| 单词 | 或许 |
| 释义 | 〔universal〕Knowledgeable about or constituting all or many subjects; comprehensively broad.博学多才的：关于或组成所有或许多学科知识的；包罗万象的广阔〔full〕Having a great deal or many:大量的或许多的：〔process〕In recent yearsthere has been a tendency to pronounce the plural ending-es of processes as (-ēz), perhaps by analogy with words of Greek origin such asanalysis and neurosis. Butprocess is not of Greek origin, and there is no etymological justification for this pronunciation of its plural.The pronunciation may someday become so widespread as to be a standard variant,but it still strikes some listeners as a bungled affectation.近年来，有把processes 的复数词尾 -es 读成(-ez)的趋势， 这也许与源于希腊语的词analysis 和 neurosis 相似。 但是process 不是来源于希腊语， 因此从词源学的角度来说，其复数形式不应这么发音。或许有一天这种发音会被广泛采用而成为标准的变体，但仍有一些人听了这种发音后会觉得这是一种拙劣的矫揉造作〔opposition〕"The history of men's opposition to women's emancipation is more interesting perhaps than the story of that emancipation itself"(Virginia Woolf)“男人反对妇女解放的历史或许比解放本身更有趣”(弗吉尼亚·沃尔夫)〔belief〕Something believed or accepted as true, especially a particular tenet or a body of tenets accepted by a group of persons.信仰，信条：被相信或被接受为真理的东西，尤指为一群人接受的一种特别的宗旨或许多原则〔edit〕The wordedit is often cited as an example of back-formation. In other words, edit is not the source ofeditor, asdive is of diver, the expected derivational pattern;rather, the reverse is the case. Edit in the sense "to prepare for publication,” first recorded in 1793,comes fromeditor, first recorded in 1712 in the sense "one who edits.”There is more to the story, however. Edit also partly comes from the French wordéditer, "to publish, edit,” first recorded in 1784.In the case ofedit, two processes, borrowing and back-formation, have thus occurred either independently or together,perhaps one person takingedit from French originally, another fromeditor, and yet a third from both.单词edit 常用来作为逆构词的一个范例， 换句话说， edit 并不是editor 的语源， 就象dive 不是 diver 的语源， 这是我们臆想中的派生模式；当然，这种逆构词只是一种范例而已。 Edit 作为“准备出版物”的意义最早记录于1793年，这是从editor 来的， 它在1712年就以“编辑者”的意义首次记录。但这里还有更多的故事。 Edit 的一部分来源于法语词éditer ，即“出版、编辑”， 它最早记录于1784年。在edit 这个词中含有两种造词过程，外借和逆构， 可能是分开进行也可能是同时起作用，或许一个人从原法语词中借用了edit 这个字， 而另一人则从editor 中造出新字， 第三个人却从两个词源中得到这个字〔kidnap〕nap [to snatch] perhaps variant of nab [or of Scandinavian origin] nap [夺，夺走] 可能为 nab的变体 [或许源于斯堪的纳维亚语] 〔can〕since it requires the pupil to distinguish explicitly between what is possible and what is allowed,a difference not always apparent to younger children.And even in later life,observance of the distinction is often advisable in the interests of clarity.Thus, the sentenceStudents can take no more than three courses allows the possibility that a student who is unusually capable may take more, whereasStudents may take no more than three courses does not. · The use ofcan to express permission is better tolerated in negative questions, as inCan't I have the car tonight? probably because the alternative contractionmayn't is felt to be awkward. 由于这要求学生清楚地区分可能的和得到许可的两者之间的差异，而这对小孩子们常常是不太明显的。并且在其今后的生活中，为明确起见，体会这种差异常常是很可取的。因此，句子学生们可以选修不超过三门的课程 给能力超常的学生学更多的课程提供了可能性， 然而学生们只能选修不超过三门的课程 则不能提供这种可能性。 can 的用法更可用于否定疑问句中表示许可， 如 我今晚不能使用这车吗？ ， 或许是由于可替代的缩写mayn't 感觉起来有些笨拙的缘故 〔pudding〕A sausagelike preparation made with minced meat or various other ingredients stuffed into a bag or skin and boiled.布丁肠：一种由碎肉或许多其它成分填入袋内或皮内煮后制成的类似香肠的配制品〔sunbeam〕The period of European history from the 5th to the 11th century,although often called the Dark Ages,in fact did much to preserve and extend the light of civilization.One of the relatively minor contributions of the time, albeit a fortunate one for us, is the addition of the wordsunbeam to the English language. The word is believed to have entered English in the 9th century through the work of the English king Alfred the Great. A scholar as well as a king, Alfred undertook a number of translations of great Latin writings,rendering them into the English of his time, now known as Old English.Among the works translated during Alfred's reign was a store of narratives and information about England's earliest connections with the Church,called theHistoria Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, or The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, a work composed by the Venerable Bede. Several times in his book Bede uses the Latin phrasecolumna lucis, which we would today translate as "a column of light.”Since the Old English translator did not have the wordcolumn in his vocabulary, he substituted the word beam, which meant "a tree" or "a building post made from a tree.”Columna lucis thus became sunnebeām, or "sun post,” which survives as our sunbeam. Ifsunbeam is perhaps a less stately expression than "column of light,” it has nevertheless served us well. From it the wordbeam alone came to mean "a ray or rays of light"; it subsequently became a verb meaning "to radiate.”It now allows us not only to beam with pride or happinessbut also to beam our broadcasts to other countries and ourselves, as some would have it, through space.Column would never do. 欧洲历史上从5世纪到11世纪这段时期，尽管经常成为黑暗的年代，但为保存和发展文明之光做了很多努力。这个时期相对不太重要的贡献之一，但对我们来说 十分幸运的就是阳光光束 这个单词加进了英语语言中。 人们相信这个词是通过英格兰国王阿尔费雷德大帝的努力于9世纪进入英语的。阿尔费雷德不仅是位国王，他还是位学者，他着手翻译了许多部重要的拉丁文作品，他将它们译成他那个时代的英文，即现在所说的古英语。在阿尔费雷德统治时期翻译的作品中，有一部有关于英格兰与教会的最早联系的丰富叙述和信息，书名是Historia Ecclesiastic Gentis Anglorum 或 The Ecclesiastical History of the English People （英国人民的基督教历史），作者是尊敬的比德。 在这本书中，比德数次使用了拉丁文短语columna hucis ， 今天我们将其译为“一束阳光”。因为古英语翻译家在他所掌握的词汇中还没有column （柱子）这个词，所以他用 beam 这个词代替， 当时的意思是“树”或“用树做成的建筑物的支柱”。Columna lucis 就这样成了 sunnebeam 或“光束”， 它以 sunbeam 的形式存在。 或许sunbeam（阳光光束） 这种表达方法不如“光柱”这么堂皇，但是它很合我们用。 由此，beam 这个词单独也可作“一束光或多束光”讲， 而且它逐渐地变成了动词，意思是“发射，发光”。现在我们不仅可以说因骄傲或幸福而散发光彩，还可以说通过大气向其它国家和我们自己广播，如果他们进行的话。Column 可不行 〔facultative〕Capable of occurring or not occurring; contingent.