样， 我们实际上在使用一个历史悠久的词。不过ilk 这个词有“一种或一类”这个意思， 却是近期的事情，其最早的使用记录不超过18世纪末。过去ilk 这个词用于词组 of that ilk 之中，意为“相同地方的，相同封地的，相同名号的”，现代意义就是从这个意思演化而来。 这个词组主要用于拥有土地的家族的名称前面：Guthrie of that ilk 意指“格思里这个地方叫格思里的人”。 这个词的基本意义为“相同”。ilk 这个词的前身， 古英语的ilca 和中古英语的 ilke 都是常用词汇， 常常和the 或 that 等词一起使用， 不过这些词经过中世纪后都没能存在下来〔equal〕It has been argued thatequal is an absolute term— two quantities either are or are not equal—and hence cannot be qualified as to degree.Therefore one cannot logically speak ofa more equal allocation of resources among the departments. However, this usage was accepted by 71 percent of the Usage Panel in an earlier survey.What is more, objection to the usage betrays a widespread but questionable assumptionthat it is in mathematics and logic that we find the model of accuracy most appropriate to the everyday use of language,a supposition that also underlies traditional grammatical discussions of words such asunique, parallel, and center. According to this account,the "precise" or "literal" meaning ofequal is realized in the use of the equal sign in an arithmetic expression such as 5 + 2 = 7; and the ordinary-language uses of the term,though they may be permissible,represent "loose" or "imprecise" extensions of that sense.But in fact the mathematical concept of equality is a poor model for using the wordequal to describe relations between things in the world. As applied to such things,statements of equality are always relative to an implicit standard of tolerance.When someone saysThe two boards are of equal length, we assume that the equality is reckoned to some order of approximation determined by the context;if we did not,we would be required always to usenearly equal when speaking of the dimensions of physical objects. What is more,we often want to predicate equality of things that do not admit of quantitative measurement,as when we sayThe college draft was introduced in an effort to make the teams in the National Football League as equal as possible, orThe candidates for the job should all be given equal consideration. In all such cases,equality is naturally a gradient notionand so is amenable to modification in degree.This much is evident from the existence of the wordunequal. The prefixun- attaches only to gradient adjectives: we sayunmanly but not unmale; and the worduneven can be applied to a surface (whose evenness may be a matter of degree) but not to a number (whose evenness is an either-or affair). ·The adverbequally is generally regarded as redundant when used in combination with as, and the following examples employingequally as were termed unacceptable by 63 percent of the Usage Panel in an earlier survey: 单词equal 一向被认为是一个很绝对的词语—— 两个数量要么相同要么不同——这样就不能有程度上的差别。所以，如果有人说在各部门间对资源更公平的分配 ，那么就不合逻辑了。 但是这种用法在早先的用法调查中被百分之七十一用法使用小组的人接受。而且，对这种用法的反对体现出了一种很流行但却值得怀疑的假设，那就是我们从数学和逻辑中得出适用于日常语言准确性的实例，而这种假设也可从我们对一些词，如unique，parallel 和 center 传统的语法讨论中体现出来。 根据这个解释，equal “准确”或“书面”的意思则是由在算术表达式，如5+2=7中所运用的相同的符号而表达清楚的； 而该词在日常语言中的用法，虽然被允许，但却代表了其含意“松散”或“不严谨”的引申。但是实际上用数学概念上的相等来运用equal 这个词描述世上各种事物之间的关系是一个很差劲的例子。 当该词应用于生活中的事物时，相等的观念往往与暗含的容忍相关联。当有人说两块木板同样长 时， 我们会认为由于上下文的关系，相等可以被看作大约近似；如果我们不这样想，那么当我们谈到物体的尺寸时，就要经常使用nearly equal 。 另外，我们常常会预测和数量无关的事物的相同性，比如我们会说，引入大学的要求是为了使全国足球联合会中的各队尽可能平等 ， 或者应给予该项工作的应征者同等的考虑 。 在所有这些例子中，相等是个可变化的概念，所以可在程度有所不同。Unequal 这个词的存在就是很好的证明。 un- 这个前缀只附加于有程序变化的形容词， 我们说unmanly 但不说 unmale ； 而uneven 这个词只能用于某物的表面（其平坦可有程度上的差别）， 而不能用于数目（数目只能说相等或不相等）。