| 单词 | 很自然 |
| 释义 | 〔buffalo〕The buffalo is so closely associated with the Wild West that it would seem natural to assume that its name comes from a Native American word, as is the case with the wordsmoose and skunk. In fact, however,buffalo can probably be traced back by way of one or more of the Romance languages, such as Portuguese, Spanish, or Italian, through Vulgar Latin and Latin and ultimately to the Greek wordboubalos, meaning "an antelope or a buffalo.” The buffalo referred to by the Greek and Latin words was, of course, not the American one but rather an Old World mammal, such as the water buffalo of southern Asia.Applied to the North American mammal,buffalo is in fact a misnomer, bison being the preferred term. As far as everyday usage is concerned, however,buffalo, first recorded for the American mammal in 1635, is older thanbison, first recorded in 1774. 野牛同西部荒原联系如此紧密以致人们很自然地认为这个名字源于美洲本地语言，就象这两个词moose 和 skunk。 然而，实际上buffalo 一词可以通过一种或更多种日耳曼语言，如葡萄牙语、西班牙语或意大利语溯源。 通过通俗拉丁语和拉丁语最终追溯到希腊词boubalos 意思是“羚羊或野牛”。 希腊语和拉丁语所指的野牛当然不是美洲野牛，而是东半球的一种哺乳动物，如南亚水牛。就北美哺乳动物来说，buffalo 实际上是用词不当， bison 才是合适的词。 然而就日常用法而言，buffalo 于1635年首次被用于记录美国哺乳动物， 比首次记录于1774年的bison 要早些 〔blatant〕It is natural thatblatant and flagrant are often confused, since the words overlap in meaning.Both attribute conspicuousness and offensiveness to certain acts.Butblatant emphasizes the failure to conceal the act: 混淆单词blatant 和 flagrant 是很自然的， 因为两词有重叠含义，都是指某种行为的引人注意和令人讨厌。但是blatant 强调没有隐藏这种行为： 〔immaterial〕The wordimmaterial, meaning "of no importance or relevance,” has made its way in the world in spite of the opposition of no less a figure than Samuel Johnson. Johnson stated that "this sense has crept into the conversation and writings of barbarians; but ought to be utterly rejected.”More than two centuries laterit is difficult for us to recover Johnson's strength of feeling,and this tale might in fact serve as a warning to those who believe that the usages they abominate will not survive and become standard.Although Johnson was a man of immense learning,he did not have the lexicographical resources available today.If Johnson had had access to theOxford Latin Dictionary and the Middle English Dictionary, among other works, he would have seen that frommāter, meaning "a mother,” "a plant as the source of things such as cuttings or fruit,” and "a source,”was derived the wordmāteria, meaning "wood as a building material,” "any substance of which a physical object is made,” "the subject matter of a speech or book,” and "the condition whereby an action is effected.”The adjectivemāteriālis derived from māteria only meant "of or concerned with subject matter" in Classical Latin, but its descendant in Late and Medieval Latin and its descendants in Old French (materiel ) and Middle English ( material ) developed other meanings, such as "consisting of matter.”One Middle English sense, "important, relevant,”that probably harks back to senses of Classical Latinmāteria such as "subject matter" continued in existence after Middle English times. So it was natural for the English wordimmaterial, first recorded in the 15th century, to come to mean "not important,” in spite of Johnson's wrath.尽管不只塞缪尔·约翰逊一个人反对意思为“不重要的，无关紧要的”，immaterial 这个词还是产生了。 约翰逊声明：“这个意思偷偷出现在野蛮民族的对话和写作中；但应该遭到完全抵制。”两个多世纪之后，我们很难重新找到约翰逊强烈的感受。这个故事实际上可以算是对那些认为他们厌恶的用法不可能生存和标准化的人的一种警告。尽管约翰逊是一个博学的人，但是他没有今天可以得到的词汇学的资料。如果约翰逊除了其他著作外能得到牛津拉丁语词典 和 中古英语词典 的话， 他就能从中认识到这一点：mater ， 意思为“母亲”，“作为诸如剪下的东西或水果来源的一株植物”和“来源”，是由materia ， 意思为“建筑用的木材”，“用于制造物体的任何材料”，“讲话或著作的主题”和“影响一个行动的条件”而衍变而来的。形容词materalis 是由在古典拉丁语中仅仅意味着“和主题有关的” materia 衍变而来的， 但它在中古拉丁语和后期拉丁语中的衍生词和古法语中的衍生词(materiel )以及中古英语中的衍生词( material )继续发展有了其他的意思， 如“由物质组成的”。中古英语的一个意思“重要的、有关的”，很可能追溯到古典拉丁语materia 的意思如“主题”在中古英语时期之后继续存在。 