偶发的：能发生的或不能发生的；或许发生的〔quiz〕Although we do not know the origin of the wordquiz, just as we may not know the answers to all the questions on a quiz,we can say that its first recorded sense has to do with people,not tests.The term, first recorded in 1782,meant "an odd or eccentric person.”From the noun in this sense came a verbmeaning "to make sport or fun of" and "to regard mockingly.”In English dialects and probably in American Englishthe verbquiz acquired senses relating to interrogation and questioning. This presumably occurredbecausequiz was associated with question, inquisitive, or perhaps the English dialect verb quiset, "to question" (probably itself short for obsoleteinquisite, "to investigate"). From this new area of meaning came the noun and verb senses all too familiar to students.The second recorded instance of the noun sense occurs in the writings of no less an educator than William James,who in a December 26, 1867, letter proffers the hopethat "perhaps giving ‘quizzes’ in anatomy and physiology . . . may help along.”虽然我们不知道quiz 这个词的来源， 正象我们可能并不清楚测试中所有问题的答案一样，但我们可以肯定的是这个词最初被记录时的意义与人有关，而不是测试，这个词第一次被记录下来是在1782年，意思为“一个古怪或行为怪诞的人”。从这种意义的名词派生出一个动词，意思为“嘲笑或戏弄…”和“以嘲讽的态度对待”。在英语并且很可能是在美国英语中，quiz 这个动词形成了有关审问或提问的意思， 据猜测，这一现象的发生是因为quiz 使人联想起 question ， inquisitive 或者可能 quiset 这个英国方言中的动词， 意思为“提问”（很可能是inquisite 这个过时用语的缩写形式，意思为“调查”）。 从这个意思中派生出学生们再熟悉不 过的名词和动词意思。记录下这个名词意义的第二个例子恰好出现在教育家威廉·詹姆斯的笔下。在1867年12月26日写的一封信中，他提出一条希望：或许在解剖学和物理学方面进行测试…可能有些独特的帮助。”〔mascot〕The wordmascot, which usually denotes something or someone that brings good luck, enjoys a positive meaning that is a distinct improvement over the meanings of some of its ancestors. Mascot came into English as a borrowing of the French wordmascotte, meaning "mascot, charm.”The English word is first recorded in 1881 shortly after the French word, itself first recorded in 1867,was popularized by the operaLa Mascotte, performed in December 1880. The French word in turn came from the Modern Provençal wordmascoto, "piece of witchcraft, charm, amulet,”a feminine diminutive ofmasco, "witch.” This word can probably be traced back to Late Latinmasca, "witch, specter.”Perhaps a mascot is as powerful as people think;fortunately, it is now in our corner.mascot 这个词通常指能够带来好运的某物或某人， 与其最早来源的几个词的词意相比，这个词所具有的褒义色彩是明显的进步。 Mascot 是借自法语的mascotte， 意思是“符咒，魔力。”该法语词的记录1867年出现不久，就在1881年有了这个英语词汇的最早记录，因1880年12月演出的一出歌剧La Mascotte 而流传开来。 法语中单词来源于现代普罗旺斯语mascoto ， 意思是“女巫的魔法，魔术，护身符”，一个意为“女巫”的masco 的阴性小词。 这个词可能追溯到后期拉丁语的masca ， 意为“女巫，幻象”。或许吉祥物这个词是指象人们想的一样魔力无边；幸运的是，它被我们记录进来了〔hibiscus〕[perhaps of Celtic origin] [或许源于凯尔特语] 〔myself〕The strongest criticism that can be made of these uses of reflexives is that like other emphatic devices they may easily be overused,and when the pronoun refers to the writer or speaker,the result of the emphasis may be an implication of pomposity or self-importance.这些反身代词用法的最大缺陷就是像其它强调用词一样经常容易被过分使用，当代词指作者或说话人时，强调的结果或许是暗含贬义或自大〔threshold〕Perhaps the tradition of carrying the bride over the threshold is dying out,but knowledge of the custom persists,leading one to wonder about the-hold or the thresh- in the word threshold. Scholars are still wondering about the last part of the word,but thethresh- can be explained. It is related to the wordthresh, which refers to an agricultural process. This process of beating the stems and husks of grain or cereal plants to separate the grain or seeds from the straw was at one time done with the feet of oxen or human beings.Thus, the Germanic word.therskan, or by the switching of sounds called metathesis, .threskan, meant "thresh" and "tread.” This association with the feet is probably retained in Old Englishtherscold or threscold (Modern English threshold ), "sill of a door (over which one treads).”