Equally 这一副词在与 as 连用时通常被认为是多余的， 在早先的用法调查中，以下这些使用equally as 的句子遭到百分之六十三使用小组的人反对： 〔gorilla〕Two traditions of exploration come together in the history of the wordgorilla, which also illustrates how knowledge of the classics has influenced scientific terminology.Dr. Thomas S. Savage, an American missionary to western Africa,first described the gorilla in 1847, giving it the New Latin nameTroglodytes gorilla. In doing so he was using his knowledge of Greek literature,in which there exists a fourth-centuryb.c. translation of a report written by Hanno, another visitor to western Africa. This Carthaginian navigator,who voyaged before 480b.c. , went as far as Sierra Leone in his explorations.In the Greek translation of his reporthe tells of seeingGorillai, the name of which he allegedly learned from local informantsand which he thought were members of a tribe of hairy women.In fact they were probably the same creatures that Thomas Savage described about 24 centuries later.在涉及到gorilla 这个词的历史时，传说中的两次探险可以联系在一起， 这同样也证明了古典文学对科学术语命名的影响。汤姆斯·S·萨维奇医生，到西非传教的美国传教士，在1847年第一次描述了大猩猩并给它起了个新拉丁语名字Troglodytes gorilla 。 在命名时他就用了希腊文学知识，这个命名也同样出现在一本公元前 4世纪安诺写的见闻译本里，安诺也到过西非。 这位迦太基航海家，公元前 480年之前开始出航， 在他的探险过程中，最远到达过塞拉利昂。在他写见闻的希腊译本里，他说他见到了Gorillai ， 据他自己声称他是从当地向导那儿学到这个名字的，并认为它是指多毛女人部落的成员。实际上他们可能是大约24世纪以后汤姆斯·萨奇所描述的同样的动物〔indeed〕In fact; in reality:真正地；实际上：〔read〕I read the novel as a parable.我认为这本小说实际上是个寓言故事书〔conjunction〕"He is, in fact, a remarkable conjunction of talents"(Jerry Adler)“实际上，他集各种杰出的才能于一身”(杰里·阿德勒)〔Oxenstierna〕Swedish politician who virtually ruled Sweden as leader of the council of regency during the minority of Christina (1632-1644).奥克森谢东纳，阿克塞尔·古斯塔夫松：(1583-1654) 瑞典政治家，在克里斯蒂娜少数派时期(1632-1644年）他作为摄政委员会的领导人实际上统治瑞典〔irregardless〕The labelNon-Standard does only approximate justice to the status of irregardless. More precisely,it is a form that many people mistakenly believe to be a correct usage in formal stylebut that in fact has no legitimate antecedents in either standard or nonstandard varieties. (The word was likely coined from a blend ofirrespective and regardless. ) Perhaps this is why critics have sometimes insisted that there is "no such word" asirregardless, a charge they would not think of leveling at a bona fide nonstandard word such asain't, which has an ancient genealogy.给irregardless 贴上 Non-Standard 的标签只是对其地位做了近似恰当的评价。 更精确地说，许多人错误地相信它是正式语体中的规范用法，但实际上无论在标准或非标准变体中都没有这个词真正的前身。(该词可能是把irrespective 和 regardless 合在一起生造出来的。） 也许这就是为什么批评者们有时坚持认为“没有irregardless 这么个词”的原因， 他们不会把这项指责安在一个象ain't 这样一个正牌的非标准用词上， 因为这个词的家史渊源流长〔macabre〕The wordmacabre is an excellent example of a word formed with reference to a specific context that has long since disappeared for everyone but scholars. Macabre is first recorded in the phrase Macabrees daunce in a work written around 1430 by John Lydgate. Lydgate expressed it so because he thoughtMacabree was a French author, although he was actually dealing with the Old French phraseDanse Macabre, "the Dance of Death,” a subject of art and literature.In this dance,Death leads people of all classes and walks of life to the same final end.Themacabre element is thought by some to be an alteration of Macabe , "a Maccabee.” The Maccabees were Jewish martyrswho were honored by a feast throughout the Western Church,and reverence for them was linked to reverence for the dead.One of the biblical books of Maccabees also contains a passage (II Maccabees 12:43-45) mentioning sacrifices for the dead and their future resurrection,which has been used to defend the doctrine of Purgatory.Todaymacabre has no connection with the Maccabees and little connection with the Dance of Death,but it still has to do with death.单词macabre 是一个极好的例子，创造该词的来龙去脉除了学者之外早已被世人所遗忘。 Macabre 最早见于短语 Macabrees daunce 是在1430年前后约翰·利德盖特写的一本书中。 利德盖特这样表达是因为他认为Macabree 是源于法语的词， 实际上他指的是一个古老的法语短语Danse Macabre， “死神之舞，” 一个艺术与文学的主题。在这个舞蹈中，死神把各种各样的人带到了同一个终点。有人认为macabre 是 Macabe 的变体，“马加比人”。 马加比们就是那些犹太殉道者，在天主教会中通过节日表达对他们的敬意，对他们的尊敬和对死的敬畏是联系在一起的。基督教典籍中关于马加比人的书中有一段文字（Ⅱ马加比人12:43-45)提到对死者的祭祀和他们未来的复活，这段文字被用来捍卫关于炼狱的教义。