因此，最早在15世纪被记录下来的英语单词immaterial 至今仍有“不重要的”的意思是很自然的， 尽管约翰逊对此很愤怒〔belong〕To fit into a group naturally:合得来：很自然地适应一个群体：〔who〕The traditional rules that determine the use ofwho and whom are relatively simple: who is used for a grammatical subject, where a nominative pronoun such as I or he would be appropriate, andwhom is used elsewhere. Thus, we writeThe actor who played Hamlet was there, sincewho stands for the subject of played Hamlet; andWho do you think is the best candidate? where who stands for the subject of is the best candidate. But we writeTo whom did you give the letter? sincewhom is the object of the preposition to; andThe man whom the papers criticized did not show up, sincewhom is the object of the verb criticized. ? Considerable effort and attention are required to apply the rules correctly in complicated sentences.To produce correctly a sentence such asI met the man whom the government had tried to get France to extradite, we must anticipate when we writewhom that it will function as the object of the verb extradite, several clauses distant from it.It is thus not surprising that writers from Shakespeare onward should often have interchangedwho and whom. And though the distinction shows no signs of disappearing in formal style,strict adherence to the rules in informal discourse might be taken as evidence that the speaker or writer is paying undue attention to the form of what is said, possibly at the expense of its substance.In speech and informal writingwho tends to predominate over whom; a sentence such asWho did John say he was going to support? will be regarded as quite natural, if strictly incorrect. By contrast, the use ofwhom where who would be required, as inWhom shall I say is calling? may be thought to betray a certain linguistic insecurity. ? When the relative pronoun stands for the object of a preposition that ends a sentence,whom is technically the correct form: the strict grammarian will insist onWhom (not who ) did you give it to? But grammarians since Noah Webster have argued that the excessive formality ofwhom in these cases is at odds with the relative informality associated with the practice of placing the preposition in final position and that the use of who in these cases should be regarded as entirely acceptable. ? The relative pronounwho may be used in restrictive relative clauses, in which case it is not preceded by a comma, or in nonrestrictive clauses, in which case a comma is required.Thus, we may say eitherThe scientist who discovers a cure for cancer will be immortalized, where the clausewho discovers a cure for cancer indicates which scientist will be immortalized, orThe mathematician over there, who solved the four-color theorem, is widely known, where the clausewho solved the four-color theorem adds information about a person already identified by the phrase the mathematician over there. ? Some grammarians have argued that onlywho and not that should be used to introduce a restrictive relative clause that identifies a person. This restriction has no basis either in logic or in the usage of the best writers;it is entirely acceptable to write eitherthe man that wanted to talk to you or the man who wanted to talk to you. ? The grammatical rules governing the use ofwho and whom apply equally to whoever and whomever. See Usage Note at else ,that ,whose 确定用法的传统规则who 和 whom 相对简单： who 语法上用作主语，同 I 或 he 等主格代词的位置相同， 而whom 用于别处。 这样，我们写The actor who played Hamlet was there （演哈姆雷特的演员在那边）， 因此who 代表的是 played Hamlet 的主语。 在句子Who do you think is the best candidate? （你认为谁是最好的候选人?）中 who 代表 is the best candidate 的主语。 但是我们说To whom did you give the letter? （你把信给谁了?）， 因为whom 是介词 to 的宾语； 在句子The man whom the papers criticized did not show up, （报纸上批评的那个人没有来）， 因为whom 是动词 criticized 的宾语 。在复杂的句子里，正确应用这些规则需要相当的努力和注意。