或许抱新娘过门槛的传统已过时，但这种习俗仍为人所知，使人想到threshold 中的 -hlod 或 thresh- 。 学者们仍不清楚这个词的后半部分，但thresh- 已可作解释。 它与指一种农业加工的thresh 一词有关。 这种通过打谷子或谷类植物的茎壳以使各粒与茎管分开的作业曾一度是用牛或人的脚来做的。因此，德语词therskan 或经音位转换后的 threskan 表示“打”和“踩踏”。 这种和脚的联系可能在古英语therscold 或 threscold （现代英语 threshold ）中仍保留着， “门槛（踏过的地方）”〔themed〕Their disapproval may stem from the inference that this adjectival participle must come from a verb "to theme,” rather than from the nountheme (as left-handed comes from the noun hand ). Although many common verbs, such as telephone, began their lives as nouns, there is often very strong resistance when a noun first begins to be used as a verb. There are indeed instances of theme being used as a verb, but they are relatively rare—a fact that seems to suit the Usage Panel. Ninety-two percent reject the sentence 他们不赞同的理由或许源自于此形容词themed应该自动词"to theme（设计主题）”而来，而不是从名词theme 而来（如 left-handed 源自名词 hand ）。虽然许多普通动词原本是名词，如 telephone ，但当名词开始当动词用时常会引起激烈反对。事实上像 theme 这样用作动词的例子相对较少——看来它较迎合用法专家小组。92%的小组成员反对此句型 〔what〕Which thing or which particular one of many:什么：哪个东西或许多中的特定一个：〔principle〕Despite generations of spelling lessons,the wordsprinciple and principal are still commonly confused. Perhaps an understanding of their history will help in keeping them straight.Both words go back to the same Latin word,prīnceps, meaning "first, as in time, position, or authority.”The split that has caused all the trouble occurred in the next stage of development.Fromprīnceps were derived the noun prīncipium, "start, origin, guiding principle,” the adjectiveprīncipālis, "first in importance or esteem,” and the noun prīncipālis, "a leading citizen.” Clearly the latter two words with theā between the p and the l have given us the adjectiveprincipal (first recorded around 1300) and the noun principal (also first recorded in a work composed around 1300).Perhaps it should not be mentioned that one Middle English spelling for the noun wasprinciple. On the other hand,the Latin wordprīncipium and its Old French descendant principe were involved in the creation of the word principle in Middle English, first recorded in a work written around 1380.Words likemanciple and participle influenced the spelling of this new word, but again perhaps we should keep silent about the fact that we also find the word spelledprincipal and prinsipal in Middle English. A key point to remember about these seemingly aberrant Middle English spellings isthat in Middle English spelling was not nearly as fixed as it usually is today,a development that was much furthered by the invention of printing.When we interchange spellings forprinciple and principal, we are doing something that would have been less of a fault in the days before the conformity imposed on us by this marvelous invention. 尽管在拼写课上反复强调，principle 和 principal 还是被人们搞混。 或许了解一下这两个词的历史有助于我们弄清楚它们的拼写。两个词都可追溯到同一个拉丁词princeps， 意为“在时间，地位或权威上第一的”。引起所有麻烦的分裂出现在发展过程的下一个阶段。