今天macabre 与马加比人毫无联系， 与死神之舞相关甚少，但它仍与死亡有关〔poison〕The phrasepoison potion besides being alliterative also consists of doublets, that is, two words that go back ultimately to the same source in another language.The source for both words is Latinpōtiō, which meant "the act of drinking, a drink, or a liquid dose, as of a medicine or poison.”Our wordpotion retains the form of the Latin word (actually the form of the stem pōtiōn- ) and the "dose" sense, although it passed through Old French (pocion ) on its way to Middle English ( pocion ), first recorded in a work composed around 1300.In Old Frenchpocion is a learned borrowing, one that was deliberately taken from Latin in a form corresponding to the Latin form.But the Latin word had also passed through Vulgar Latin into Old French in the different formpoison. This word meant "beverage,” "liquid dose,” and also "poison beverage, poison.”The wordpoison is first recorded in Middle English in a work composed around 1200. Poison potion 这一词组除了押头韵外还是由同源异形词构成的， 也就是两词最终可归结到另一种语言中的同一本源。这两个词的来源都是拉丁词potio , 意为“喝的行为、一种饮品或一定的液体剂量，如药或毒药。”我们今天所使用的potion 保留了这一拉丁词的形式（实际上是词干 potion- 的形式）和“药剂”的意思， 虽然它是经由古法语（pocion ）传入中古英语的（ pocion ）， 该中古英语记录最早见于1300年左右著成的一部著作中。在古法语中pocion 是一个学术性的借词， 该词是以一种和其拉丁文形式对应的形式主动从拉丁文中借用的。但这一拉丁词也已经以另一种形式通过俗拉丁语，即poison ，传入古法语。 这个词意为“饮料、”“液体剂量”以及“毒性的饮料、毒药。”Poison 这个词最早是在一部大约在1200年写成的著作中记进中古英语的。 〔virtually〕In fact or to all purposes; practically:实际上地或实质上地：〔tycoon〕Business tycoons may consider themselves captains or even princes of industry,but by virtue of being calledtycoons, they have already achieved princely status,at least from an etymological point of view.Tycoon came into English from Japanese, which had borrowed the title, meaning "great prince,” from Chinese.Use of the word was intended to make the shogun,the commander in chief of the Japanese army, more impressive to foreigners (his official titleshōgun merely meant "general"). In fact, the shogun actually ruled Japan,although he was supposedly acting for the emperor.When Matthew C. Perry opened Japan to the West in 1854,he negotiated with the shogun, thinking him to be the emperor.The shogun's title,taikun, was brought back to the United States after Perry's visit.Abraham Lincoln's cabinet members usedtycoon as an affectionate nickname for the President. The word soon came to be used for business and industry leaders—perhaps at times for those who had as much right to such an impressive title as did the shogun.The word itself now has an old-fashioned sound,but when we encounter it,we should think back to the days of Commodore Perry and President Lincoln,both of whom were real tycoons in their own ways.商界大亨可能把他们自己当成是工业界的长官或甚至王子，但是因为被叫做tycoon ， 他们早已达到了王子般的地位，至少从词源学的观点来说是这样。Tycoon 由日语进入英语， 而日语的这个头衔是从汉语借来的，意思是“大王”。使用这个词是为了使幕府将军，日本军队的总指挥官给外国人以深刻的印象（他的官方头衔shogun 的意思仅仅是“将军”）。 实际上，是幕府将军统治着日本，尽管他被认为是为天皇办事。当马修·C·佩里1854年使日本向西方开放时，他和幕府将军进行了谈判，以为他就是日本天皇。幕府将军的头衔taikun ， 在佩里访问美国后带到了美国。亚伯拉罕·林肯的内阁成员把tycoon 用作总统的充满感情的绰号。 这个词很快也被用于商界和工界的领导人，也许有时这些人象幕府将军那样有权以致给人深刻的印象。这个词本身听起来有点老派，但是当我们遇到它时，我们应该回想起佩里海军准将和林肯总统的时代，他们两人以各自的方式成为真正的巨头〔Dickinson〕American poet who was virtually a recluse at her home in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she wrote more than a thousand verses infused with emotional depth and subtlety. The first volume of her poetry was not published until 1890.迪金森，埃米莉·伊丽莎白：(1830-1886) 美国女诗人，她实际上一直隐居在马萨诸塞州阿默斯特的家中。在那里，她写了上千首充满情感和精美绝妙的诗句。她的第一部诗集直到1890年才出版〔mayday〕"Mayday, mayday!” comes the international distress signal over the radio,and nobody stops to ask why the first of May is being mentioned at a time of crisis.Mayday, in fact, has nothing to do with the first of May. Instead, it is a spelling that represents the pronunciation of Frenchm'aidez, "help me,” or the latter part of the phrase venez m'aider, "come help me,” either of which are quite appropriate at such a critical juncture.“救命，救命!”无线电接收机中传来国际遇险呼救信号，总有人询问为何在危急时刻使用五月的第一天作为信号。实际上，Mayday 和五月份的第一天没有任何关系。 相反，它只是和法语中m'aidez “帮助我”或短语 venez m'aider “来帮助我”的后半部分的读音相同的一种拼写， 均适用于指紧要关头〔verticillaster〕A cymose inflorescence resembling a whorl but actually arising in the axils of opposite bracts, as in most mints.