| 单词 | 广为流传 |
| 释义 | 〔beefeater〕Tourists in England who have seen the warders of the Tower of London and the Yeomen of the Guard know that these men dressed in 15th-century uniforms are calledbeefeaters. Not all tourists are aware, however, that the original use of the term (recorded in 1610) was pejorative,referring to a well-fed servant.In a work published before 1628 the word was also said to have been used contemptuously by the French for an Englishman or an English soldier.The wordbeefeater has thus risen in the world, for the well-fed, well-muscled beefeaters of today (this use was first recorded in 1671) are considered by many to be a national treasure. 到英国旅游见到过伦敦塔的皇家侍卫都知道这些身着15世纪制服的人叫伦敦塔卫士。 但并不是所有的游客都注意到了，这个词最早用作轻蔑语（载于1610年），是指吃得很好的仆人。在1628年前发表的一篇文章中，这个词也被法国人用来蔑称英国人或英国士兵。由于今天营养充足，肌肉发达的皇家侍卫（该意最早使用刊载于1671年）被许多人认为是英国的国宝，伦敦塔卫士 一词于是开始广为流传 〔limerick〕Etymologies can sometimes be a bit disappointing,as, for example,when one is told thatlimerick is named after a city or county in Ireland without being told why it is so named.Unfortunately, we run into a difficulty here that is not uncommonly faced by etymologists,namely, that no one is precisely sure why this piece of humorous verse was so named.One theory is that it was named for a group of poets who wrote in Limerick in the 18th century;another, that it came from a custom at parties of making up a nonsense verse and following it with a chorus of "Will you come up to Limerick.”In any case,the first limericks appeared in books published in 1820 and 1821,and the form was popularized by Edward Lear in a collection published in 1846.The word itself, however, is not recorded until 1896.Let us sum up by saying:"There once was a verse form named limerick./No one can account for the name of it./Some think from a game/Or from poets it came./If you know please come up to Limerick.”查看词源学后会经常令我们失望，这是因为，比如，当某人得知limerick 是由爱尔兰的一城市（或一个郡的）名字而来， 却并不告知这样命名的原因。不幸的是，我们碰到了一个词源学家经常遇到的难题，那就是，没有一个人能确定为什么这种幽默的诗歌这样命名。一种理论认为它是源于18世纪在利默里克写作的一群诗人；还有一种看法认为它是源于一种集会上的风俗，这种风俗要求写完一毫无意义的诗后众人合唱“你将去利默里克吗”。不管怎样，1820年和1821年出版的这种五行打油诗集子广为流传，爱德华·利尔于1846年出版的集子使这种形式得到普及。但是，这个单词直到1896年才有记载。我们可以通过这么说来总结：“曾经有种诗的形式名叫利默里克。/但没有人能解释它的名字。/有人认为源于一种游戏/或源于一群诗人。/如果你知道就到利默里克来。”〔Pinkham〕American patent-medicine manufacturer. Her Vegetable Compound became the most widely advertised product of its time.平克汉，吕底亚·埃斯蒂斯：(1819-1883) 美国专利药物生产者。她的蔬菜合成物成为当时最广为流传产品〔challenged〕People who object to the termsdisabled and handicapped as being too negative sometimes propose the substitution of challenged instead, as in referring to persons with physical disabilities as physically challenged. While this particular phrase is quite popular, it is sometimes taken to be condescending, and similar usages such as mentally challenged have failed to win equal acceptance. Indeed, the widespread parody of challenged in such expressions as electronically challenged for "inept at using computers" has effectively eliminated it as an all-purpose alternative to disabled or handicapped. 一些觉得使用disabled 和 handicapped 字眼过于负面的人，偶会以委婉的 challenged 代替，如用 physically challenged 指肢体有缺陷。这个特别词汇的使用相当普遍，因为有时会被视为较谦逊的用法，不过相似用法的接受度不一定相同， mentally challenged 这个用法便无法获得相同的认同。事实上，广为流传的 challenged 谐谑用法如以 electronically challenged（计算机残障） 来形容计算机白痴，已使得其全面替代 disabled 或 handicapped 沦为梦想 |
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