正确地造出如I met the man whom the government had tried to get France to extradite （我遇到了政府曾努力让法国引渡的那个人）这样的句子， 在写whom 之前我们必须预知它将作动词 extradite 的宾语， 尽管两个词离得很远。这也就难怪自莎士比亚以来的作家经常把who 和 whom 交换使用了。 尽管在正式文体中两者区别仍然存在，但如果在非正式的交谈中严格地遵守这些规则会被认为说话者或作者可能不顾内容而过分注视说话的形式。在口语和非正式书面语中，who 趋向于代替 whom; 人们会认为象Who did John say he was going to support? （约翰说他将支持谁?）这样句子很自然，尽管严格来说它是不正确的。 相反，在应该用who 的地方用 whom 则显出一种语言上的不稳定， 如Whom shall I say is calling? （我说是谁在打电话?）。 当关系代词替代句尾的介词宾语时，whom 在理论上是正确的形势： 严格的语法坚持Whom （而不是 who ) did you give it to?（你把它给谁了？） 但从诺·韦伯斯特以来的语法学家认为whom 在这种情况下过分正式，而把介词放在句尾相对来说又不正式，这就有了矛盾，所以在这种情况下用 who 完全可以接受。 关系代词who 可以用在限定关系从句中，前面不要加逗号， 也可用在非限定关系从句中，则需要加逗号。所以我们既可以说The scientist who discovers a cure for cancer will be immortalized （发现治愈癌症的方法的科学家将会因此而不朽）， 在此处从句who discovers a cure for cancer 指这样的科学家将会不朽， 也可以说The mathematician over there, who solved the four-color theorem, is widely known （在那边的数学家非常出名，他解决了四色定理）， 从句who solved the four-color theorem 给已经由短语 the mathematician over there 确定了的人增加了一些有关他的信息。 有些语法学家认为只有who 而不是 that 可以连接表示人的限定性关系从句。 这种限制在逻辑上没有根据，在最优秀作家的用法中也未有根据；无论说the man that wanted to talk to you （想要跟你说话的那个人）或 the man who wanted to talk to you 都是完全可以接受的。 有关who 和 whom 的语法规则同样适用于 whoever 和 whomever 参见 else,that,whose〔wish〕 This usage is consonant with formal style,where it is natural to treat the desires of others with exaggerated deference.The corresponding use ofwish with a noun-phrase object is less frequent, though it cannot be regarded as incorrect: 这种用法符合正式文体，因正式文体中对别人的愿望表示出夸大的尊重很自然。尽管不会认为是错误的，但wish 加上名词短语作宾语不太常见： 〔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〔careen〕The implication of rapidity that most often accompanies the use ofcareen as a verb of motion may have arisen naturally through the extension of the nautical sense of the verb to apply to the motion of automobiles, which generallycareen, that is, lurch or tip over, only when driven at high speed. There is thus no reason to conclude that this use of the verb is the result of a confusion ofcareen with career, "to rush.” Whatever the origin of this use, however,it is by now so well establishedthat it would be pedantic to object to it.在多数时候，careen 作为动作动词使用时具有速度迅捷的含义。把该动词在航海方面的意思引申，使其义应用于汽车的运行，也许这样就很自然地产生了迅捷的含义； 因为汽车只有在高速行驶时通常才careen ，即突然地侧倾或偏斜。 据此，如果下结论说动词的这种用法是混淆了careen 和表示“急驰，猛冲的” careen 的结果，这是毫无道理的。 然而，不论这用法的起源是什么，如今它已得到确认，要对此表示异议的话未免过于迂腐了〔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。〔cynic〕A cynic may be pardoned for thinking that this is a dog's life.The Greek wordkunikos, from which cynic comes, was originally an adjective meaning "doglike,” fromkuōn, "dog.” The word was most likely applied to the Cynic philosophers because of the nicknamekuōn given to Diogenes of Sinope, the prototypical Cynic. He is said to have performed such actions as barking in public, urinating on the leg of a table, and masturbating on the street.The first use of the word recorded in English, in a work published from 1547 to 1564, is in the plural for members of this philosophical sect.In 1596 we find the first instance ofcynic meaning "faultfinder,” a sense that was to develop into our modern sense.The meaning "faultfinder" came naturally from the behavior of countless Cynics who in their pursuit of virtue pointed out the flaws in others.Such faultfinding could lead quite naturally to the belief associated with cynics of today that selfishness determines human behavior.犬儒学派成员因认为这是狗的生命而可能被赦免。希腊词kunikos 是 cynic 的来源， 最初为形容词，意思是“似狗”，源自kuon “狗”，。 这个词最适用于犬儒派哲学家，因为给犬儒主义者的鼻祖的绰号是kuon 。 据说他曾经当众吼叫，在桌腿上小便，并且在街上手淫。这个词在一本1547到1564年出版的著作里首次用英语记录下来的用法是，用作复数来指代此哲学学派的成员。1596年，我们发现cynic 的第一个意思是吹毛求疵的人的例子， 也是发展成具有我们现代意义的含义。 “吹毛吹疵的人”这个意思是从无数个以追求指摘别人缺点为美德的犬儒主义者的行为而得来。这种指摘很自然地得出与现在的犬儒主义相联系的信仰，认为自私自利决定人类行为 |
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