轮状聚伞花序：类似涡旋状的聚伞花序，但实际上是从相对花苞的枝腋中产生的，如同大部分的薄荷属植物〔intent〕In every practical sense; practically:几乎在一切方面；实际上：〔intent〕To all intents and purposes the case is closed.实际上这个案子已了结了〔acorn〕A thoughtful glance at the wordacorn might produce the surmise that it is made up of oak and corn, especially if we think ofcorn in its sense of "a kernel or seed of a plant,” as in peppercorn. The fact that others thought the word was so constituted partly accounts for the present formacorn. Here we see the workings of the process of linguistic change known as folk etymology,an alteration in form of a word or phrase so that it resembles a more familiar term mistakenly regarded as analogous.Acorn actually goes back to Old English æcern, "acorn,” which in turn goes back to the Indo-European root ōg-, meaning "fruit, berry.” 对acorn 稍加分析我们可能会产生这样的假设，它是由 oak 和 corn 两个词组成的， 特别是当我们想到corn 作为“植物的核或种子”的意思用时，如 胡椒粒。 有人认为这种组合方式就可解释现在acorn 这种形式。 在这我们就看到了语言学上被称为俗语源学的语言变化形式。一词或词组在形式上改变从而错误地被认为是类似性地代表另一个更为熟悉的词。Acorn 在古英语中实际上是 æcern， "acorn"的印欧语系中的词根是 og- ，意指“水果，浆果。” 〔debunk〕One can readily see thatdebunk is constructed from the prefix de-, meaning "to remove,” and the wordbunk. But what is the origin of the wordbunk, denoting the nonsense that is to be removed? Bunk came from a place where much bunk has originated, the United States Congress.During the 16th Congress (1819-1821) Felix Walker, a representative from western North Carolina whose district included Buncombe County, continued on with a dull speech in the face of protests by his colleagues.Walker replied he had felt obligated "to make a speech for Buncombe.”Such a masterful symbol for empty talk could not be ignored by the speakers of the language,andBuncombe, actually spelled Bunkum in its first recorded appearance in 1828 and later shortened tobunk, became synonymous with claptrap. The response to all this bunk seems to have been delayed,fordebunk is not recorded until 1923. 可以很容易地看出debunk 是由前缀 de-， 表“去掉”和单词bunk 构成的。 可是单词bunk 表示“要除去的无稽之谈”的含意的起源是什么呢? Bunk 来自美国国会，一个产生大量空话、假话的地方。在第16届国会期间(1819-1821年），一个来自北卡罗来纳州西部（其区域包括邦克姆县）的代表费列克斯·沃尔克面对其同僚们的抗议，而进行持续冗长枯燥的演讲，沃尔克说他有责任“为邦克姆发表演说”。这种说空话的杰作是不会被说英语的人忽视的。Buncombe 实际上在1828年第一次被记载时拼作 Bunkum ， 后来缩写成Bunk 并成为 claptrap 的同义词。 对这空话的反应似乎被耽搁了，因为debunk 直到1923年才被记录下来 〔ambiance〕"The curriculum and intellectual ambiance are virtually identical"(Robert Kanigel)“课程设置和学术气氛实际上是相通的”(罗伯特·坎尼格尔)〔critter〕Critter, a pronunciation spelling of creature, actually reflects a pronunciation that would have been very familiar to Shakespeare:16th- and 17th-century English had not yet begun to pronounce the-ture suffix with its modern (ch) sound. This archaic pronunciation still exists in regional Americancritter and in Irishcreature, pronounced (krāʹtŭr) and used in the same senses as the American regionalism. The most common meaning ofcritter is "a living creature,” whether wild or domestic; it also can mean "a child" when used as a term of sympathetic endearment,or it can mean "an unfortunate person.”In old-fashioned regional speech,critter and beast denoted a large domestic animal. The more restricted senses "a cow,” "a horse,” or "a mule" are still characteristic of the speech in specific regions of the United States.The use ofcritter among younger speakers almost always carries with it a jocular or informal connotation. Critter 是 creature 这一词的发音拼法， 实际上反映了一种莎士比亚极其通晓的发音法：16和17世纪的英语中还没有开始用现代英语中的(ch)音来发-ture 这一后缀的音。 这一古发音法仍存在于地区性美语critter 中， 而且在爱尔兰语中creature (kra'tur)的发音和用法与地区性美语相同。 critter 这一词的最通用的意思是“生物”，无论是野生的还是家养的； 作为昵称时，它可以作“小孩”解释；它还可以指“一个不幸运的人”。在老式的地区性语言中，critter 和 beast 意指大型的家畜。 它的更狭窄的含义“牛”、“马”或“驴”则仍然是美国某些特定地区的方言中的特有含义。年轻人对于critter 的用法则几乎总认为是带有恢谐或非正式的含义 〔practically〕For all practical purposes; virtually.