从princeps 派生出了名词 principium， 意为“开端，根源，指导性原则，” 形容词principalis “最重要的或最受尊敬的”及名词 principalis 意为“处于领导地位的公民”。 显然，后两个词在p 和 l 之间带有 ā， 这就使我们有了形容词principal （最早记录于1300年左右）和名词 principal （最早记录也是在大约1300年左右创作的作品中）。或许我们不应提到这个名词在中古英语中的一种拼法是principle 。 另一方面，拉丁词principium 和其古法词的派生词 principe 共同作用创造了中古英语单词 principle， 最早记录于写于约1380年的一部作品。象manciple 和 participle 这样的单词都影响了这个新单词的拼写， 但是或许我们应该再一次对于这个单词也曾在中古英语中被拼写成principal 和 prinsipal 这一事实保持沉默。 记住这些在中古英语中貌似反常的拼写的关键在于，在中古英语中的拼写方式几乎不象今天这么固定，因为当时还没有发明印刷术。当这项神奇的发明把拼写一致的原则加到我们头上之前，我们把principle 和 principal 的拼写互相交换，也算不上什么大错 〔literate〕For most of its long history in English,literate has meant only "familiar with literature,” or more generally, "well-educated, learned";it is only during the last hundred years that it has also come to refer to the basic ability to read and write.Its antonymilliterate has an equally broad range of meanings: anilliterate person may be incapable of reading a shopping list or perhaps may only be unable to grasp an allusion to Shakespeare or Keats.The termfunctional illiterate is often used to describe a person who can read or write to some degree, but below a minimum level required to function in even a limited social situation or job setting.More recently, the meanings of the wordsliteracy and illiteracy have been extended from their original connection with reading and literature to any body of knowledge. For example, "geographic illiterates" cannot identify the countries on a map,and "computer illiterates" are unable to use a word-processing system.None of these uses ofliteracy or illiteracy are incorrect, but it might be preferable to use another word in instances where the context does not make the meaning clear.在英语悠久的历史中，literate 大部分时期只表示“精通文学的”或更概括一些， 指“受过良好教育的，有学问的”；仅仅是在上个世纪它才开始表示读和写的基本能力。它的反义词illiterate 有着同样广泛的意义： 一个illereare 的人也许连张购物单都不会读， 或许只是不理解莎士比亚或济慈的典故。functional illiterate 一词用于描写一个具有一定程度的读写能力， 但还不到甚至在一个有限的社会环境或工作环境中运用语言所须的最低水平。最近，literacy 和 illiteracy 这两词的含义已经从它们原先与阅读和文学的联系扩展到与任何一种知识的联系。 例如，一个“地理盲”不会在地图上寻找国家，而一个“计算机盲”不会使用文字信息处理系统。literacy 和 illiteracy 的这些用法都是正确的， 但是当上下文可能导致意义混淆时还是用其它词更好一些〔trivial〕Giving a police officer a free meal may be against the law,but it seems to be a picayune infraction. 给一位警官提供一顿免费的饭食或许违反了法律，但这看上去是不值一提的违法。 〔Heyerdahl〕Norwegian ethnologist and explorer who led the Kon Tiki expedition (1947) on a raft across the Pacific Ocean from Peru to Tuamotu to demonstrate that Polynesians may be of South American origin. In 1970 he crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Morocco to Barbados in a papyrus boat to show that ancient Egyptians might have sailed to America.海尔达尔，托尔：(1914-2002) 挪威民族学家、探险家，曾于1947年发起探险乘坐木筏康·提基号从秘鲁出发横渡太平洋到达土木土，以证明波利尼西亚人或许来自南美洲。