实质地：从实际出发地；实际上，事实上〔mesmerism〕When the members of an audience sit mesmerized by a speaker,their reactions do not take the form of dancing, sleeping, or falling into convulsions.But if Franz Anton Mesmer were addressing the audience,such behavior could be expected.Mesmer, a visionary 18th-century physician,believed cures could be effected by having patients do thingssuch as sit with their feet in a fountain of magnetized waterwhile holding cables attached to magnetized trees.Mesmer then came to believe that magnetic powers resided in himself,and during highly fashionable curative sessions in Parishe caused his patients to have reactions ranging from sleeping or dancing to convulsions.These reactions were actually brought about by hypnotic powers that Mesmer was unaware he possessed.One of his pupils, named Puységur, then used the termmesmerism (first recorded in English in 1802) for Mesmer's practices. The related wordmesmerize (first recorded in English in 1829), having shed its reference to the hypnotic doctor, lives on in the sense "to enthrall.”当一群观众被一位演讲者深深吸引时，他们的反应方式不会是舞蹈、睡眠或哄堂大笑。但是如果换了弗兰茨·奥顿·梅斯梅尔来给这群听众作演讲的话，那么这些行为是有可能发生的。梅斯梅尔，这位18世纪眼光远大的医师，认为可以通过诸如以下方法来治疗疾病，即让病人把脚放在有磁性的水中，同时手执与磁力场相连接的电线。此后，梅斯梅尔又认为他自己体内就存在着磁力，并且他在巴黎推行他的治疗方法的过程中，他又使他的病人们作出了睡眠、舞蹈直至抽搐等各种反应。这些反应实际上是他所拥有的催眠力导致的，但他自己却不知道自己拥有这样的力量。后来，梅斯梅尔的一个叫做皮勒塞格尔的学生采用了mesmerism （在英语中始见于1802年）这一字眼来给梅斯梅尔的治疗方法命名。 另一相关词汇mesmerize （在英语中始见于1829年）则摒弃了与这位催眠医师的关系， 现在这个词意是“迷惑住”〔izzard〕The curious formizzard, meaning "the letter z ,” sounds a lot like words such as lizard and gizzard. That's because izzard was probably modeled on them to form a humorous version of the name of the letter that appears as zed in Great Britain and ezed in Scotland. Izzard is practically limited to certain fixed regional expressions such as from A to izzard, "from beginning to end,” and not to know A from izzard, "not to know even the most basic things.” 奇特的词语izzard ，意为“字母 z ”，这个词听起来很像 lizard 和 gizzard 等单词。这可能因为 izzard 是模仿它们构成的字母（英语中的 zed ，苏格兰语中的 ezed ）名称的幽默形式。 Izzard 实际上仅限于某些固定的区域词语，如 from A to izzard "从头到尾，彻底地"和 not to know A from izzard “连最基本的事情都不了解；一窍不通” 〔antiseptic〕"This is . . . not at all lighthearted or amiable music. In fact, the tone is unremittingly sober and antiseptic"(Donal Henahan)“这音乐一点也不轻松悦耳，实际上曲调一直很严肃、单调”(多纳尔·汉奈恩)〔front〕An apparently respectable person, group, or business used as a cover for secret or illegal activities.掩护：表面值得尊敬的人、团体或企业，实际上用阴谋或不法活动做掩盖〔quite〕Actually; really:真正地；实际上：〔implement〕The verbimplement, meaning "to put into practice, carry out,” has in fact been in use since the 19th century.Critics have sometimes objected to the verb as jargon,but its obvious usefulness appears to have outweighed their reservations.Eighty-nine percent of the Usage Panel accepts the usage in the sentenceThe mayor's office announced the creation of a special task force that will be responsible for implementing the new policy. 意思为“使生效，执行”的动词implement ， 实际上在19世纪已经在被使用。批评家们有时侯因为晦涩难懂而反对，但是它明显用途远远压倒了他们的保留意见。用法专题小组百分之八十九的成员接受了在句子市长办公室宣布了为执行新政策的专案小组的成立 中的用法 〔matter〕In fact; actually.事实上；实际上〔till〕Till is actually the older word, withuntil having been formed by the addition to it of the prefix un-, meaning "up to.” In the 18th centurythe spelling'till became fashionable, as iftill were a shortened form of until. Although'till is now nonstandard, 'til is sometimes used in this way and is considered acceptable, though it is etymologically incorrect. Till 实际上是这两个词中较早使用的一个， 在它前面加一个表示“直到”的前缀un- 构成了 until 。 在18世纪，'till 这种拼写方式很时髦， 似乎till 成了 until 的缩写形式。 尽管'till 现在不是标准的用法， 即使从词源学角度讲它是不正确的，'til 有时还这样使用，而且被认为是可以接受的 〔pretzel〕It is probably well known or widely assumed thatpretzel is a German word, since the food seems traditionally German, but the word ultimately has a Latin origin.The German wordBrezel or Pretzel, which was borrowed into English (first being recorded in American English in a newspaper of March 1856) goes back to the assumed Medieval Latin word brāchitellum. This would accord with the storythat a monk living in France or northern Italy first created the knotted shape of a pretzel,even though this type of biscuit had been enjoyed by the Romans.The monk wanted to symbolize arms folded in a prayer,hence the name derived from Latinbracchiātus, "having branches,” itself frombracchium, "branch, arm.” 可能象大家所熟知的或认定的那样，因为这种食品好象是德国的传统食品，所以大家认为pretzel 是个德语词， 但实际上这个词源于拉丁语。德语词Brezel 或 Pretzel 被借入英语（首次以美式英语记录于1856年3月的新闻报刊）可追溯到中世纪的拉丁词 brachitellum 。 这可能是与这个故事是一致的：一位住在法国或意大利北部的修士首创了这种节状的椒盐饼，尽管这种饼干很受罗马人的欢迎。那位修士想要象征祈祷者交叠的手臂，因此这个名字来源于拉丁语bracchiatus， 意为“有枝干的，” 该词本身又是由bracchium “枝干，手臂”演变而来的 〔hoke〕To give an impressive but artificial, false, or deceptive quality to:故作多情：赋予一种表面上很感人，但实际上做作、错误或骗人的品质：〔sneak〕Snuck is an Americanism first introduced in the 19th century as a nonstandard regional variant ofsneaked. But widespread use ofsnuck has become more common with every generation. It is now used by educated speakers in all regions,and there is some evidence to suggest that it is more frequent among younger speakers thansneaked is. Formal written English is naturally and properly more conservative than other varieties, of course,and heresnuck still meets with much resistance. Many writers and editors have a lingering unease about the form,particularly if they recall its nonstandard origins.In fact, our consolidated citations, exhibiting almost 10,000 instances ofsneaked and snuck, indicate thatsneaked is preferred by a factor of 7 to 2. And 67 percent of the Usage Panel disapproves ofsnuck. Nevertheless, in recent yearssnuck has been quietly establishing itself in formal writing. An electronic search of a wide range of reputable publications turns up hundreds of citations forsnuck, not just in sports writingbut in news columns and commentary: Snuck 是一个美国独创词， 19世纪作为sneaked 的不标准的地方变体被首次引入。 在每一代，snuck 这个词都得到了广泛应用。 现在，任何地区受过教育的人都使用它，而且证据显示在年轻的使用者中，它比sneaked 更加常用。 当然，正式的文字英语自然要比其它语体保守一些，在这里，snuck 一词还是受到了排挤。 许多作家和编辑对这个词的形式有一种长久的反感，特别是联系到它不标准的起源。实际上，在我们反复验证过的显示约一万个使用sneaked 和 snuck 的引文中， 表明sneaked 受到青睐的程度为七比二。 用法专题使用小组成员中百分之六十七的人的反对snuck 一词。 但是，最近几年，snuck 在正式文体中也悄悄确立了它的地位。 对一系列著名出版物的电子扫描调查显示出几百处使用snuck 的地方， 而且不光是在体育文章中，在新闻专栏和评论中也有使用： 〔that〕The standard rule isthatthat should be used only to introduce a restrictive (or "defining") relative clause, which serves to identify the entity being talked about;in this useit should never be preceded by a comma.Thus, we sayThe house that Jack built has been torn down, where the clausethat Jack built tells which house was torn down, orI am looking for a book that is easy to read, wherethat is easy to read tells what kind of book is desired. Onlywhich is to be used with nonrestrictive (or "nondefining") clauses, which give additional information about an entity that has already been identified in the context;in this use,which is always preceded by a comma. Thus, we sayThe students in Chemistry 10 have been complaining about the textbook, which (not that ) is hard to follow. The clausewhich is hard to follow does not indicate which text is being complained about; even if it were omitted,we would know that the phrasethe textbook refers to the text in Chemistry 10. The use ofthat in nonrestrictive clauses like this, though once common in writing and still frequent in speech,is best avoided in formal style. ·Some grammarians have argued that symmetry requires thatwhich should be used only in nonrestrictive clauses, asthat is to be used only in restrictive clauses. Thus, they suggest that we should avoid sentences such asI need a book which will tell me all about city gardening, where the clausewhich will tell me all about city gardening indicates which sort of book is needed. Such use ofwhich is useful where two or more relative clauses are joined by and or or, as inIt is a philosophy in which the common man may find solace and which many