1970年他乘一艘纸莎草船从摩洛哥出发横渡大西洋到达巴巴多斯，以表明古代埃及人可能曾乘船到过美洲〔henequen〕[perhaps of Arawakan origin] [或许来源于阿拉瓦语系] 〔switch〕[Probably of Low German or Flemish origin] [或许来源于德语或佛兰芒语] 〔period〕Perhaps more than once one may have wonderedwhy the wordperiod has the sense "punctuation mark ( . )” as well as some of its other senses having to do with time.The answer to this question lies in the senses of the Greek wordperiodos from which our word is descended. Periodos, made up of peri-, "around,” and hodos, "way,” meant such things as "going round, way round, going round in a circle, circuit,”and with regard to time "cycle or period of time.”The word also meant "the period of menstruation.”In rhetoric it referred to "a group of words organically related in grammar and sense.”The Greek word was adopted into Latin asperihodos with only its rhetorical sense and one other sense,but in Medieval Latin it reacquired senses it had in Greek,such as "cycle,” and acquired a new sense,"a punctuation mark used at the end of a rhetorical period.”Although this sense is recorded in Medieval Latin,it is not recorded in English until 1609.But the wordperiod had entered Middle English from Medieval Latin and Old French, first being recorded in a work written around 1425in the sense "a cycle of recurrence of a disease.”或许任何人都会不止一次的发出疑问，为什么period 有“标点符号（。）”的意思， 同时其它意思与时间有关。此问的答案来自我们的单词源自的希腊语单词periodos 的意思。 Periodos ，由意为“周围”的 peri- 和意为“方式”的 hodos 组成， 该词意味着“围绕…走，围绕…的路，转圈走，围绕，”同时也指时间，意为“一段时间或时间周期”。此词也意为“经期”。在修辞学中指“一组在语法和词意上有机相连的词。”这个希腊词作为perihodos 被拉丁文所采用， 仅带有修辞和一个其他的意思，但在中世纪拉丁语中它重新得到了它在希腊语中的意思，例如“周期”，后来又得到一个新的意思，即“用于修辞部分末尾的标点符号”。尽管此意在中世纪拉丁语中有记载，但直到1609年才在英语中有记载。而period 从中世纪拉丁文和古法语中进入中世纪英语， 并首次记载于约1425年所著的作品中，意为“疾病发作的周期”〔Pali〕[perhaps of Dravidian origin] [或许源于达罗毗荼语] 〔buffer〕"A sense of humor . . . may have served as a buffer against the . . . shocks of disappointment"(James Russell Lowell)“幽默感或许可以当作受到失望打击时的缓冲物”(詹姆斯·罗素·洛厄尔)〔turn〕I may be speaking out of turn, but you might like to know that your attire does not conform to the dress code here.或许我说话有些不合时宜，但是你可能愿意知道你的衣着与这里的服装规则不相符〔even〕Having equal probability; as likely as not:或许的：具有相等可能性的；同样不可能的：〔case〕It may rain, in which case the hike will be canceled.天或许会下雨，如果是那样的话，徒步旅行将会被取消〔fair〕American folk speech puts Standard English to shame in its wealth of words for describing weather conditions.When the weather goes from fair to cloudy,New Englanders say that it's "breedin' up a storm" (Maine informant in theLinguistic Atlas of New England ). If the weather is clear, however,a New Englander might call itopen. Southernfair off and fair up, meaning "to become clear,” were originally Northeastern terms and were brought to the South as settlement expanded southward and westward.They are now "regionalized to the South,” according to Craig M. Carver, author ofAmerican Regional Dialects. These phrases may be the origin of modern and less regional coinings,such asmild up, used on a television weather forecast: "The Southwest is beginning to mild up just a tad.”美国方言对天气状况的描写因其应有尽有的单词使标准英语黯然失色。当天气由晴转多云时，新英格兰人会说“孕育着一场暴风雨”（新英格兰语言学图册 的缅因消息提供者）。 但如果天气是无云的，新英格兰人也许会说open。 南部的fair off 和 fair up 所表示的放晴， 起源于东北部词语，后被带到南部成为固定用法并向南向西流传。根据克雷格M·卡弗尔，美国地区方言 的作者所说，它们如今已“被南方地区化了”。 这些词组或许正是现代不再具地区性的词句的起源，例如mild up， 用于电视天气预报： “西南将变得暖和一点”〔doughboy〕Sense 2, [perhaps from the large buttons on American uniforms of the 1860's, said to resemble doughboys (sense 1)] 释义2， [或许是由于19世纪60年代美国军服上的大扣子得名，据说象油炸面团] 〔chime〕The sound produced by or as if by a bell or bells.