have found reason to praise. Which is also preferred to introduce a restrictive relative clausewhen the preceding phrase itself contains athat, as inI can only give you that which I don't need (not that that I don't need ) or We want to assign only that book which will be most helpful (preferred tothat book that will be most helpful ). · That may be omitted in a relative clause when the subject of the clause is different from the referent of the phrase preceding the clause. Thus, we may say eitherthe book that I was reading or the book I was reading, where the subject of the clause (I ) is not the referent of the phrase the book. Omission ofthat in these cases has sometimes been described as incorrect, but the practice is extremely common and has ample precedent in reputable writing. ·There have also been occasional objections to the omission ofthat in its use to introduce a subordinate clause, as inI think we should try again. But this usage is entirely idiomatic and is in fact favored with some of the verb phrases that can introduce such clauses:thus, one would more normally write 标准规则中，that 应只被用于引导限定性（或“确定的”）关系从句， 这些从句用于明确正被谈论的实体；在这种情况下，前面决不能有逗号。因此，我们说杰克建的房子已经拆毁了 ， 在这里，从句杰克所建的 指明哪幢房子被拆毁了， 或者我正在找一本易读的书 ， 在这里，易读的 指明哪类书是需要的。 只有which 用于非限定性（或“不确定的”）从句中， 为已经在上下文中定义的实体提供附加信息；在此用法中，which 之前总有逗号。 因此，我们说化学10班的学生一直在抱怨这课本，实在 （不是 that ) 是太难懂了 。 从句which is hard to follow 并不指明哪一课本被抱怨； 即使它被省略，我们也知道the textbook 指化学10班的课本。 That 象这样用于非限定性从句中， 虽然在写作中曾很普遍而且在口语中依然频繁出现，但在正式文体中最好避免使用。一些语法学家认为对称性要求which 应只用于非限定性从句中， 就象that 只用于限定性从句中。 因此，他们建议我们应该避免诸如我需要一本关于城市园艺的书 这样的句子， 这里从句which will tell me all about city gardening 指明需要何种书。 当两个或多个关系从句被and 或 or 连接时， which 的这种用法很有用， 如是哲学使普通人找到慰藉并使许多人有理由去称颂。 Which 也用作引导限定性关系从句，在当前置短语中含有that 时， 如我只能给你我不需要的东西 （不是 that that I don't need )或 我们只想分发那本最用的书 （好于that book that will be most helpful )。 当从句主语与从句前短语所指不一致时，that 在关系从句中可以省略。 因此，我们可以说the book that I was reading 或者 the book I was reading 。 在这里，从句主语(I )和短语 the book 的主语不同。 在这些情况下，that 的省略有时被认为是错误的， 但是这在实际中极普遍而且在规范写作中有充分的先例。对于that 用于引导从句时被省略偶然持有异议， 如在我认为我们应该再试一次 中。 但这种用法完全符合语法而且实际上有一些引导这样从句的短语支持；因此，可以正常应用 〔rhubarb〕The wordrhubarb may contain two hidden references to its origins. The first of these is in therhu- part of the word, which can be traced back to the Greek wordrha, meaning "rhubarb.”According to the Late Latin historian Ammianus Marcellinus,rhubarb was namedrha because it grew near the river namedRha, which we know as the Volga. The-barb part of rhubarb was actually added first to Late Latin rha, descended from Greek rha, in the form rhabarbarum, barbarum being the neuter form of barbarus, "foreign.” Another Greek word for rhubarb,rhēon, influenced the Late Latin word rhabarbarum, giving usreubarbarum, which yielded Old Frenchreubarbe. The Old French form gave us Middle Englishrubarbe, first recorded in a work written around 1390.In imitation of the way the Greek wordrha is spelled, anh was added, completing the long journey of this word into English from the banks of the Volga in classical times.单词rhubarb 可能包含两个关于其语源的隐藏的参考信息。 第一个是单词中的rhu- 部分， 它可追溯到希腊单词rha， 意为“大黄。”根据后期拉丁历史学家阿米亚诺斯·马塞勒斯的意见，大黄被命名为rha， 因为它生长在我们称之为伏尔加河的Rha 河附近。 Rhubarb 中的 -barb 实际上最初以 rhabarbarum 的形式加在由希腊语 rha 传下来的后期拉丁语 rha 上， barbarum作为 barbarus （“异族的”）的中性形式。 另一个表大黄的希腊单词rheon 影响了后期拉丁单词 rhabarbarum， 让我们得到单词reubarbarum， 并由此产生了古法语词reubarbe 。 该古法语形式产生了中世纪英语rubarbe， 首次记录在写于1390年左右的一本著作中。模仿希腊单词rha 拼写的方式， 再加上一个h， 从而完成了这个词从古代伏尔加河岸转变到英语的漫长历程〔acrostic〕An acrostic gives the reader two for one,and the etymology of the word emphasizes one of these two.Our word goes back to the Greek wordakrostikhis, "acrostic,” which is a combination of Greekakron, "head,” and stikhos, "row, line of verse.” Literallyakrostikhis means "the line at the head,” emphasizing the fact that an acrostic has in addition to horizontal rows a vertical row formed of the letters at the "head" or start of each line.In ancient manuscripts, in which a line of verse did not necessarily correspond to a line of text,an acrostic would have looked particularly striking, with each of its lines standing by itself and beginning with a capital letter.Our word for this type of composition is first found in English in the 16th century.