钟声：一只钟或许多钟所发出的声音或者是类似钟声的声音〔lethargy〕"But for the criminal . . . languor which characterized that commander's movements . . . the honor of France might still have been saved" (John Lothrop Motley).“如果不是因为罪犯…指挥官的消沉怠倦的行为…法兰西的荣誉或许能得到挽救” （约翰·娄斯罗普·莫特利）〔haywire〕It may seem oddthat the wordhaywire should have come to describe something or someone that is not functioning properly. Haywire originally was in fact simply a compound of the words hay and wire, denoting wire used to bale things such as hay or straw.The term is first recorded as a noun in a debate that occurred in the Canadian House of Commons (1917);hence it is a Canadianism, or since it soon thereafter appeared in a United States publication, a North Americanism.We find an earlier (1905) attributive use,however, in the phrasehay wire outfit, a term used contemptuously for poorly equipped loggers. What lies behind this term is the practice of making repairs with haywire.Haywire is found in other contexts with the general sense "makeshift, inefficient,” from which comes the extended senses "not functioning properly" and "crazy.”看起来或许很奇怪，haywire 一词竟可以用来形容某物或某人不能正常运转。 事实上，haywire 是由 hay 和 wire 两个词组成的一个简单复合词， 指用来捆绑诸如干草或麦秆的铁丝，这个词在1917年加拿大众议院的一次辩论中第一次以一个名词的形式被记录下来，因此这是一个加拿大俗语或者说是北美俗词，因此这词很快就出现在美国出版物中。我们可以找到一个更早的（1905年）形容性用法，词组hay wire outfit, 是对装备不足的伐木工人的鄙称。 这个词的内涵是指准备用铁丝捆干草的工作。在其它语境中，haywire 被用来表示“临时的，效率低的”这种笼统的意思， 由此扩展出“不能正常工作的”以及“疯狂的”这些意义〔prodigious〕No one would now say, as did a character in Fanny Burney'sEvelina (1778), "You are prodigiously kind!”But this utterance, exclamation point and all,illustrates two important points about intensives, linguistic elements,such asextremely or awfully, that provide force or emphasis.One point is that we press words that originally had other meanings into service as intensives.Prodigiously is an adverb formed on prodigious, which meant such things as "ominous, amazing, enormous,” going back to the Latinprōdigiōsus, "portentous, marvelous, unnatural.”Prodigiously, first recorded in 1595, meant "portentously, ominously,”and was later used to mean "wonderfully, astonishingly,”therefore making a perfect candidate for use as an intensive.The other point about intensives illustrated byprodigiously is that they go in and out of fashion. The character inEvelina used prodigiously in a way that was no doubt very stylish; no one would find it so today.Perhaps the main reason for such shifts in the use of these intensives is that once they have been used for a whilethey no longer intensify.现在没有人会象芬妮·伯尼的小说埃维莉娜 (1778年）中的人物那样说， “您真是太好了!”但这种说法，感叹号和全句，说明了关于加强语气的重要两点，如extremely 或 awfully 这样的语言要素， 具有加强语气或表示强调的作用。要点之一是我们把一些最初有其他意思的词当作了加强语气的词来使用。Prodigiously 是在意为“不祥的，惊人的，巨大的”的形容词 prodigious 基础上形成的副词， 可追溯到拉丁词prodigiosus， 意思是“不祥的，奇异的，不自然的。”Prodigiously 最早记录于1595年， 意为“预兆性地，不祥地，”后来意为“奇妙地，惊人地，”因此很适于用作强调词。Prodigiously 说明的关于强调词的另一个要点是这些词流行一时然后就过时了。 埃维莉娜 中的人物使用 prodigiously 的方式无疑是很时髦的； 但今天已没有人这样用了。或许这些强调词用法变换的主要原因是一旦这些词被使用了一段时间后，其加强语气或强调作用就不再明显了〔spiculation〕Formation into a spicule or spicules.结穗：形成一个小穗或许多小穗〔smack〕[or perhaps of imitative origin] [或许源于象声词] |
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