离合诗一词实际上有两种含义，在此这个词的语源只强调其中的一种。此词可追溯到希腊词akrostikhis “藏头诗”， 是希腊字akron “头，”和 stikhos “诗行”的合并。 akrostikhis 本来指“在开头的诗行”， 强调一首离合诗除了水平方向的行数外，还有由每一行的“头”或起首词组成的垂直方向的诗行。在古代的作品中，一诗行并不一定要和文章中的一行相对应。一首离合诗，当其每一行单列出来，且以一大写字母开头， 那就非常引人注目了。在英语中首次用藏头诗一词表示这种作品是在16世纪〔Tehuelche〕A member of a South American Indian people of Patagonia, virtually exterminated by the European settlers.德卫尔彻人：居住在巴塔哥尼亚高原的南美印第安民族的人，他们实际上被欧洲移民者灭绝〔impostor〕It was difficult to discern that despite all the abstruse vocabulary the professor was really a charlatan. 很难辨明那个教授虽然有很多深奥的词汇，实际上却是一个冒充内行的人 〔hardly〕The use ofhardly with a negative is avoided in Standard English. Some critics have been puzzled that adverbs such ashardly, rarely, and scarcely should be treated as negatives in the traditional strictures against double negation, which tars sentences likeI couldn't hardly see him with the same brush as I didn't get none. After all, they argue, the sentenceMary hardly laughed entails that Mary did laugh, not that she didn't,and therefore does not express a negative proposition.Buthardly and scarcely occur with other negative expressions in a number of ways. For one thing, they combine with items such asany and at all, which are characteristically associated with negative contexts: we sayI hardly saw him at all or I never saw him at all but notI occasionally saw him at all; we sayI hardly had any time or I didn't have any time but notI had any time, and so on. Like other negative adverbs,hardly triggers inversion of the subject and auxiliary when it begins a sentence. Thus we sayHardly had I arrived when she left, on the pattern of Never have I read such a book or At no time has he condemned the movement. Such inversion is not used with other adverbs:we would not sayOccasionally has he addressed this question or To a slight degree have they changed their position. The fact is that adverbs such ashardly are semantically negative in that they qualify a state or an event relative to the limiting case of nonoccurrence.Thus the meaning ofhardly is, roughly, "almost not at all"; the meaning ofrarely is "practically never"; and so forth. These adverbs are felt to have a negative component in their meaning,and it should not be surprising that grammarians have reacted to combinations ofhardly with negatives in the same way that they have reacted to combinations of pairs of negatives such as not and none. See Usage Note at double negative ,rarely ,scarcely Hardly 和一个否定词在一起的用法在标准英语中应尽量避免， 一些批评学家一直怀疑象hardly，rarely 和 scarcely 这样的副词在传统的双重否定的句中应被视为否定词， 这样的词使句子象I couldn't hardly see him 和 I didn't get none 一样被弄糟了， 他们争论说，毕竟句子Mary hardly laughed 的意思是玛丽的确笑了， 而不是她没笑，所以不表示否定的建议。但是hardly 和 scarcely 和其他的否定表示一起在许多方面出现， 举例说，他们和象any 和 at all 这样独特的和否定上下文联系的条目组合在一起， 我们说I hardly saw him at all 或 I never saw him at all , 但并不是I occasionally saw him at all； 我们说I hardly had any time 或 I didn't have any time 但不是I had any time 等。 象其它否定副词，hardly 在句子开头时引起主语和助动词的倒装， 于是我们说Hardly had I arrived when she left， 和 Never have I read such a book 或 At no time has he condemned the movement. 等同样的句型。 别的副词并不用这样的倒装：我们不能说Occasionally has he addressed this question 或 To a slight degree have they changed their position 。 事实是象hardly 这样的副词语义上是否定的， 他们限定修饰了与不发生有关的状态或事件。于是hardly 的意思大概是“几乎根本不”； rarely 的意思大概是“实际上没有”；等等。 这些副词在他们的意思里留有否定的成分，语法学家们对hardly 和否定词组合的反应和对一对否定词如 not 和 none组合的反应一样是不足为奇的 参见 double negative,rarely,scarcely |
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英汉汉英双解词典收录301015条英汉双解翻译词条，可根据汉字查询相应的英文词汇，基本涵盖了全部常用汉字的英文读音、翻译及用法，是英语学习及翻译工作的有利工具。